Pain Free Testing
Written: Aug 20 '03 (Updated Aug 21 '03)
|
Product Rating:
|
|
|
Pros: Very small blood sample, simple testing, alternative site testing
Cons: Test time longer than the Onetouch Ultra
The Bottom Line: This is a great meter! It made testing a lot easier and less painful.
|
|
|
| smartone86's Full Review: Therasense Freestyle Blood Glucose Monitoring Syst... |
This meter was given to me by a specialist. I wasn't testing my blood sugar often enough, so she asked me to preform a test and watched me. When I did, she clearly saw why. It was painful for me.
The bad news was that my blood sugars were all over. The good news was that she gave me this meter. It requires an incredibly small amount of blood, which means it's almost painless. I say almost because I'm told some people can feel it. I personally cannot feel it at all, except when I use my fingers. You're suppose to poke your fingers whee you thing your blood sugar may be low, or anytime it may be changing quickly. Even then it doesn't hurt much at all.
The kit includes the meter, the lancing device with five settings and two caps: one for finger tips, one for everywhere else, ten lancets, ten strips, a case (which I had a friend mistake for a cd case once), control solution (which the company replenishes as needed), batteries, and a log book (as with most meters).
The set up is simple. You put the batteries in the meter,then set the date, time, and preferences using the M and C buttons. Next select a test strip. You check the code number on the vial, then place the strip in the meter. It turns on automatically. A number appears. You use the C key to change it to match the number on the vial. You just calibrated the meter. This is good for the vial. You're ready to do a test. It's recommended you do a control test first, to make sure everything is working correctly. This is done the same as a blood test, except there's no needles involved and at the end you press the C button so it is not included in averages.
Once you're ready to do a blood test, you set up the lancing device. You choose where you want to poke (finger, hand, arm, thigh, calf). If it's the finger, you use the blue cap, if not you use a clear cap. You do the poke. If it's not a finger, you apply pressure until enough blood forms under the clear cap before lifting the device up. The test strip suck up the blood.
It's pain free and simple. I really can't think of any problems. Most people don't even notice you're testing your blood sugar if you turn the meter beeps off.
One other feature is that it turns itself off after 2 minutes. This saves batteries. There is only 1 level of control solution, compared to 2 or 3 with some meters. I have dropped the meter several times. The batteries fall out, I put them back in, and it still works as good as new. I have broken the lancing device, but Therasense replaced it.
Here's the need-to-know information.
Amount of blood: .3 microliters (yes, that decimal point is suppose to be there)
Test time: varies based on sugar level, but around 15 seconds
Calibration: Plasma
Range: 20-500 mg/dL or 1.1- 27.8 mmol/L
Batteries: 2 AAAA (somewhat hard to find, Duracell recommended by Therasense) good for about 1,000 tests.
Approved Sites: Anywhere on hand, thigh, calf, arm
Averages: 14 and 30 day
Memory: 250 checks
Conditions: 5-90% RH, 50-95 degrees F
Weight: 2.1 ounces
Recommended:
Yes
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
smartone86
|
|
Reviews written: 71
Trusted by: 3 members
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.