Categories: Diseases & Conditions

One Touch Ultra2 Meter: Review

One Touch Ultra2 Meter electronic glucose meters are little computers gadgets that monitor blood sugar levels for people with Type1 and Type 2 Diabetes. My One Touch Glucose Meter arrived one week ago. It had more written instructions that a Volkswagen, but you don’t have to read them all. Much of the information is redundant because they are covering their liability. The instructions are also sponsored by Splenda, a known carcinogen that is completely unnecessary. That’s like having a tobacco company sponsor oxygen tanks.

Smart diabetics use Stevia, No carbohydrates; no calories; no fat; no sugar. All natural. Stevia.

The instruction booklets are repetitive and confusing, and there are too many of them. Watch the DVD, even if you have to go to the public library to do it. There really are only a few things you need to know, and they are in the DVD. Watch that because it is critical to get those few things right.

Yesterday was the day from Hell. How many people have committed murder or suicide just because of low blood sugar? Depression, tears, anger, frustration, despair, hopelessness. Way over the edge. Ready to murder my husband and kill myself. Seriously. The One Touch Ultra2 Meter could have saved me all that, but I forgot to use it.

My One Touch Glucose Meter kit came with 200 super-sharp sterile lancets. These lancets are the least painful lancets available on the medical market today. Most diabetics will tell you that getting the droplet you need for testing doesn’t hurt. Ask them twice, so they know you really want to know, and they’ll admit that it does hurt, but you get used to it. The One Touch UltraSoft Blood Sampler is fast and as painless as piercing your skin with a sharp metal instrument gets.

The One Touch Test Strips have their own built in carbon batteries to insert into the One Touch Glucose Meter at the top where it reads the blood.

Are you a gadget lover?

Those little carbon batteries are going to revolutionize the portable power industry. Let’s find out who has the patent and invest in their stock.

Did you grow up with gadgets? If you did, then your command of modern technology is ahead of mine.

I grew up without a phone, without a television, without even a record player in the house. The most complex gadget of my childhood was the Shaffer cartridge fountain pen they made us use in second grade when we graduated from pencils. Gadgets are not my area of expertise. However, I am learning fast.

The One Touch Glucose Meter is really a little computer that fits in the palm of your hand. It comes in a little black nylon case with compartments for your manual log book, a packet of lancets, and two elastic bands that hold a little bottle of the One Touch Ultra2 Meter Testing Strips, and the One Touch UltraSoft Blood Sampler. It only takes a half a drop of blood to tell you what your blood sugar level is before, after, and in-between meals. When you take it to the doctor, he downloads the information in it to your case file, so he is better able to help you manage your diabetes. You can download it onto your computer, if you wish.

The best thing about the One Touch UltraSoft Blood Sampler is that with it you are no longer limited to piercing your fingertips which, especially since most of us only have ten fingertips, and many of us work on computer keyboards daily with them, gets really old really fast.

With the One Touch UltraSoft Blood Sampler the sterile lancets are really sharp and really fast. It has a depth regulator, so it won’t go any deeper than it needs to to penetrate the skin. You can use it on the palms of your hands, or on your forearms. This is a vast improvement over being restricted to just the pads of your fingertips, and it is a big selling point. Most of us who are diabetics use it ten times a day. This gadget is so sharp it gives you acres of room instead of just ten little pads.

The numbers on the screen of the meter are huge, so it’s hard to make a mistake when you read your blood glucose level. These numbers are so big that when I first saw them it was like being yelled at by someone who thinks you are not only deaf, but mentally challenged as well. I got over that.

The size of the print on the menu is normal. You choose which entry applies to your test. For example, “Before meal” is one choice. “After meal” is another. You can also choose from a menu that offers you comments like “Not Enough Food,” or “Too Much Food”. It does not take long to be able to do it without much thought.

You do have to think a little, because that’s what having an electronic blood glucose meter is all about. You think about your choices and it gives you accurate medical data on which to base those choices. It is a concrete way to see how your food choices, and portions, impact your blood sugar levels, and how your blood sugar levels change during exercise, or stress, or generally during the day.

Basically, the One Touch Glucose Meter is a biofeedback device. It makes you more aware of a process that happens unconsciously. Then you learn to notice consciously what is going on with your body. And One Touch is a Johnson and Johnson Company, so there’s an added bit of security because it’s made by a respected brand-name company with a reassuring reputation for quality products.

What sent me over the edge yesterday was one simple little mistake I made when I was reading all those booklets that came with the One Touch.