I’m a diabetic and have been since, 1984. When I was first diagnosed we had blood lab work done about every three months or so to find out what our AC1 levels were; this was the only way to monitor our blood sugar levels. It was highly ineffective in helping the diabetic control his/her blood sugar levels. Sometime in the 1990s, the doctors had a glucometer in the office and they would check our sugar levels every time we came in. This was better, but still didn’t help with the day to day control that a diabetic needs to have.
Eventually, someone had the bright idea of getting the diabetic a glucometer to take home so they could monitor their blood sugar levels several times a day. This has become a major tool for someone with diabetes to have personal control over what was happening to their bodies. If you felt something go wonky you could check right away to see if it was your blood sugar levels and adjust your day according, whether it would be more insulin or eating more or less carbs or an unplanned emergency room visit. Before we had glucometers at home we would have to wait weeks or months to know if we needed to make changes in our food, exercise program or dosages of medication.
My endocrinologist gave me the One Touch Ultra2™ glucometer, because he has the software on his computer to download the data from it. This is how I first came to use the One Touch Ultra2. This is my fifth or sixth different glucometer, so I have some background experience with other brands to be able judge the One Touch Ultra2.
Recently, I did a dumb thing – I lost my glucometer. That wouldn’t be so bad except I lost it 20 minutes after my doctor’s office closed for the weekend. If I didn’t need to check my blood sugar levels seven times a day, because of some issues I was having, I wouldn’t have worried about it. I would have waited until the doctor opened up on Monday and got another one. After I bought it I found that I can get up to $70 rebated if I send my original receipt with the completed warranty card and cut out the serial number off the side panel of the box. Now, if I could only find my receipt I would do this. The disappearing receipt has cost me $68 plus tax.
In the box with the meter you get a DVD called “Simple Start™ Diabetes + Food.” This is a great resource for the newly diagnosed and for family members who want to know more about diabetes or for a refresher course for old-timers like me. I like that the DVD stresses several times that you are in control of your diabetes not the other way around. Several topics are discussed like the difference between type 1 and type 2 diabetes, explains glucose and what affects it (food, exercise, medication), the A1C test, how to count carbs, how to read food labels and how to plan around desserts.
There is a small black cloth carrying case for the glucometer, the lancing device, lancets and strips. There is also a logbook to record your test results, but if you have a doctor like mine with the proper software you will not need this logbook. There are three booklets that are included: a quick reference guide; owner’s manual; and a booklet to be used with the DVD.
The lancing device comes with two caps one for sticking your finger and the other for alternative sites such as your forearms or palms. There are 10 lancets included in the kit. The lancing device that comes with the One Touch Ultra2 is one of the most painful lancing devices I’ve ever had to use. I used it about two weeks before I went to the store and got another lancing device by ReliOn. Each container of strips has a number on it and you need to make sure that you program your glucometer with the matching number. It’s very easy to do. All you need to do once you put the strip in properly, and the number appears is use the arrow up or down keys to reach the number you need. Although this is easy to do, I’m used to glucometers that have generic strips that do not need any input from me to make it work properly in the glucometer.
The One Touch Ultra2 comes with several wonderful features:
1. You can add one of two flags: before meal or after meal or no flag at all.
2. You can add one of the following comments: not enough food, too much food, mild exercise, hard exercise, medication, stress, illness, feel hypo, menses, vacation, or other.
3. You can look at the following averages: before meal, after meal or all results.
4. You can view your most recent result or all results up to 500 results.
5. You can order the OneTouch™ Diabetes Management Software to store records on your computer to create graphs, charts for helping you control your diabetes better.
Bottom line: Overall, I do like using this glucometer and I like being able to see all my averages so easily, however there are three things I don’t like about it: 1. The painful lancing device which can easily be replaced; 2. This glucometer needs a bigger drop of blood then my old meter and I’m constantly getting an error message telling me my sample is too small and 3. You need to make sure the code on the strip bottle matches the code already programmed into the glucometer – why can’t they just have one strip that fits all?
