New One Touch Ultra Meter

Last week, in preparation for my journey to get my diabetes back in check, I bought myself a new blood glucose meter. After speaking with a couple of nurse friends, they recomended that I get the OneTouch Ultra Blood Glucose Monitoring System from LifeScan, Inc. They said that it is the quickest to return a reading and needs the smallest amount of blood in order to work.

This meter is great! My old meter took about 28 seconds to return a reading and i practically had to cut an artery to get enough blood for the test strip. Actually, the reason I stopped testing was because I got really trigger shy with my old meter. The lancet that it uses was very painful so I would hesitate to "pull the trigger." The One Touch Ultra, and the OneTouch UltraSmart Blood Glucose Monitoring System (I presume), takes 5 seconds to render a blood glucose reading. It also uses very little blood, making it work with "alternate site" testing. This basically means that you can check your forearm instead of your fingertips.

At first, getting the forearm reading wasn't easy. I'm not the type of guy that reads instructions, so I just opened up the box and went at it using the Ultrasoft blood sampler with the regular tip. I must have looked like a junkie with track marks, but I couldn't get enough blood out of my forearms for a valid reading. I thought maybe it was that I just didn't have enough capillaries there until I talked to my nurse friends again. They asked if I was using the clear tip or the blue tip. Huh? I did notice that there was a little clear tube-looking thing in the case when I got it, but I never paid it any attention. It turns out that this other tip is designed to push down on the skin and bring up blood to the surface capillaries. Then when you press the trigger and the lancet pokes the skin, you're supposed to leave it there for a few seconds to apply pressure on the area. When I tried it with this tip, it worked like a charm. I was able to get a good blood sugar reading right away.

I also learned that you're supposed to use alternate sites like the forearm for basal readings like in the morning or before meals (I think that's the term). This is because the fat under the skin in these areas take a bit longer to change in glucose level. I still use the finger tip for instant readings, but I've managed to knock out most of these by using my forearm.

LifeScan also has software that you can use to track your blood glucose levels over time. They even sell a 9-Pin Interface Cable for LifeScan Blood Glucose Meters that connects your meter to your PC so you can download your readings and not have to enter them by hand. I've downloaded the software and I ordered the cable. I'll report back with my impressions when I receive the kit.