[Diabetes-talk] introduction

Tue Feb 17 02:14:34 UTC 2009

Hi Paul & Paula,

  I'm fairly new to this forum as well, and agree that it is a real find. I
monitor it to help my brother-in-law, Russell, who is diabetic and blind due
to retinopathy. He also has an Autocode, and I had some problems with it
too.  They don't sound exactly the same as your problems, but maybe they
will help you figure out what's wrong in your situation, especially if
changing the battery didn't help.

Russell had an RN successfully taking his blood glucose and training him to
use the Autocode before I used it, and he explained verbally to me how to
operate it for him.  Well, the first few times I inserted a test strip, the
Autocode gave me the welcome, but not the temperature, and would not
count-down, or do a reading when we applied blood to the strip.  It would
just power off after a few minutes.  I tried this with several strips, and
the results were the same. I read the documentation, and discovered that one
side of each strip has a visual blood drop icon in the middle of the strip,
and this needs to be facing the front of the Autocode.  All the test strips
in the vial had been facing with the blood drop mark away from me, and I did
not think to flip the strip over initially.  When I inserted the strip with
the blood mark facing me, we got a successful reading.  

Unfortunately, the blood drop mark is only visual, and is not raised, so you
can't feel it.  However, you can actually feel the difference between each
side of the strip by feeling the metal leads at the bottom of the strip.   

We've also had a situation similar to yours in which the strip was inserted
correctly, and the Autocode gave room temperature and instructions to apply
blood. When we applied blood to the strip,  nothing happened, and eventually
the meter gave the good-bye message and shutdown.  I believe there was a
visual error code, but there was no audio message. We eventually figured out
that there was too much blood on the test strip; so most likely there was a
visual code that I looked up in the documentation - I just don't remember. 
So I think Mike's suggestion to have a sighted person check for error codes,
and look it up is right on the money. We put in another strip, and took the
reading with a smaller blood sample, and the meter did the count-down, and
gave a reading.  So now I always try to make sure there isn't too much blood
on the strip when I take a reading.

I have to agree that the Autocode seems difficult for a totally blind person
to use, despite marking it with nail polish. Some of the error codes are
displayed only visually, with no audio. I found the documentation to be
helpful, but again it's in printed form only.  Hopefully, Russell will
switch to the Voice soon.

Finally - not sure if you've seen the tips on using the Prodigy meters on
the NFB website, but it's  worth reading. I think Mike sent this link late
last year:
http://www.nfb.org/images/nfb/Publications/vod/vod_23_1/vodwin0806.htm

Hope these help, and good luck!

Regards,
  Buzz

-----Original Message-----
From: diabetes-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org
[mailto:diabetes-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Mike Freeman
Sent: Monday, February 16, 2009 1:02 AM
To: Diabetes Talk for the Blind
Subject: Re: [Diabetes-talk] introduction

Paul:

Welcome to the list.

I assure you that the list is not going away. It is one of many lists NFB
operates and, in truth, is functioning just as it should -- as a networking
device for blind diabetics in general and members of NFB who are diabetic in
particular. I'm glad you find it helpful.

It can't hurt to put new batteries in, have a sighted person set the meter
up and see if that helps. Also (dumb as this sounds), make certain the
strips are going into the Autocode right-side-up. But since you're getting
the initial musical salutation, I expect that isn't the issue. 
But I'd have a sighted person check to see if you're getting an error
message.

Mike Freeman

----- Original Message -----
From: "Paul & Paula Jordan" <paujor at fuse.net>
To: "'Diabetes Talk for the Blind'" <diabetes-talk at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Saturday, February 14, 2009 6:43 PM
Subject: [Diabetes-talk] introduction

I am paul, and a newly diagnosed diabetic for about 3 months, and am 
totally
blind, which for the record is not a diabetes related complication. 
This
group has been a real find for me, and if there are issues with the 
voice, I
hope we aren't possibly going to lose the list as well.

I have an issue with a prodigy talking audocode meter which I was given,
rather than the prodigy voice.  I have been working with this for about 
3
months, and now that the batteries are aging, I think I'm running into
issues.  First, when I insert a strip, it plays its music, and thanks me 
for
using prodigy, then tells me the current room temperature, and says to 
apply
blood into the strip.  I do this, and often nothing happens, it doesn't 
beep
to indicate it has enough blood to test, and after 3 minutes, it sings 
its
good-bye song, and shuts off.
There are no audible cues to tell me if low battery is an issue, or what
else to do.  Any suggestions?
Thanks in advance.

-----Original Message-----
From: diabetes-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org
[mailto:diabetes-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of darlene
Sent: Friday, February 13, 2009 10:19 PM
To: diabetes-talk at nfbnet.org
Subject: [Diabetes-talk] newbe here

hello  folks,

where can I find an    order book  for  shoes, socks etc. dose Medicare 
pay
for them also ?  how  do  I  go about  it ?

is there   a chat room at  this  site for  support? newbe  here so don't
know

thank you,jacky742
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