[Diabetes-talk] newly diagnosed

[Eileen Scrivani]

Yes, when the Medicare rules changed a short while back, this became a big problem for me.  If I get a lot of “To Low”” or “No Sufficient Blood” errors, I know there’s not enough blood that got into the strip.  Or, if I get a ridiculously low number like 30 or 45 and I don’t feel like anything is going on with my BG, I’ll run a second or third test until I’m satisfied with what it tells me.  Weird low numbers can also be a result of not enough during a test.  If I feel fine, I believe the higher number that gets returned.  At the point you get one of these error messages the strip is shot because its sucked up the sample into the strip and cannot be used a second time.

To prevent running out of strips and allow for these mistakes which I’m pretty sure most all of us who are blind get, have your doctor write a script for more times per day of testing.  In my log, I write down every number the meter throws back at me to account for the number of times I’ve tested over the course of the day.  Its how this stupid, annoying game has to be played with the insurance companies and Medicare <Grrr>.

Eileen

From: S L Johnson via Diabetes-talk 
Sent: Friday, August 7, 2015 7:21 PM
To: Diabetes Talk for the Blind 
Cc: S L Johnson 
Subject: Re: [Diabetes-talk] newly diagnosed

Hello,

I've been dealing with the testing problems for over a year now.  I never 
stick my Braille reading finger.  I got too frustrated with the lancing 
device because it didn't seem to go deep enough to get any blood.  I gave up 
and just prick my finger with the lancet by itself.  I find testing very 
frustrating at times.  Sometimes the Prodigy tells me the sample is too 
small and to test again with a new strip.  Well, can't they make it so you 
will get a warning but without you having to use another strip?  I've often 
gone without testing for a few days when I ran out of strips too soon. 
Ocasionally my meter says low instead of giving me a number.   Sometimes 
this happens two or more times before I get a real reading and This also 
uses up too many strips.  Have any of you had this happen?  Also, if they 
are going to make products for the blind, then they need to put model and 
serial numbers in Braille.  I had problems getting help from Prodigy 
customer service when I wasn't able to tell them my serial number.  Another 
problem I have is with the coding solution.  You have to match the number on 
the bottle to know if your meter is correct and we can't read that number. 
With so many blind diabetics using the Prodigy, isn't there anything we can 
do to convince them to make their software accessible?  Finally, I am so 
frustrated with Prodigy, what other meters are accessible to someone who is 
totally blind?

Sandra


-----Original Message----- 
From: Bridgit Kuenning-Pollpeter via Diabetes-talk
Sent: Friday, August 07, 2015 4:52 PM
To: 'Diabetes Talk for the Blind'
Cc: Bridgit Kuenning-Pollpeter
Subject: Re: [Diabetes-talk] newly diagnosed

I use the Prodgiy Voice as well. I write my readings down in an Excel
spreadsheet though.

Bridgit

-----Original Message-----
From: Diabetes-talk [mailto:diabetes-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of
Rachel Krieg via Diabetes-talk
Sent: Friday, August 07, 2015 3:39 PM
To: 'Diabetes Talk for the Blind' <diabetes-talk at nfbnet.org>
Cc: Rachel Krieg <rkrieg7583 at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [Diabetes-talk] newly diagnosed

He uses the prodigy voice, and we can't, for the life of us, figure out how
to download his results. When he was using the solo, the software was
inaccessible. His doctor has no clue as to how to download his results from
either the solo or the prodigy.

Do you guys remember the acucheck with the separate box that read the level
with speech? That's what he first started using after he lost his eyesight.

I'm so glad they have the prodigy voice now.
Rachel and Lady the lovable lab


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