[Diabetes-talk] New Member To The List, and alternate site testing

Thu Feb 25 17:08:19 UTC 2016

Eileen:

It's pretty simple: whose money I take, his song I sing. I'm not disagreeing with you but merely pointing out that, like nearly everyone else in society these days, the insurance carriers worship the god Mammon.

Mike

-----Original Message-----
From: Diabetes-talk [mailto:diabetes-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Eileen Scrivani via Diabetes-talk
Sent: Thursday, February 25, 2016 6:50 AM
To: Diabetes Talk for the Blind
Cc: Eileen Scrivani
Subject: Re: [Diabetes-talk] New Member To The List, and alternate site testing

Ya know, this strip accounting makes me furious.  Like I’m a low-life drug pusher, out on the street selling any over-stock of test strips for the Solus V2 at a huge or any profit!  All I want and needd is a sufficient number of strips to get through the 3-month alotment to take care of my own health needs.  If these companies and the government had any intelligence they would let us adjust the quantities ordered as necessary.  Some months it might be a little less and other times a little more because as the song goes “I’m only human, born to make mistakes.”

What ever happened to our rights to privacy?  We have to submit our logs loaded with personal comments & notes about our health, but Apple can’t help open up a single phone of known murderers!  

Off my soap box ... for now.

Eileen 

From: Bridgit Kuenning-Pollpeter via Diabetes-talk 
Sent: Wednesday, February 24, 2016 7:53 PM
To: 'Diabetes Talk for the Blind' 
Cc: Bridgit Kuenning-Pollpeter 
Subject: Re: [Diabetes-talk] New Member To The List, and alternate site testing

My pharmacy says I should turn in glucose records when ordering strips, but I haven't turned in a log for a year now, maybe even longer. It's suppose to demonstrate that I'm testing as much as I say I am, but the pharmacy keeps giving me the strips, and I keep forgetting to turn the logs in. Perhaps it could be a bit different for type ones, who knows. But my point being, it's technically already a thing to show "proof" of how much you test. Though, one could still make stuff up.

Bridgit

-----Original Message-----
From: Diabetes-talk [mailto:diabetes-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Eileen Scrivani via Diabetes-talk
Sent: Wednesday, February 24, 2016 6:13 PM
To: Diabetes Talk for the Blind <diabetes-talk at nfbnet.org>
Cc: Eileen Scrivani <etscrivani at verizon.net>
Subject: Re: [Diabetes-talk] New Member To The List, and alternate site testing

Mike, 

I would not like to see erroneous readings deleted out of meter memory, since even those mistaken readings add into the total number of times per day I’ve tested.  If I have to use extra strips to get a reading which I believe, then I want to show that I have truthfully tested that number of times in a day.  

Every time I call for a re-order of supplies, I am asked how many tests per day I do and the number of strips I have left in my on-hand supply.  The way the system currently works, I would not be surprised should the time come when doctors need to be able to read the memory for the purpose of determining the strip counts.  Perhaps a better way than deleting would be a marker to indicate there was a miss-read, that way the reading would not get calculated into the averages and there would still be an accounting of the numbers used.

Eileen 

From: Mike Freeman via Diabetes-talk
Sent: Wednesday, February 24, 2016 6:14 PM
To: 'Diabetes Talk for the Blind' 
Cc: Mike Freeman
Subject: Re: [Diabetes-talk] New Member To The List, and alternate site testing

Veronica:

Amen multiple times over erroneous readings staying in the meters. Had its manufacturer ever completed the 510(k) application with the FDA so that its meter could be marketed here, the SensoCardPlus allowed deleting of readings. But when I've talked to meter manufacturers, they seemed extraordinarily resistant to patients having control over which readings were kept, maintaining that this would lead to "patient noncompliance". That is, they presumed that patients would delete readings that weren't in their target bg ranges. To which I responded: "Who cares? Patients would only be hurting themselves by falsifying or leaving out valid but "bad" readings. It isn't the responsibility of meter manufacturers to see that patients do what they're supposed to!" Of course, my statement ended up floating like a lead balloon!
Which is why I only submit a written log.

Mike Freeman

-----Original Message-----
From: Diabetes-talk [mailto:diabetes-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Veronica Elsea via Diabetes-talk
Sent: Wednesday, February 24, 2016 2:32 PM
To: 'Diabetes Talk for the Blind'
Cc: Veronica Elsea
Subject: Re: [Diabetes-talk] New Member To The List, and alternate site testing

Wow! You're lucky Bridgit. I've been diabetic for almost 28 years now and my fingers are a mess. I have been blind the entire time so have done way more sticks requiring more blood than I would have sighted. But for whatever reason, my fingers have these giant callouses on the sides that are now really interfering with my ability to test as often as I'd like. This is one of the reason I'd really like getting the CGM so I could at least watch patterns and have some idea. I just haven't yet made the time to sit down and lie, making up a fake log for a month. 
And I did get crazy readings going both directions with the Prodigy. Most of the time I do know if I'm really high or low, but not always. Heck, given the current state of my fingers, if I thought I always knew my reading by intuition, I wouldn't even think of using a meter. Alas, that's not the case. What I really dislike about all meters that do a test and then say, oh wait, not enough blood is that you now have spurious readings in that log for good. I've had a couple of endos who just never seemed to grasp that they were really not enough blood and kept wanting to adjust my insulin dosages based on those way low readings, for instance. That's why I stay with the FreeStyle Lite even though it's a bit of a pain to connect it with a computer to read it. It doesn't start the test until it verifies that the strip is full. So while the final reading has the same 20 per cent variation that all meters have, at least I don't fill up the memory with junk readings. One would think more companies would be working like this in 2016.

Veronica

"Guide Dogs, First Hand", Veronica Elsea's classic album is now available on iTunes, along with other music from her and from the Guide Dog Glee Club. 
To learn more, visit:
http://www.laurelcreekmusic.com
                Veronica Elsea, Owner
Laurel Creek Music Designs
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Phone: 831-429-6407

-----Original Message-----
From: Diabetes-talk [mailto:diabetes-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Bridgit Kuenning-Pollpeter via Diabetes-talk
Sent: Wednesday, February 24, 2016 6:33 AM
To: 'Diabetes Talk for the Blind'
Cc: Bridgit Kuenning-Pollpeter
Subject: Re: [Diabetes-talk] New Member To The List, and alternate site testing

A few years ago, my doctor suggested I consider alternate site testing just because I've been pricking my fingers for so long. Actually, my fingers are good. No loss of sensitivity because of poking, and no permanent calluses, (I moisturize frequently and alternate between all fingers and all over the
fingers) but nonetheless, they thought it worth considering. When I was a kid and sighted, they made the same suggestion so I could alternate where I test, similar to how you alternate where you inject insulin, but I never liked it. I currently use a Prodigy Voice, and my nurse educator, who has been amazing and has become a family friend in the last 13 years since I've known her, said alternate testing should work fine. I just don't like the idea of testing elsewhere than my fingers. The best I have done is start testing with my thumbs in the last 8 years or so. I've been diabetic for 30 years now, and my fingers are still going strong, grin.

Bridgit

-----Original Message-----
From: Diabetes-talk [mailto:diabetes-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Paul Magill via Diabetes-talk
Sent: Tuesday, February 23, 2016 7:31 PM
To: 'Diabetes Talk for the Blind' <diabetes-talk at nfbnet.org>
Cc: Paul Magill <magills at bigpond.com>
Subject: Re: [Diabetes-talk] New Member To The List, and alternate site testing

Hi Daniel,

The manual I sent has a brief section on alternate testing, and to me at least, it suggests that this is not practical for a blind person.

Most glucose meters don't have this feature anyway.

Regards,
Paul from Australia

-----Original Message-----
From: Diabetes-talk [mailto:diabetes-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Mike Freeman via Diabetes-talk

Right. I once encountered a certified diabetes educator who swore blind persons could do alternate site testing. But I've never met one. The very thing which makes some folks like alternate site testing -- they can't feel the stick -- is the very thing that throws blind persons for a loop. Also, the readings aren't quite as up-to-date as fingerstick readings.

Mike

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