[Diabetes-Talk] Gadgets or devices to help find that elusive drop of blood.

Wed Nov 21 00:06:30 UTC 2018

Back in the late 90's and early 2000's, I used a meter called Sof-tact. It
was an alternate site meter but boy did I love it. Its main drawback is that
it was fairly large. But you opened up what felt like a clamb shell. You put
the stabber in the bottom and there was a slot where the strip went in the
top. Then you closed the lid. The cool thing was that you could carry it
around with you like that so it was easy to test in public. When you wanted
to test, you'd push a button to turn it on. Then you'd hold the top of the
meter against your arm or palm of your hand and push the button again. The
stabber would come up through a hole in the strip and then it would make
this annoying sound as the vacuum schlurped up the blood. When it had
enough, it would let go of your arm, and then it would beep and display the
result on the screen. For those with low vision, it was marvelous because
the numbers were really big. I either had to ask someone or connect it to a
computer to read my number. I did get it to work with my Braille 'n Speak at
the time. Boy was I sorry when it was discontinued. You just couldn't screw
it up.
The problems I had with any gadget I tried to invent was the variation in
the thickness of the blood. If there was a lot of blood, it would run under
and all over the gadget and quite the contrary if there wasn't really
enough. You'd have to figure out how your gadget would know when there was
enough, which is tricky when you have today's strips which kind of
Start sucking up the blood when they first come in contact. If you wait too
long before making contact with your finger, if you're me, the darn drop of
blood would have already fallen off, if it existed in the first place.
<grin> 
So with today's meters, since they don't require much, I went back to
milking my finger and trying to either remember what I did or notice where
the pain is. <grin> 
But I always applaud thinking and enginuity. If you come up with anything,
oh please do spill the beans here. Thanks so much.
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
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Santa Cruz, California
Phone: 831-429-6407

-----Original Message-----
From: Diabetes-Talk [mailto:diabetes-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of
Paul Magill via Diabetes-Talk
Sent: Monday, November 19, 2018 3:35 AM
To: Diabetes Talk for the Blind
Cc: Paul Magill
Subject: [Diabetes-Talk] Gadgets or devices to help find that elusive drop
of blood.

Hi all,

I have the same problem some others do, in becoming quite frustrated trying
to get the glucometer test strip on to the drop of blood.

I'm hoping to come up with something to help do that, and would like some
advice, comments and any suggestions.  

My first thought was a thin plastic ring like band, that is not quite afull
ring, so it can expand to fit any size finger.  

There could be a hole in the ring just large enough for the point of the
test strip to go through, and a couple of concentric circles of slightly
raised plastic around that hole, so the lancet device could be aligned so
the stabber would go through the same hole.

The idea is that the lancet is fired through the hole in the ring, and the
usual pushing or squeezing of the finger to raise the drop of blood is done.
The thickness of the plastic would contain the drop so it could not move,
and  the test strip could easily be maneuvered into the hole to get the
blood.  Of course, the ring would need to be fairly thin, perhaps 1/32 inch,
a bit less than a millimetre, and the depth of the lancet set greater so it
could still reach the required depth in the skin.

Another thought is to make a loop of wire just a little larger than the
width of the test strip.  The loop would lie flat on the skin to contain the
blood drop, and the remaining ends of the wire pressed around the finger so
the loop wouldn't move. Trouble would be firing the lancet through that
loop, and what sort of wire would not interact with the blood or the test
strip?

With such a gadget, If no drop of blood was raised, then you would know
that, and could squeeze or lancet again, rather than thinking the drop was
simply missed.

Do you know, if these, or any other gadgets have been tried?

Do you know whether any glucometer manufacturers have looked at
encorperating a lancet like device into the meter, so the actual glucometer
stabs the test strip into the skin, obtaining the blood directly?

Yes, I've been reading the recent posts about the Dexcom G6 and would like
to use it, but here in Australia, it is very expensive, and not covered by
our otherwise quite good health system, so I'm looking for a better way to
use the very much cheaper glucose meters.

All comments welcome, even if it is, it has been tried before, and they
didn't work because...

With much thanks,

Paul 

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