[Diabetes-Talk] what am I doing wrong?

Tue Jan 1 19:11:15 UTC 2019

Amber,

     There should be a class either through the diabetes center or the hospital.  Where do you live?  I'm in Iowa, and I never know where people on this list live.  

I have had to purchase my Prodigy myself, even though my pharmacy was able to order it for me.  There is a man on this site, I believe his name is Jerry who has information on how blind diabetics can get Prodigy meters and strips for a very minimal cost.  I'll see if I can find the information, since I'm pretty sure I saved it in my drafts.

Many of the things that sighted people are offered for free  doesn't apply for us, which is a shame.  I have received free meters in the mail, which I just give to my diabetic educator to give to someone who can't afford one.  I also have to buy raised line checks from my bank instead of getting free ones.  However, I think I heard that banks aren't even giving free ones to sighted customers anymore.  If you need your bank to order them, go through Deluxe.com.  Their raised lines are so much better than the other company that makes them.  

				Jamie

-----Original Message-----
From: Diabetes-Talk <diabetes-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of Amber Wallenstein via Diabetes-Talk
Sent: Tuesday, January 1, 2019 12:54 PM
To: Diabetes Talk for the Blind <diabetes-talk at nfbnet.org>
Cc: Amber Wallenstein <amber.wallens at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [Diabetes-Talk] what am I doing wrong?

I was finally able to get a reading after I took a hot shower: warmed up my hands, and gave them a brisk massage. The needle had to be on the highest setting.
I didn’t get this meter through insurance.  I bought it on amazon. My insurance was going to fight with my doctor about giving me a talking meter and it was going to keep me from coming home from the hospital so I just avoided the whole insurance issue for the meter and bought one myself.  they will be covering my CGM though when I get it.
I worked with a diabetes educator and really liked her  She gave me the same tips you all did. At the time I worked with her though, I was so tired and stressed a lot of what she said didn’t register. I just wanted to go home.  It would probably be a good idea for me to go to a diabetes education class if there is such a thing.
Amber

> On Jan 1, 2019, at 1:40 PM, Jude DaShiell via Diabetes-Talk <diabetes-talk at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> 
> The educators aren't doing a satisfactory job of it otherwise this 
> type of traffic wouldn't be on this list after a client had worked 
> with them for a while.  So that sighted assistance is of limited use 
> at best.  As for be my eyes, a volunteer can tell a user what is going 
> on at the time the user connects with them which likely will vary a 
> little from day to day.  Becoming used to the variability and noting 
> what activities preceeded a reading may for some people start to put 
> some kind of useful data set together.  If this happened I can then 
> expect that to happen ...
> For the record, I've never met or worked with a diabetes educator 
> myself I came into this the hard way.
> 
> On Tue, 1 Jan 2019, Bridgit Kuenning-Pollpeter via Diabetes-Talk wrote:
> 
>> Date: Tue, 1 Jan 2019 12:49:34
>> From: Bridgit Kuenning-Pollpeter via Diabetes-Talk 
>> <diabetes-talk at nfbnet.org>
>> To: 'Diabetes Talk for the Blind' <diabetes-talk at nfbnet.org>
>> Cc: Bridgit Kuenning-Pollpeter <bkpollpeter at gmail.com>
>> Subject: Re: [Diabetes-Talk] what am I doing wrong?
>> 
>> But how is having someone sighted going to help a blind person learn 
>> to do it nonvisually?
>> 
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Diabetes-Talk <diabetes-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of 
>> Jude DaShiell via Diabetes-Talk
>> Sent: Tuesday, January 1, 2019 11:17 AM
>> To: Amber Wallenstein via Diabetes-Talk <diabetes-talk at nfbnet.org>
>> Cc: Jude DaShiell <jdashiel at panix.com>
>> Subject: Re: [Diabetes-Talk] what am I doing wrong?
>> 
>> If you fail after three attempts it's not a good day for readings.
>> Before an attempt, you might try stretching all parts of your body in 
>> order to maybe get some circulation up and going.  On your first day, 
>> your body was surprised by what you did to it which is probably why you succeeded.
>> Today, your body is now apprehensive and reacting accordingly.  Try 
>> rinsing your hands in warm water and see if you can get some 
>> circulation up that way.  If you have be my eyes on your phone or 
>> tablet, you can connect with a volunteer and ask them to look at the 
>> specific areas of your fingers and tell you if any of those areas are 
>> pink.  If you got a pink area, likely there's an available donation 
>> for your new metal vampire available.  When I started doing my own 
>> testing be my eyes wasn't even available since at that time it didn't exist.
>> 
>> On Tue, 1 Jan 2019, Amber Wallenstein via Diabetes-Talk wrote:
>> 
>>> Date: Tue, 1 Jan 2019 12:02:31
>>> From: Amber Wallenstein via Diabetes-Talk <diabetes-talk at nfbnet.org>
>>> To: Diabetes Talk for the Blind <diabetes-talk at nfbnet.org>
>>> Cc: Amber Wallenstein <amber.wallens at gmail.com>
>>> Subject: Re: [Diabetes-Talk] what am I doing wrong?
>>> 
>>> Bridgit:
>>> 
>>> Thanks for the ideas. I just don?t understand what I?m doing wrong 
>>> today
>> that I wasn?t doing wrong yesterday.
>>> I have no access to sighted people to help me with this, so I?m just
>> trying every method I can think of to try.
>>> Also I don?t qualify for MediCare, so I?m at the whim of my 
>>> insurance
>> company.
>>> I will keep trying. I?m going to run out of test strips soon, LOL. 
>>> But I
>> feel this skill is one I have to have in case the Libre I get goes 
>> down for some reason.
>>> Amber
>>> 
>>>> On Jan 1, 2019, at 10:32 AM, Bridgit Kuenning-Pollpeter via
>> Diabetes-Talk <diabetes-talk at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>>>> 
>>>> Plenty of totally blind people test their blood sugars with success 
>>>> every day. Even sighted people can struggle in the beginning with 
>>>> testing; nurse educators don't just see blind patients, grin. Sight 
>>>> can make it more convenient in the beginning, but I don't think 
>>>> it's
>> necessarily a sight vs.
>>>> blindness thing. Some of us don't have many problems testing 
>>>> nonvisually, and some of us need more practice and patience. But 
>>>> it's the same for sighted diabetics; I speak with experience here, 
>>>> grin. So, it's very much an individual situation here and not 
>>>> always specific to how much or little we see.
>>>> 
>>>> Amber, I'm sorry it's so frustrating right now. Perhaps using the 
>>>> highest setting on the lancer is giving too much blood? Just keep 
>>>> practicing and try as many methods you can think of. When you go to 
>>>> the endo office, they wipe the finger after poking then squeeze 
>>>> again to try to avoid smearing, so, maybe try that.
>>>> 
>>>> Bridgit
>>>> 
>>>> -----Original Message-----
>>>> From: Diabetes-Talk <diabetes-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of 
>>>> Jude DaShiell via Diabetes-Talk
>>>> Sent: Tuesday, January 1, 2019 9:19 AM
>>>> To: Amber Wallenstein via Diabetes-Talk <diabetes-talk at nfbnet.org>
>>>> Cc: Jude DaShiell <jdashiel at panix.com>
>>>> Subject: Re: [Diabetes-Talk] what am I doing wrong?
>>>> 
>>>> My guess is you smeared the strip.  The blood needs to drip through 
>>>> the air onto the strip in order for you not to smear the strip.
>>>> This is why Medicare doesn't recommend totally blind people do 
>>>> their independent blood sugar testing.  Much easier for those with 
>>>> sight to do
>> this.
>>>> 
>>>> On Tue, 1 Jan 2019, Amber Wallenstein via Diabetes-Talk wrote:
>>>> 
>>>>> Date: Tue, 1 Jan 2019 09:54:30
>>>>> From: Amber Wallenstein via Diabetes-Talk 
>>>>> <diabetes-talk at nfbnet.org>
>>>>> To: Diabetes Talk for the Blind <diabetes-talk at nfbnet.org>
>>>>> Cc: Amber Wallenstein <amber.wallens at gmail.com>
>>>>> Subject: [Diabetes-Talk] what am I doing wrong?
>>>>> 
>>>>> I got my meter on Sunday. Sunday and yesterday I did OK with it.
>>>>> Today,
>>>> however, no matter what I do it says my blood sample is not enough.
>>>> It beeps like it?s going to test, and does it really quickly like I 
>>>> got enough of a sample on the strip but no matter what it won?t do 
>>>> a reading.  I know there is plenty of blood because I can feel it 
>>>> on my
>> skin.
>>>>> Is something defective or am I doing something wrong?  Like I said 
>>>>> I did
>>>> fine yesterday.
>>>>> I am finding the meter super frustrating to be honest.  But I want 
>>>>> to be
>>>> able to use it successfully when needed.
>>>>> Amber
>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>> Diabetes-Talk mailing list
>>>>> Diabetes-Talk at nfbnet.org
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>>>>> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info 
>>>>> for
>>>> Diabetes-Talk:
>>>>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/diabetes-talk_nfbnet.org/jdashie
>>>>> l
>>>>> %40
>>>>> panix.com
>>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> --
>>>> 
>>>> 
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>>>> e
>>>> r%40hotm
>>>> ail.com
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> _______________________________________________
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>>> 
>>> 
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>>> 40
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>>> 
>> 
>> 
> 
> --
> 
> 
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