Karen asked:
My friend has type 2 diabetes and only tests himself when he feels bad. He goes to his parents house and borrows his mom’s kit. I want to buy him one that he can carry with him and is easy to use;doesn’t need alot of maintainance.
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What is the easiest and best diabetes monitoring kit?
12 replies on “What is the easiest and best diabetes monitoring kit?”
Go to the drug store and ask the pharmacist about a True Track Glucometer. My company Home Diagnostics Inc. manufactures these daily. If they have a problem with the meter we take care of it instantly
We like freestyle or free style flash its small you can test your forearms and legs instead of just your fingers its alot less painful! and you only need a pin size drop of blood My 6 yr old has Type 1 Diabetes and thats her favorite meter!
I use OneTouch Ultra 2 and I like it. You can test on fingers, palm, and forearm…
I use Free Style and love it, because I can test in other places other then my finger tips all the time. It only needs a small amount of blood compared to other monitors. I have the flash and the bigger one, but the flash is so small easy to keep in my purse.
Check with his insurance to see which meters and test strips are covered, and then select from those. Some insurance covers only one brand, others cover most of them.
OneTouch Ultra 2 it is fast and easy results in 5 seconds. Uses just a speck of blood, option to test on forearm, palm or finger tip. Blacklit display is easy to read. You can flag results as before and after meals and get before and after meal averages. You can add comments like not enough food, too much food,mild exercise, stress,illness,feel hypo or other.
Aug 2005, Consumer Reports did a study to judge the accuracy of meters. Perhaps you might not know that there is no standard and they can vary a lot from meter to meter.
# 1 in the Consumer Report study was One Touch Ultra Smart. # 2 was One Touch Ultra.
One Touch Ultra 2 came out last April and it’s acdcuracy is top notch too.
If he has insurance and you get your test strips from a Diabete suppier you can get the meter for free. I use
Diabete care services and they ship my test strips free. I pay a copay on my strips which is $30.00 for 100 strips.
I use the Accu-check Active meter. It allows you to use samples from your arm as well as fingertips, and the strips are medium-low in cost. It is very easy to use, takes seconds, and is very small and portable. The whole case it comes in is just a little bigger than a checkbook.
My insurance covers the cost of the strips and lancets. The monitor itself was under $20. Your friend should be testing at least once a day if he has been diagnosed with diabetes. His insurance should cover classes, as well as testing supplies.
I love the Freestyle Flash. It’s very easy to use, uses little blood, is small, light, and fast to use. It also has a lifetime warranty and great customer support. You can use alternative sites for less pain, and it has a backlight.
DOn’t buy a meter. Companies love to give them out free to encourage you to buy their strips.
My personal favorite is the freestyle flash.
There are a lot of companies that give glucose monitors away for free. He or you should contact his physician and ask for the names of some of the companies. A lot of them only require a physicians prescription to get one. Good luck.
My personal favorite is the accu-check compact. It is easy to carry and is ” virtually” painless. There are no codes or anything to deal with. Instead of putting one test strip in at a time, you insert the “drum” into the meter and it spits it out for you to do it and then again for you to throw it out! It really is a great meter!
I have to agree with several of the others. The freestyle flash is a great little machine. Easy to carry with you and takes just a tiny drop of blood. One thing I find to help me a lot is that it even has a little light so that you can test in the dark if necessary. for me, I travel a lot and it comes in real handy not to have to put a light on in the car and maybe disturb the driver.
My favorite is probably freestyle/freestyle flash. BUT check into his insurance agency first, because if his insurance doesn’t cover freestyle test strips, it’s best he doesn’t get hooked on that meter. Otherwise I love the Medtronic meter that is compatable w/ the MiniMed insulin pump. Get one that allows other testing sites, such as an arm.