Accu-Check Active Blood Glucose Monitor

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Value for Money

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yes

Full review

Diabetes

I’m diabetic and have been for the past five years, I Have type one diabetes which occurs in the young, due to the fact that the beta cells in the pancreas attack the insulin producing cells. The main thing with diabetes is to keep your blood sugar at an acceptable level. The normal range is between 4-7 mmols. Type two diabetes is diagnosed later in life when the pancreas becomes less able to cope and produces less insulin.

No matter what type of diabetes you have it must be taken seriously, there seems to be a myth that type 2 is less serious this is not true. Abnormal blood sugars can cause a whole raft of serious side effects including blindness, kidney damage, loss of limbs and heart disease. Bad control also can delay wound healing and there is a higher risk of infection.

SO HOW DO WE MEASURE SUGAR LEVELS

There are now hundreds of glucose monitors on the market today, the one I use is the Glucotrend Accu-Chek Active, boots currently have them on sale for £15.99 remember if you have type one you don’t have to pay vat on medical equipment so you fill in a vat free declaration form and get it cheaper. I got mine free from the diabetic clinic.

The machine comes with a finger pricker, a small vial of test strips and a few lancets. You need to set the time date and whether you want it on 12h or 24h clock.

You should then wash your hands, then remove a lancet and place it in the pricker. Then remove the chip from the test strips and insert it into the machine. Every time you get a new set of strips you will also get a new chip the chip must be changed with every new set of strips or the machine will not work properly. Remove a test strip and place it into the machine with the coloured pad facing upwards, there is only one place to put the strip and you need to push it in as far as it will go, the machine will then turn on automatically and will display a code, you should check this matches the code on the vial of strips.

You then need to hold the pricked against where you are taking blood from, I use my fingers make sure you use a different finger every time, you can use your earlobe as well. You then need to apply the blood to the strip; you can remove the strip to do this or leave it in and just stick your finger on the pad. When enough blood has been applied it will beep, then a time glass will appear. After 5 seconds your result will appear. Older machines could take up to 2 minutes to give readings, this is a nightmare in an emergency as if someone is going hypo you want a result now.

If the reading is below 4 you should eat some long acting carbohydrate, if it is below 3 you should have sugar now and some longer acting carbohydrate. If it below 2 you should be unconscious and some should give you hypo stop, or glucagon.

The thing I like about this machine is it is small look a bit like a small mobile, is very light weight, and has a memory of 200 readings. It also has a black nylon case which has a space for the finger pricked and a hole to keep your vials of strips.

You can also buy software to download your readings into and it gives you pretty graphs of your readings. I’ve never bought the software I can’t be bothered with pretty graphs.

Also the strips for the machine are available on prescription, be aware they cost over £29.00 if bought over the counter. The lancets for the pricked are also on script.

Remember diabetes is a very serious condition and a bloody nightmare to live with, keeping a level blood sugar is not easy, foods send you high so does stress, infections make blood sugar v v v hard to control.

This machine works for me but it may not for others take from this what you will.

Ps if you have type one diabetes you are eligible for free prescriptions. You can get a form from your gp or local benefits office.

Love n Hugz to you all