People with diabetes have to be very careful while choosing the diabetes meter in order to monitor the glucose levels on a regular basis.
Posted on Sun, 23 Aug 2009 00:00:00 -0600 at
http://www.healthguidance.org/entry/1137...Meter.html
Author: no@email.com (Jonathan Pitts)
Decide on your preference about a larger or smaller glucose monitoring meter. Some of them measure 3 – 4 inches in width and length and can weight anywhere between 1 – 5 ounces. If you plan to carry this device in the pocket, size is also a factor to be considered. However, if you are planning to carry it in a backpack, it may not be a big problem. Some people prefer to carry the meter safely in a carrying case and it may become bulky if the meter is big in size.
Small meters may not be useful to read the display readings correctly, hence if you have problems with your vision, you can choose bigger meters. There are diabetic meters specially designed for the visually challenged people with larger display screen and also audio display of results through a voice.
The amount of blood taken in a sample is also a consideration, especially if you are going to be a regular user of these kits. Some of the models use 0.3 ml of blood per test while some models consume 1 ml of blood to give a perfect reading.
The built-in memory of the diabetic meters varies. While some can store values of just 10 – 125 tests, some of them can record 250 or 500 tests! Very advanced diabetic meters can store results of even 3,000 tests!
Most of the meters give you the ability to email your results to the doctor. But most of the meters are incompatible with Mac OS.
Some of the glucose meters give accurate reading only when the sample is taken from certain areas like upper arm or palm, while many meters are approved for testing from sample taken from alternate areas like leg or forearm.
My friend has one that does not require a calibration code. I would recommend that. On the ones that do, if you mess up the code, you will get inaccurate readings.