Number 53; January 16, 2003
Rafting down the “Green” River |
This newsletter keeps you up-to-date with new articles, columns, and Web pages that I have written. I list and link most of these on my Diabetes Directory at www.mendosa.com/diabetes.htm
From time to time Diabetes Update may also include links to other Web pages of special interest.
My most recent contributions are:
Updates include:
Personally, I just got a new Accu-Chek Compact meter. My new health insurance provider only covers meters and strips from Roche (Accu-Chek) and Abbott MediSense (Precision Xtra or Q.I.D only). I switched from an alternative site meter, the Precision Sof-Tact, which uses MediSense test strips that the insurance doesn’t cover. I was reluctant to switch from the Sof-Tact, because testing with it is almost always essentially painless even if it took more time than most new meters.
My new Compact meter is quite fast, uses a small drop of blood, small, and very convenient with a drum containing 17 test strips, which I never even have to touch. I never thought that I would go back to testing on my finger tips, but it is not quite as bad as I remembered.
Previously I used a LifeScan One Touch Basic, One Touch Profile, One Touch FastTake, One Touch Ultra, Bayer Glucometer Dex, Glucometer Elite XL, TheraSense FreeStyle. In addition, I tested half dozen others briefly for my articles. The Compact has to rate with me as the easiest and most convenient to use of any of these meters. Theoretically, the Glucometer Dex 2, which uses a 10-strip cartridge, comes close, but is considerably bigger and my experience with its predecessor, the Glucometer Dex, was quite unsatisfactory in terms of accuracy.
BD has a good point (pun not intended) in emphasizing the lancet used with the company’s new meters. BD is noted as the quality (high-cost) producer of syringes and lancets. The BD Ultra-Fine 33 Lancets are the thinnest lancets on the market. My guess is that they are 33 gauge, but it is just a reasonable guess, because nowhere does the BD site explicitly make that point (a customer service representative confirms that they are 33 gauge). I have long used the 30 gauge BD Ultra-Fine II Lancets and would love to switch to the finer lancets. But BD says they will only work with the BD Lancet device and with the new BD meters. However, a customer service representative says that the new 33 gauge lancets will fit in a regular BD lancing device, which of course is the same size as most other lancing devices. Maybe the problem is that the drop of blood that the new lancets provide might be too small to use with any other brand of meter (except TheraSense meters, which use the same small blood sample), but I will certainly test the new lancets as soon as I can buy them.
I have updated my “On-line Diabetes Resources Part 14: Blood Glucose Meters” Web page at http://www.mendosa.com/meters.htm accordingly.
Research News
“The effect of CRP is especially acute for patients with diabetes and metabolic syndrome,” Sridevi Devaraj, a co-investigator and assistant professor of pathology at UC Davis, says in the university’s press release.
There had already been considerable concern about CRP among some of us who have diabetes. One of the diabetes mailing lists that I subscribe to has included several messages encouraging us to get our CRP level tested. So, last week I asked my endocrinologist why he hadn’t ordered a CRP test for me. His reply was interesting and persuasive.
“I wouldn’t know what to make of the results,” he replied. “Because you have diabetes, I already know that you are at risk of heart disease.”
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David Mendosa:
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