Blood Sugar Monitor

Patients that suffer with Type II diabetes can take medication to control their blood sugar level. Yet a patient must count on a blood sugar monitor to indicate when that medicine should be taken. Because the use of a blood sugar monitor has traditionally demanded the securing of a blood sample and also the use of test strips, most diabetics have tended to shrink from performing frequent checks of their blood sugar level. That fact may be changing, thanks to a new type of monitor, one made by a pharmaceutical company that is more often associated with various types of aches and pains.A new blood sugar monitor, one produced by the Bayer Corporation, promises to do away with the need for test strips. It may also do away with any need for a blood sugar monitor log book. Bayer has called its new blood sugar monitor the Glucometer DEX Diabetes Care System.

The diabetic patient who chooses to use a Glucometer tends to perform more daily tests of his or her blood sugar level. That is because the Glucometer has made the testing process much simpler. With the Glucometer, a test cartridge replaces the test strip. The Glucometer draws a tiny drop of blood into a test cartridge. That is the primary way in which the Glucometer differs from the conventional blood sugar monitor.

Yet that is not the only reason that the Glucometer can be seen as an improvement over the conventional blood sugar monitor. The Glucometer has an electronic memory, one that allows it to store up to 100 test results. In addition, the reading on the Glucometer can provide added information, i.e. more than the single reading, which shows-up on a conventional blood sugar monitor.

The Glucometer does give the monitor user a chance to see his or her current blood sugar level, but it offers a diabetic more than just that. It also tells the diabetic what his or her average reading has been for the past 2 weeks. That is why the Glucometer appears ready to end any need for a monitor log book.

In the past the diabetic had no good way to maintain a record of his or her monitor readings. In the past, the diabetic would need to record those readings in some type of log, in order to watch carefully how changes in diet might have affected the blood sugar level. In the absence of such a log, the diabetic frequently lacked the needed incentive for making beneficial dietary changes.

The Glucometer does away with the need for any paper record. The Glucometer also saves the patient from needing to maintain an adequate supply of test strips. The user of the Glucometer does need to have on hand an extra cartridge. Once a cartridge has delivered 10 test samples to a test sensor, it then needs to be replaced.

The TV advertisements for the Glucometer highlight the degree to which its use can help to simplify the life of a diabetic. The Glucometer makes it much easier to incorporate frequent periods of monitoring into any daily schedule. A diabetic who manages to do more monitoring of his or her blood sugar level can achieve better control of that same level.

Provided with a chance to enjoy such advantages, will diabetics pay the Glucometer’s higher price? It is still too early to know the answer to that question.