The humble test strip
Something that bears the brunt of many jokes in the diabetes community is the test strip. If you haven't a clue what that is. No worries, I'll explain.
The test strip is a very small yet essential item for anyone living with diabetes. In order to keep blood glucose levels in check you have to take regular measurements with a blood sugar measuring device called a glucometer. Even if I wear a CGM (continuous blood glucose monitor) which measures blood sugar through an implanted device, I still need to calibrate my CGM or double check that the reading I'm getting is accurate. Especially in an emergency. Nothing worse than getting a false reading on my CGM and treating it with either insulin or glucose and then having either a low or high. Sound complicated? Not even the half of it.
Anyway I digress...
The test strip is inserted into the Glucometer, I prick my finger with a lancing device, place a minute amount of blood on the test strip and within 5 seconds I see the reading on a screen. Then I take the test strip out and supposedly dispose of it. The big question is where? One lone strip usually lands in the side pocket of my meter case, eventually 1 becomes 50 or 100 and before I know it little tiny test strips covered in droplets of red blood are literally falling out of my meter every time I open it. Too lazy to throw them in the rubbish I put them back in the side pocket only for them to fall out again the next time I go to test my blood sugar.
Stray test strips end up in car seat crevices, on the floor, in the bed, in the toilet, on the pavement, in my hair. I've even found a test strip in my soup. Yuk!
Getting the test strip out of the little round container in the middle of the night in the dark is also a total drag. It's bad enough having to get up to test my blood sugar but then when I waste a strip putting it in upside down and back to front... total headache! Plus if I don't get enough blood on the strip the machine tells me I have to test again. That's another waste of a strip.
Strips are made of plastic and as far as I know non recyclable. In fact most of what we use to manage diabetes is non recyclable. Talk about feeling guilty every time I test or inject. I just wish someone could invent a recyclable paper, bamboo or hemp test strip. In fact why not invent insulin pens, needle cases, devices out of hemp plastic or some other compostable equivalent. Anyone want to start a movement ?
The test strip is also a conversation piece. " What's that? My aunt has diabetes. How many times do you test? Does it hurt?"
The test strip is certainly not something to be undervalued or ignored. Before the test strip made its appearance on the world stage, the only way to know what your blood sugar reading was was to use a special solution mixed with urine then boiled to get a rough sense of the levels. Eventually a urine test strip was used and by the 80's there were home test kits like the one pictured below, but it took 5 minutes to get a reading.
Think about it, before the invention of insulin and diabetes technology we didn't know what we had. how to manage it or even how to stay alive. The humble test strip for all its foibles, annoyances and character flaws is an absolute life saver.
I for one will never leave home without it!
See you tomorrow for #NDAM #DiabetesAwarenessMonth
With great respect...
P.S. Check out the amazing Miss Diabetes and her latest cartoon about how to test your blood sugar here