pippaandben
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 2
A cautionary tale!! Have just returned from 2 weeks holiday in the Canary Islands. I use an Accu-Chek Mobile meter which uses a 50 test cassette. On the second day the cassette ran out - but no problems as I had taken 2 spares with me. They had been in my "diabetes holiday bag" since our last holiday in February. Unfortunately the thought had not even occurred to me to check the expiry date and it was 30 September!! This was 8 October but meter would not accept either cassette. This resulted in in frantic rush taxi to nearest large pharmacy. They did not stock the cassettes required and after phone call found they could not even order them. The cost for the cheapest meter ( which only came with 10 strips) was 40 euros and a drum of 50 strips a further 50 euros. She seemed surprised to find I tested an absolute minimum of 5 times a day.
After consulting the head pharmacist they came up with a One Touch Select Plus which had an out of date sample drum with it so they let me have that plus 50 strips for 53 euros. They tyhren had to spend at least 30 minutes working out how to set it up and use it as there were no English instructions - only Spanish, Italian and Portuguese. Did the first test and of course it was in mg/dl. So another 15 minutes whilst they checked on line to find the conversion ratio and told me that and the equivalent of the 4.5-8.5 range!!
Now I will be contacting the Johnson and Johnson to get an English version of the handbook so I can understand the error messages!
Having said all that I was really pleased about the compactedness of this machine with a very small pricker attached on one side and drum carrier underneath the small meter all slotting onto a plastic carrier and within a zip case
The moral of this story is 2 fold. Always check the expiry dates on any strips or cassettes in case the meter computer says "NO" plus always ensure you have a spare meter with you (as well as spare pens, needles, batteries, needle cassettes etc etc)
After consulting the head pharmacist they came up with a One Touch Select Plus which had an out of date sample drum with it so they let me have that plus 50 strips for 53 euros. They tyhren had to spend at least 30 minutes working out how to set it up and use it as there were no English instructions - only Spanish, Italian and Portuguese. Did the first test and of course it was in mg/dl. So another 15 minutes whilst they checked on line to find the conversion ratio and told me that and the equivalent of the 4.5-8.5 range!!
Now I will be contacting the Johnson and Johnson to get an English version of the handbook so I can understand the error messages!
Having said all that I was really pleased about the compactedness of this machine with a very small pricker attached on one side and drum carrier underneath the small meter all slotting onto a plastic carrier and within a zip case
The moral of this story is 2 fold. Always check the expiry dates on any strips or cassettes in case the meter computer says "NO" plus always ensure you have a spare meter with you (as well as spare pens, needles, batteries, needle cassettes etc etc)
