This Morning - Mendor Blood Tester

[martindt1606]

Did anyone see This Morning with Phillip Schofield today?

My daughter was watching it and called me in as there was a doctor on the programme demonstrating a new blood test machine which he claimed was aimed at Type 1 diabetics. It was called the Mendor and its primary selling point was that you could test quickly and discretely as the machine incorporates a lancet and test strips within it so all you need to carry is the Mendor device and you can test without a seperate lancet and without the need to insert a test strip.

I can see the benefit - I was at the UK athletics trials on Saturday and it would have been easier to test my blood with the Mendor as it is difficult to test when you need to insert a test strip and dont have a table or solid surface to put your monitor on whilst you use the lancet.

But is it any use for a T1 Diabetic?

I have grown used to my Aviva Expert analysing my current BS and proposed carb intake to recommend how much NovaRapid I should inject. It is a good starting point before adjusting for anything I plan to do over the next 4-5 hours.

Personnal preference (possibly) but why would any medical professional recommend a device for a T1 diabetic that did not have as a minimum the functionality of the Aviva Expert?

Why do I need to be discrete? Having to test my blood and inject insulin is a fact of my life. If someone doesn't want to see me self harm they can always look the other way

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

I've just seen/heard abou this too.

No doubt it will appeal to some, and they have clearly identified a concern that some people have.

ThoughI don't think it's right for them to say that this is a first as an all-in-one with a lancing device (Accuchek Compact Plus anyone?).

Many meters targeted for T1s do not have bolus advice (a bit of a can of worms I'd imagine approval-wise). Several new ones seem to be fixated on making testing 'on the go' easier. Rather than, say, making the meters far more accurate which would be rather more helpful IMO.

 

[Vicsetter]

Looking at the videos of the meter (http://www.mendor.com/en/Support.aspx), 3 things spring to mind:
1. They recommend you change the lancet after each measurement and this is hardly discreet.
2. You have to grab the test strip at the very small blood end to remove, getting a bloody finger in the process no doubt. (Sorry you don't have to do this for the Mylife Pura meter)
3. It only stores 250 readings (probably not worth thinking of 3 month averages then, which is why it only does 14 day average)

At ?59 and ?30 for 50 strips, it's also very expensive and ?9 for 100 lancets, it's also out of stock!, how can that be?

It came out in 2010.
Without encouraging other forums, there is a review on the other forum
from 'real users'

 

[trophywench]

I thought they were taking the hiss with the prices meself, esp since it only is , well - a pretty basic meter, all in all. Although someone said that should be ?39, it's still ?39 too much !