any meter would be ok, most of us us the one touch brands, some do others, if you don't have insurance to help, then find a walmart near you and get the reli-on brand (their's) very inexpensive and the test strips are very affordable. My first meter came from my doctor, they get them from the medical sales reps

Hi there Ray, I started off with the One Touch mini meter and I moved to the Bayer (I think in the USA it is called the Ascensia) contour USB meter. There is apparently a brand that you can get at Walmart in the USA that works very well as well.

The kits come with I think 25 test strips and they can only be used once each. The test strips are the expensive part of the meter and this is where you can save a few dollars. You will also need lancets, the finger pokey things. While they say to replace the pokers every reading, I just change my lancet once per day. You should have a sharps container to dispose of the used lancets.

The procedure that you should use for poking your finger for testing is:
1-Wash your hands, Use warm soapy water and rinse well.. You can use alcohol swabs or hand sanitizer but good old fashioned soap and water works well.
2-Put your strip into the meter.
3-To start with, set your lancet at about the midway point. When you poke your finger, do it off to the side a bit, it will hurt less.
4-Squeeze a little bit around where you poked. this will make a little bigger drop of blood.
5-Gently touch the strip to the drop of blood, I try not to touch my finger but as long as your hands are clean you can touch your finger.
Wait for the reading.
6-Wipe your finger and record the reading in your log book.

Presto, you are finished put your stuff back into the kit and that is all. If you are taking an after meal reading take your reading 2 hours after the first food touches your lips. You should alternate fingers so you don't get too much callousing on one finger.

Now, here it comes, my blatant plug! If you want, register at http://pcmdr.ca and that part of yhour logging will get done for you :)

That is all there is to it.

Cheers,

lary

thanks so much for making me feel much better .

kindest regards

ray

los angeles

Ach Ray, look, we all know what you are going through. The first time I had to poke my finger it took me like almost half an hour to do it and then to top it off, I even had set the lancet way too deep!!!! I had cranked it up to the maximum depth and I thought the damned thing had gone through the other side of my finger. If you ask a question about something that I already know about it would be cruel for me to not say something wouldn't it? So, you ask and someone will answer you here, remember, you are not alone and we are here to help you.

Take care, my friend!!

lary