Gifts for people with diabetes ( diabetics ): Blood test machines

Among the tools available to diabetics are blood test machines , many of which are no bigger than a mobile phone. Several blood test machines come with their own software, which means that you can keep a list of your results on your home or work PC, saving you the tedium of writing down the results all day long.

Having now earned myself a degree from the University of Stating the Obvious, I can tell you that if your blood test machine is easy for you to use, then you will use it. If it’s not, then you won’t. Using your blood test machine will give you vital information to help you control the condition (better that way around than it controls you – limiting your life in terms of both quality and duration).

As a diabetes gift, you’d need to figure out which blood test machine might appeal most to the recipient. The fact is that most of blood test machines are now really neat and most do the job very well and have a host of features and benefits, like a mobile phone (let’s face it, most of us don’t now half of what our mobiles can do – and blood test machines are the same!). Some of the ones you might want to take a look at are as follows, where I’ve picked a specific feature or benefit that might be of interest as a diabetes gift.

SMALLEST: The freestyle mini from Lifescan (by Johnson and Johnson). It really is weeny yet it does everything it oughta! A very good diabetic gift for a child, or for someone who needs to keep a machine in a pocket for easy or frequent access.

THE SMARTEST: Well, the One-Touch Ultra Smart, also from Lifescan, does so much I can’t be bothered to list it here. A great diabetes gift for the more geeky (and I include myself in that category – I have one of these and am happily boggled by what it can do).

THE ONES WITH THE MOST BACK-UP: In the UK, no one can beat the Accu-Chek range of blood test machines (the Aviva, Active, Compact and Compact Plus), by Roche) for back up. Their website is good, but there’s also a dedicated 24-hour 7-days a week customer care line. You can’t ask for more.

THE ALL-IN-ONE: One of the Accu-chek range, the Compact Plus is majorly cool. Perhaps a sad statement ever to be made about a blood testing device, but if you have to stab your finger up to four times a day, you might as well like the tool you have to work with. but the best bit is that the finger-pricker is welded to the side and it uses a drum of sensors – 17 of them loaded up at one time. So you don’t have to change the sensor every time
A great diabetes gift for the lazy (fewer bits to fiddle with), the sporty (fewer bits to fiddle with and drop) and those with a slight Star Wars fixation (this is black, with a neon display -- and all a bit ‘Darth Vader’ and all the better for it).

TESTS KEYTONES AS WELL AS BLOOD GLUCOSE: A little-known fact but each Optium Xceed from Medisense (from Abbott) can take sensors that read blood glucose levels and also ketones, should they be present. A great diabetes gift for those who maybe suffer from high blood sugars or other illnesses that mean ketones are an issue.