(NAPS)—If you are among the estimated 29 million people with diabetes in the U.S., keeping your blood sugar in a healthy range is key to preventing or delaying long-term complications such as kidney, eye and heart disease. When used properly, regular blood sugar monitoring can help you and your healthcare professional detect high and low blood sugar and make therapy and lifestyle adjustments.
Unfortunately, many people with diabetes don’t test their blood sugar as recommended by their healthcare professional because of psychological or emotional reasons.
In a study of more than 800 people with diabetes, three key reasons were given for disliking and avoiding testing blood sugar:
- It’s a burden, it takes work;
- It’s not viewed as worthwhile;
- It’s often a demotivating experience when, despite their best efforts, their blood sugar levels are frequently out of range.
“Many people may feel overwhelmed by too much information, information that isn’t clear, or simply by the day-to-day effort required to manage diabetes,” explains Dr. William Polonsky, co-founder and president of the Behavioral Diabetes Institute.
New Tools Can Help
Fortunately, there are new tools that can help. For example, the new OneTouch Verio® Blood Glucose Monitoring System can help people better understand their blood sugar test results with no extra work.
Easy to use, the meter features a color-coded range indicator that shows whether a result is within (Green), below (Blue) or above (Red) the customizable range limits set in the meter. When the meter displays a low result, it prompts the user to treat for the low glucose result and retest in 15 minutes.
“Knowing at a glance what your result means is important because another study has shown that nearly one third of people say they can’t make sense of their results,” says Dr. Polonsky. “The OneTouch Verio® Meter can help patients feel more confident about managing their blood sugar by providing feedback about their results and opportunities for better control.”
The meter also looks for signs of progress and provides positive reinforcement through two types of progress notes. An “achievement” message is displayed when the current result is in range following three consecutive above range results. A “consistency” message appears when 70 percent of results in the past seven days are in range.
After using the meter for a week, 94 percent of people with diabetes said it made their test results simple to understand.1
The system is available where diabetes supplies are sold with an estimated retail price of $19.99. For more information, visit www. OneTouch.com.
A new device can help people with diabetes better understand their blood sugar test results with no extra work and feel more confident about managing their blood sugar.
