A lot of people think that testing blood sugar is a quick, easy, and a painless process. Well, testing blood sugar has an even bigger struggle than meets the eye.

Genteel

Today while I was in science class watching a video on energy pyramids and food webs, I felt my phone buzz. When I checked the text, I saw that it was from my mom and she texted me “look what came in the mail!”. I instantly knew that it meant that my Genteel had finally arrived after 2 weeks! If you don’t already know, a Genteel is a lancing device (what I use to prick myself). The thing that makes Genteel so special is that it only goes down to the blood capillaries, and not the pain nerves. And instead of having to squeeze out blood from my fingers, it uses suction to get it out for me! This means that well, it hurts less! I am so happy because my previous lancing device was pretty painful, and this one hurts less!

Testing

Now for the fun part, actually testing my blood sugar (sarcastic yay.) First I need to clean my blood site by washing it with water or using alcohol. I then need to insert a test strip into my glucometer. After that, I actually put the lancing device onto the site and press the button so it can draw blood (which was painful with my last lancing device.) I then need to take the site over to my glucometer and put the blood into the test strip. If it does not fill it up completely, then I have to restart at square one. I then read my number and do something based on whatever reason that I needed to test! It’s even more difficult if my hands are shaking from a low and it’s extremely difficult to keep the lancing device in one spot! Seems a lot more difficult than what they show you in the diabetes ads!

The conclusion

Does the Genteel make testing my blood sugar completely easy? NO! But does it make testing my sugar easier and less painful? YEP! T1D is a heavy load to carry around everywhere, but things like this can take a few pounds off!

(Below) me using my brand new Genteel!