Virtually Pain-Free
I finally made it though the last of my test strips with the lucky number 13 on them. Somehow I managed to time my next shipment of test strips to arrive two days before I ran out. I might have cut things a little close, but the prescription had to be renewed and thus added a slight delay to the whole process. I’m still not pleased with the “Tier 3″ status of my strips and the subsequent cost of each renewal. These things are vital to how I conduct my business as a person with Diabetes, why they cost so much is beyond me. Speaking of beyond me, I noticed a little blurb on the box of my FreeStyle test strips that made me scratch my head.
Riiiiiiiight
Virtually Pain-Free Testing, huh?
Maybe I’m just getting bitter in my old age but I read “Virtually Pain-Free” and wonder. I understand that the claim of virtually pain-free is specific to the blood testing and not the rest of living with Diabetes but my mind wanders. I can’t help it.
There is nothing “pain-free” about waking up in the middle of the night with a blood glucose below 50. There is nothing “pain-free” about injection after injection after injection. While the carb counting isn’t exactly painful, it does weigh down on me as I second guess insulin dosages and critique serving sizes. Seeing a blood glucose over 300 isn’t painful but it certainly hurts my pride.
There’s plenty the layman does not see day to day that I deal with when it comes to my Diabetes. They don’t see the pain on my face because I’ve had a lot of practice building up walls and hiding behind a facade. I’m living my life, but each and every day is a challenge that the pancreatically gifted cannot fathom.
Don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of good things going on in my life. It’s just that the day-to-day grind can overwhelm me at times. This isn’t easy.
So yes, FreeStyle Test Strip box, testing might be “Virtually Pain-Free”, but living with Diabetes is anything but.
Of course, I suppose living is anything but pain-free too.
Hmmmm.
Stop Diabetes
You missed it. “Virtually pain-free” means free of “virtual pain”, which is like virtual numbers and virtual particles, which, as we all know, are imaginary. When they start getting real stuff mixed up with them, then they become complex.
So the real pain remains, the imaginary pain is wiped away because the package tells you to think it won’t hurt. So you imagine it won’t hurt and are surprised as (expletive deleted) when it does.
QED
Personally, I think this is a crock. There are some lancets that make it less painful (Accu-Chek being one), but that’s NOTHING to do with the meter.
Unless they think that just needing an itsy-bitsy drop of blood means less pain. When I test, it’s really hard to just draw 0.3 mg of blood! The pain of drawing blood is the same whether it’s 0.3 mg or 1.0 mg for me.
It’s an advertising ploy to sell test strips, but the irony is that all test strips are pain-free anyway, its the lancet/lancet device that inflicts any pain, and they’re all poorly designed and therefore inflict some pain. The Pelikan Sun supposedly worked differently, but the company announced in December that they would stop selling the device and lancet cartridge, so now that’s gone, too. But the bigger issue is that the ad agencies that come up with these taglines are clueless about what they’re doing, and the company has been sold a marketing plan that is unimpressive, but probably way to expensive anyway!
Virtually pain free might be true if I used a fresh lancet every time like we’re supposed to, but who the f*ck wants to change lancets 10x a day? I change it when I move the clocks back or when it’s dull enough to make me swear in front of the kids while testing…
@tmana – LOL!
The “pain free”/”less painful” advert is aimed mainly at elderly T2s who test seldom, if at all (unless you’re on insulin, Medicare pays for so few tests it’s hardly worth it — even then, way too few IMO), and who have been around since the time of “fingertip only”. The premise is that with fewer nerve endings in the forearm and thinner-gauge lancets, there will be fewer nerves stimulated to a “pain” response.
For you old-time MDIers, consider the difference between 1950′s-era syringes and modern pens (heck, even modern needles).
As for me, sometimes I need the forearm just to get 0.1 microliters (Freestyle – smallest sample on the market) because my fingertips won’t always bleed. Perversely, some of the most painful lancet pricks I’ve had have been on the forearm.
I’m going to go out on a limb here (call me crazy) and say that at least it’s better than having to boil urine! Some of the folks I’ve talked with who have had type 1 for 60+ years really have amazing stories to tell.
It still sucks. It’s still a pain. It’s still not a cure. It could even be argued that it’s still “virtually” false advertisement… But I, for one, think it’s better than collecting and cooking up my pee. Anyone with me?
Apologies for being crass.