I just had a prescription filled for 800 lancets, and when I opened the bag at home, I discovered that my pharmacy had filled the prescription with 800 OneTouch Delica lancets. While the "comfortable testing" idea with the new "extra fine 33 gauge tip" may be fine for those who are newly diagnosed with diabetes, I am not sure they will work for me. I have been diabetic for 48 years which has made my fingertips as tough as leather. (Yes, I know I could start using my arms for testing... I just have not done so yet.) I currently am using a 28 gauge lancet, and I sometimes have trouble drawing blood even with those. If you have been testing for a long time, do you find that you have any trouble with the Delica 33 gauge lancets?
I have been testing for 18 years, 15 of them pre CGM(2x tests/day) and the delica works great for me. It is mostly painless. You just have to set the depth, I use 1 or 2, but, it goes much deeper than that.
I liked the Delica lancet device for its size & ease of use but I did notice that a higher depth was required on me. One of my CDE’s said that many tell him that.
That same CDE gave me an AccuChek FastClix lancing device to try and now I don’t use anything else. I LOVE that the lancet sharps are self contained in a barrel cartridge, making disposal much safer. They do cost more, as they tend not to be the ‘preferred’ product for most insurances. But I tend to reuse the lancet (I just don’t advance the cartridge) for several sticks, sometimes even an entire day. For me, the convenience, good blood flow, and safer disposal all outweigh the higher cost & it’s larger size.
I'm on and Aspirin regiment. Zero problems drawing blood, and sometimes get to test even when I wasn't expecting too... :) 43 years Type 1.
The best advice ever that I got from this forum is that there is no need to replace lancets after a single use. I typically reuse lancets a couple hundred times. This means that one box of lancets lasts almost 10 years. My current stash will last at least 100 years.
SherryAnn I have been doing this since 1962 so I like you have been through all the pre blood testing tests. Not great or accurate but what we had. I had been using a OneTouch Ultra Soft lancing device and actually wore it out. Who would have thought it. Only choice locally was the Delica and didn't want to change as I had lots of old lancets left. Still had to switch. The Delcia has been fine but I had to max out the depth adj.to draw blood. Mechanic for 40 years. Want to see leather? Will see how long this one will last. Just like Helmut I change lancets every third week if I think of it. And yes I test minimum of six to nine times a day. It should do fine. Best of health. Michael
I am not too concerned about the actual lancing device, other than I have a rather generic one from CVS and I do not know if the Delica will fit in it. Did you have to throw out all of your old lancets because they did not fit the Delica device? I can always go out and buy the Delica lancing device after I use up my current lancets. I, too, wore out the old One Touch lancing device which is why I just use the generic one from CVS. My main concern was that if I get into these Delica lancets, they will not draw blood.
As far as the lancets go, I change once a day. The nurse at my endo told me that if I did not change it every morning, I would find that the needle tip would get more and more round which made penetration of my tough skin even more difficult, and that I was risking infection. So once a day does it for me, and I have no trouble with that.
Thanks for your response.
I was warned to change at least once a day which is what I do. If I do not do that, the needle gets too dull and rounded, making penetration of the skin much more difficult and painful. Also, a nurse warned me that if I did not change at least once a day, I would risk getting an infection. I test 8 - 12 times a day, so my prescription is written for 800 lancets. At once a day, those lancets, like my last prescription, will last me over two years. My concern was if the fine needle would actually go into my skin! My other concern is that if these needles are a finer gauge (33 instead of the current 28 gauge that I am using), that they would bend and round more quickly, making two a day necessary instead of my usual one a day. Time will tell.
Update. I took all of the lancets back to CVS drugstore and told them the lancets did not fit my lancet device. When they asked me what I used, I said, "Yours. I have a CVS lancing device." They took back the 800 lancets with no problem and gave me 800 Freestyle lancets that will work with the CVS device. What could they say? I am happy and they can sell the returned lancets to someone who had the Delica device. All is good.