How many of you have more another one meter kit that you use on daily basis? I guess I am thinking more like, for the ladies, do you have one you keep at home and use it when you are at home and than keep a separate one in your bag or purse so you don't have to remember to throw your home kit in for when you are out? I would think it extremely convenient to have one in my purse at all times (because I know i will forget the darn thing plus I hate all the "getting ready" stuff and "taking it out" stuff- several times I had everything else but forget the strips!) and than just have one ready to use at home separately.
Also, how many of you properly dispose of your bio-waste? Meaning blood stained cotton balls, lancets, strips? I have been putting mine empty plastic soda bottle containers and I am right now on container #3. What do you do with them after they are full? Do you bring them to a hosptial or doctors office or do you just throw them in the trash?
I am just wondering how hosptial really dispose of their bio-waste. You see them put that stuff in the red containers but what do they do with it after that?
Back when I was first diagnosed, I stuck my bio-waste in detergent bottles and then dumped them out with the trash. These days, I say screw it, and throw everything away as soon as I’m done with it (though I make sure needles aren’t sticking out of my syringes and my lancets are capped). I think you’re supposed to carefully collect them, then take them to the doctor’s office for them to be carefully disposed of; what the doctor’s office does, we don’t know (or really care).
As to the meters: I’ve occasionally used two, in the exact way you suggest. I’d leave one at home and then one in my backpack (I don’t like purses; plus they don’t have tons of room for all the stuff diabetics need). Eventually, though, I went back to just one meter. When I was using two, I’d sometimes pull my backpack meter out and test at home and then forget it the next day, because I’d assume it was in the backpack. Anyway, these days, I would never go anywhere without my meter; I mean, it’s just not possible for me to forget it. I forgot it a couple of times when I was a kid and spent a couple of hellish weekends camping without insulin or meter.
I’d guess you could try either way, but, most likely, it will just become second nature to you soon enough.
I use one as my main meter (One Touch Ultra Link) and have 2-3 One Touch Minis stashed around for use when the other is not accessible (work and it my primary meter isn’t in my lab coat or pocket, in my ambulance turn out gear, up at my bedside if I forget my regular meter downstairs and I need to test at night),
Cotton swabs do not need to go into bio-waste unless they are saturated with blood (this is the guideline we use at the hospital where I work anyway -any item saturated/dripping in blood gets placed in a bio-hazard bag). Think about it - us females dispose of our waste monthly in the regular trash and it is definitely not just stained. Strips would not fall into the bio-hazard waste IMO. Needles, introdcer needles, pump tubing (I use MM which has needles within it where it ataches to the reservoir) lancets -in a sharps container and I bring them to work where they dispose of them - they will take from any community member a full sharps container for proper disposal. I obtain a sharps container from the mail order company I use who supplies my strips and lancets. I just online order one when I need a new one and it is covered by my insurance. Many hospitals have such a program - just call them - and any properly closed container (soda bottle, detergent bottle) should be accepted.
Hospitals, at least my hospital, has a company come in that specializes in sharps disosal - they collect and exchange the containers around the hospital, and incinerate them from what I have been told.
I have three meters I use. One stays at work, one at home, and one with me. I don’t have bloody cotton balls, and my strips either get put in the trash or stuck back in my meter case (then put in the trash). I rarely change lancets but these, along with needles go in a sharps container. It is illegal to dispose of Sharps in the regular garbage, even capped. My city has a container recycling program where you exchange full ones for empties. I have a small container at work and in the car. A medium one under the sink. And a BIG one (10 gallons) in the garage.
I really only mainly use one kit, but do have a smaller meter that uses the same strips, to double check the accuracy of my main meter sometimes. Because I’m on omnipod, and the PDM that has to be with me at all times has a built in meter, this is probably why. I do like the idea of two however!
Regarding my waste, where i live the hospital/doc’s offices won’t take sharps containers from the public, which I find totally weird! It’s a small town,so I think it would be safest to go this route, but, they won’t. They advise to put it all in a coffee can/coke bottle etc and duct tape it, but I have to admit I just throw all of my stuff in the garbage as is. I break off the actual needle from any syringes and take the plunger out. This is my way of assuring no one else can use it I cap the lancets and toss those too.
I have several extra meters as back-up, but carry the same one with me that I use at home.
I toss lancets (when I actually change them) & used strips in the trash. No different that throwing out a band-aid.
I cap syringes & put them in a plastic detergent bottle duct taped shut & write “Medical Waste” on the container. There is no bio-hazard disposal in my small town, so it’s allowed to be put with trash. I also bring used syringes to my vet. She gets rid of them (in the plastic detergent bottle) with her other bio waste.
Hospitals have pick-up of their bio hazards. Some places it gets incinerated.
I pretty much only use one meter at any given time. It’s easier for me to download my test results into the compatible software program. I do have a backup meter, if needed. I keep everything (except for the backup meter) in a really nice “kitbag” that I ordered online from a place in the UK. Here’s their website:
I’ve always used a sharps container for my used test strips, lancets, and needles. I usually take it to my doctor’s office for disposal. Because each state has different disposal laws, you may want to review the info at Safe Needle Disposal.org (http://www.safeneedledisposal.org/resslaws.html).
I throw away my “biohazards” for the simple reason that I DO NOT have a blood-borne illness. If I did, then perhaps I would reconsider, but I know that my waste products don’t pose a threat to someone via casual contact. There’s always the possibility that an IV drug user could rifle through my trash and use one of my needles to spread something THEY have, but reality is, there’s no stopping that no matter how I dispose of my sharps… therefore it’s not my problem.
I have probably a dozen different meters… and two I use regularly.
I have a bunch of meters but only two I use regularly. My primary meter is my One Touch Link which beams my BG readings to my MiniMed Pump.
My other meter is my One Touch Mini which I keep in my Spibelt in my gym bag. I use it when I’m running or hiking.
As for medical waste, my pump supplies go straight in the trash. My lancets - the 10 or so I discard each year, also go in the trash. My meter strips collect in my meter case until I decide to throw them in the regular trash.
I don’t have any sharps anymore but when I did I collected them in a sharps container then sealed them and sent them to my local pharmacy, which agreed to take them for me.
Sarah I understand what you are saying, but if someone gets stuck with one of your needles (I have been stuck) they do not know that you do not have a blood-borne illness. There is the stress of not knowing if you are now infected and the medical expenses associated with an unknown needle stick.
The only thing with this is that if a trash man/person happens to get stuck with a sharp, they do not know who it came from and it will weigh heavily on them -as in they may need to take HIV prophylaxis, etc. I work in health care and if I was to get stuck with an unknown person’s sharp, it would freak me out - and I would be jumping for the HIV prevention meds and be praying for a long time that I didn’t seroconvert to HIV or hepatitis. While HIV prophylaxis meds MAY work, there is no prophylaxis or treatment for Hep C. It is bad enough getting stuck with some one’s needle that you can test, let alone, being stuck with someone’s who who have no idea about.
I was thinking the same thing. Several times I’ve had raccoons get into my trash with a lid on (we now secure it closed better) & trash was strewn in the street on trash pick-up day. I wouldn’t want to see syringes out like that.
I have two meters I use the one I carry around with me in my bag its my best friend always there by my side.lol
The other stays one at home just incase something happens to the one on me. my strips either get put in the trash or stuck back in my meter case (then put in the trash).Everything sharp goes in a sharps container when the sharps bin is full I take it to my GP and they dispose it,we cant throw it away in normals bins incase someone gets injuried and I could get sued.
Good question. I have a mini One Touch in my purse, and I keep another mini in my desk drawer at school, and I keep an Ultra Smart near my bed.
I have these little rectangle containers to keep my strips/lancets in after I’ve used them. One fits in my purse quite nicely, and I can bring one to my desk drawer also.
At home, I have a red waste container that will not only store used pen needles, but also clip the needle. I used to use a metal coffee can and bring the full one to the hospital when I used syringes. I think I just threw the syringes away. Now, I do throw my empty pen right in the trash.
But my new endo says just to throw them in the trash, so that’s why I use one of those red containers, so the disposal site or trashman sees what they are. The endo’s office AND hospital doesn’t like to take them from me in either containers.
I have two meters One touch Medtronic Meter that I use all the time and one for back up in my D cabinet. It goes in my purse, on the kitchen counter, beside the bed, at the computer when I am working, all over the place with me.
What do I do with my test strips? I have a little “tic-tac” box that I keep in my pouch. I just place my used ones in the tic-tac box. Then when I put a new container of strips in my pouch I empty it in to my milk jug.
Butttt… we all know that some of our used strips wind up in the cup holder in the car, the vacuum cleaner, on the floor, in the bottom of our purses, in the drawers in the bathroom. I once found one laying on the side walk in front of my house. Opps! it fell out of the garbage container at the curb.
Bio-waste such as strips goes in the regular trash, I’m a licker so there’s no other bio-waste. As for my sharps, lancets and needles go into an approved sharps container ($2 at Target) and the county here has several collection centers for drop off. Only the one meter but the case it came with has a belt loop and it’s a habit to put it on in the morning before leaving the house.
I just use one meter. test strips, alcohol preps, etc to in the trash. I have a collection of sharps containers sitting in the laundry room. Need to take them to the dump some day.
I have like 6 but I use only the main one that “talks” to my pump and I keep it in my purse or beside the computer all the time. That way I know where it’s at.
I have 3 meters, 1 upstairs, 1 downstairs and 1 in my purse. I use tissues and I dispose of them in the trash. My sharps I put in a coffee can and when full seal it and put a sign on can the reads “do not recycle medical waste”. My city has a recycle program but no program for medical waste.
I cap the lancets and toss those too.