Optium Strips

One of the reasons Optium strips are so popular is that they produce such reliable results. Here's why:

   1. Clinical Accuracy: TrueMeasure technology to assure accuracy
   2. Easy: End-fill strips use extremely small blood samples
   3. Alternative site testing: Provides the option to test on the forearm, upper arm or base of the thumb instead of fingertips for less pain.
   4. Fast: 5 second test time

Don't forget, however, that MediSense Optium Blood Glucose Test Strips are intended for use with MediSense Optium Blood Glucose Meters only.


This blog is associated with Simplex MD (simplexmd.com) and the Diabetes Care Club (diabetescareclub.com), sponsored by Simplex Healthcare.

Important Notice: Information provided is for general background purposes and is not intended as a substitute for medical diagnosis or treatment by a trained professional. You should always consult your physician about any health care questions you may have, especially before trying a new medication, diet, fitness program, or approach to health care issues.

Optium Strips for the MediSense Blood Glucose monitor offer the convenience of alternative site testing ... you have the option to test on the upper arm, forearm or base of the thumb instead of the fingertips for less discomfort. The patented fill trigger on the strips is designed to prevent tests from starting until enough blood is applied.

The unique design of the Optium Blood Glucose Test Strips minimizes strip waste and costs due to fewer test error messages.


This blog is associated with Simplex MD (simplexmd.com) and the Diabetes Care Club (diabetescareclub.com), sponsored by Simplex Healthcare.

Important Notice: Information provided is for general background purposes and is not intended as a substitute for medical diagnosis or treatment by a trained professional. You should always consult your physician about any health care questions you may have, especially before trying a new medication, diet, fitness program, or approach to health care issues.

Here's something good to know ... A benefit of choosing MediSense Optium Blood Glucose Test Strips is that they are designed to reduce the effects of interference from metabolites and common medicines such as Vitamin C and aspirin for glucose specific results.



This blog is associated with Simplex MD (simplexmd.com) and the Diabetes Care Club (diabetescareclub.com), sponsored by Simplex Healthcare.

Important Notice: Information provided is for general background purposes and is not intended as a substitute for medical diagnosis or treatment by a trained professional. You should always consult your physician about any health care questions you may have, especially before trying a new medication, diet, fitness program, or approach to health care issues.

Clinical studies indicate that leaving diabetes test strip vials uncapped can significantly affect the accuracy of results. Each Optium Test Strip is sealed in an individual foil packet to protect it from air and moisture. Studies show that foil wrapping individual test strips is important for ensuring the accuracy of glucose monitoring in the real world.


This blog is associated with Simplex MD (simplexmd.com) and the Diabetes Care Club (diabetescareclub.com), sponsored by Simplex Healthcare.


Please note: Information provided is for general background purposes and is not intended as a substitute for medical diagnosis or treatment by a trained professional. You should always consult your physician about any health care questions you may have, especially before trying a new medication, diet, fitness program, or approach to health care issues.

Do you ever wonder how people in the diabetes community lived before they had self management tools like Ascensia Contour monitors, Optium strips, modified diabetes recipes and the like?

Translated from ancient Greek, diabetes mellitus means 'honey sweet flow,' and stems from a time when tasting a patient's urine was still part of the physician's diagnostic repertoire. By the sweet taste of the urine, diabetes mellitus could be distinguished from diabetes insipidus, another disease with increased urinary output.

Diabetes mellitus appears to have been a death sentence in the ancient era. Hippocrates makes no mention of it, which may indicate that he felt the disease was incurable. The Greek physician Aretaeus did attempt to treat it, but could not give a good prognosis; he commented that "life (with diabetes) is short, disgusting and painful." The Indian Sushruta (written around 100 AD) identified diabetes and further identified it with obesity and sedentary lifestyle, advising exercises to help "cure" it.

The 20th Century was a time of scientific enlightenment in diabetes research, including a number of Nobel Prizes in medicine. The turning point came in 1921, when Sir Frederick Grant Banting and Charles Herbert Best demonstrated that they could reverse induced diabetes in dogs by giving them an extract (insulin) from the pancreatic islets of Langerhans of healthy dogs.

Banting, Best and colleagues went on to purify the hormone insulin from bovine pancreases at the University of Toronto, leading to the availability of an effective treatment -- insulin injections. The first patient was treated in 1922. For this achievement, Banting and laboratory director MacLeod received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1923 and shared their prize money with others on the team.

In an unprecedented gesture of generosity to humankind, Banting and Best made the patent available without charge and did not attempt to control commercial production. Insulin production and therapy rapidly spread around the world, largely as a result of this decision. Banting is honored by World Diabetes Day, which is held on his birthday, November 14.

In 1980, U.S. biotech company Genentech developed human insulin. The insulin is isolated from genetically altered bacteria (the bacteria contain the human gene for synthesizing human insulin), which produce large quantities of insulin. Scientists then purify the insulin and distribute it to pharmacies for use by diabetes patients. (The illustration above shows the scientific structure of insulin.)

And each year, our knowledge and diabetes self management knowledge and capabilities grow through further discoveries and vastly improved testing technologies.


This blog is associated with Simplex MD (simplexmd.com) and the Diabetes Care Club (diabetescareclub.com), sponsored by Simplex Healthcare.

Lots of people use the Ascensia Contour meter ... sometimes several times a day. But did you ever wonder what your Optium strips actually do ... or why you need a new one every time you test?

I was curious, so I looked it up. Most of what I found is pretty technical, but basically diabetes test strips contain chemicals that react with glucose in the drop of blood that is used for measurement. One test, one fresh test strip. Today's diabetics can count themselves fortunate that the newer glucose meters require less blood for the Optium strips to react with. That means a lot fewer unproductive pricks!

This blog is associated with Simplex MD (simplexmd.com) and the Diabetes Care Club (diabetescareclub.com), sponsored by Simplex Healthcare.


Please note: Information provided is for general background purposes and is not intended as a substitute for medical diagnosis or treatment by a trained professional. You should always consult your physician about any health care questions you may have, especially before trying a new medication, diet, fitness program, or approach to health care issues.