Jammed lancing device repaired but lancet does not eject. Need to call customer service for this and check the device too.

Yesterday, I woke up and decided to get a measure of my fasting blood sugar. I use the Accu Check Active (blue) meter. I discovered that the SoftClix lancing device had jammed and when I pressed the plunger it wouldn't go in. I tried wiggling and lightly knocking it on the side to free the jammed mechanism but it wouldn't budge. I went without knowing my fasting sugar.

In the evening I decided to try my hand at it again. This time I had my Leatherman key chain multi-tool with me. With some luck I managed to get the plunger off from the top. A big but pretty loose spring also came out with it, but not attached to it. I peeked inside the now open end and a saw a tiny yellow ring  (must be a cylinder, viewed from top) with a tiny yellow bar that went across the diameter. After some gentle probing with the tweezers of the multi-tool, I pushed tweezers on either side of the diametrical yellow bar and turned it. To my surprise, it turned. I checked the button on the side which turns green when the lancing device is primed for us. It was green. I pressed it and there was a clicking sound similar to the one you hear when you lance your finger with a loaded lancet. I tried it again and it worked as before. Now I inserted a lancet, fit the cap on it, primed device again with the tweezers, placed it on my finger and pressed green button. It pricked my finger and a drop of blood appeared. So it worked. I put the spring extracted earlier and the plunger back again. On pressing the plunger the lancing device now primed perfectly. This time I tested. 

But then I discovered another problem. Now the lancet could not be ejected by simply moving the sleeve forward. I extracted the lancet with my fingers. Should have used the tweezers - seemingly my lucky device. So as the situation stands, the lancing device lances well but does not eject the lancet.  Not a problem if you intend to continue using the same lancet. Wondering what's that? Check my previous post.

Well, I have used lancing device for many years now. Time to get a new one? I am getting in touch with the Roche customer service. They also come and check if you device is operating within range - for free. I hope to get that done too. It helps to know that the numbers the device throws up can be trusted.

Re-using blood glucose meter lancets

The lancet is the pricking device that actually pierces your finger tip and some blood capillary under the skin to draw out the drop of blood that you need to place on the testing strip. I have been using the Accu-Check Active blood glucose meter for around five years now. The instruction manual indicates that the lancets are single-use. However, I and quite a few other diabetics I know reuse a lancet many times until its tip get blunt and it starts to hurt when it pricks the finger.

This is how I re-use a lancet. I insert a new lancet into the lancing device and twist off the small cap that covers the sharp tip. I do not discard this cap and carefully keep it in the opened case of the Accu-Check kit.  After the test, I carefully replace the cap on the tip and then eject the lancet from the lancing device into the opened case of the kit. That way I can re-use the lancet again and again. Replacing the cap can be somewhat difficult for the first few times with a new lancet given that the tiny hole at the bottom of the cap must be made to exactly match the tip of the lancet.

I use the same meter to check my mother's blood sugar too. I have another lancet for her maintained as described above but in another small container separate from the lancet that I use. I ensure that I always use our respective lancets and that they never get mixed up.

I make sure the exposed lancet tip never comes in contact with any surface other than my skin and the hole in the lancet cap. I have never sterlized or even washed/wiped the tip of the lancet and faced no problems over the many years of doing this.

This technique has helped me keep down the cost of a blood sugar test giving me the opportunity to test more often.