When managing diabetes, your good health depends on your ability to both monitor and understand your blood sugar, as well as your blood pressure, weight, and body temperature. If you have vision loss, there are a variety of large print and talking blood glucose meters, blood pressure monitors, thermometers, and weight scales available, with newer, more advanced models frequently becoming available. AFB provides regular evaluations of the latest devices. Below are a few guidelines for the care and use of these items: Place your blood pressure monitor cuff against bare skin. Securing it over clothing can affect the result. This is a useful extra that will tell you whether you have an arrhythmia: a problem with the rate or rhythm of the heartbeat. During an arrhythmia, the heart can beat too fast, too slow, or with an irregular rhythm.

You’ll feel the cuff inflate quite rapidly. It may temporarily be a bit tender or uncomfortable for, as the cuff inflates and deflates automatically, but this will only be for a short period of time. If it is too tender/uncomfortable you can just press the ‘Stop’ button and the cuff will instantly deflate. A D-ring cuff is the type of cuff that you usually find in a doctor’s office. One end of the cuff is looped through a metal ring. The cuff is placed around your arm. Rest your arm on a table if you have one and just make sure your hand and arm are relaxed on the table. It’s important that you don’t clench your fist when you’re taking your blood pressure. Dr Shahed Ahmad, National Clinical Director for Cardiovascular Disease Prevention said: “Getting these monitors into the homes of patients that need them is a really important step – we want people to feel empowered to monitor their own health and to understand their own conditions better.This alerts you to whether your blood pressure reading falls within recommended levels, which could be useful if you’re not having your blood pressure regularly monitored by a health professional or if you don't always remember the recommended limits. Roger, a patient aged 75 from Oxford, said: “I was grateful to receive a free blood pressure monitor from my GP surgery recently, which is simple and easy to use. Non-returnable due to hygiene reasons, unless faulty, or unopened and returned within 14 days in a sellable condition.

Wrist monitors tend to have smaller cuffs, but they’re usually adjustable, which allows them to fit wrists with a circumference between 5 1/4 and 8 1/2 inches. D-ring cuffs Additionally, with the continuation of the pandemic we now have the ability to test for COVID-19 from home. Accessing these testing kits is important for the visually impaired. To stay healthy and maintain a good quality of life, learn about the following accessible medical devices and pharmacies for the blind and visually impaired. Talking bath scale To get a good feel for your blood pressure, use your monitor twice a day. Measure it in the morning before you eat and take your medications and again in the evening. It’s best to do it at the same times every day.Don’t eat any food or consume caffeine, tobacco, or alcohol for a half hour before you use your blood pressure monitor. Place the cuff over your upper arm and tighten the cuff over your arm, making sure you can fit two fingers underneath the cuff. You want the cuff to be over the upper part of your arm with the tubing leading down the centre or slightly to the right of your arm. D-ring cuffs come in small, standard, and large sizes. You can determine the proper size for your arm by measuring the circumference of your upper arm and comparing it to Omron’s sizing chart.

This fully-automatic, talking blood pressure monitor for the upper arm speaks infour languages to provide your systolic and diastolic blood pressure and your pulse rate per minute. More than 65,000 blood pressure monitors have already been delivered to patients and are similar to those used in GP practices. While you should use your blood pressure monitor in the morning, don’t do it as soon as you get out of bed. Start your morning routine, such as brushing your teeth or taking a shower, before you take the day’s first reading. But be sure to measure your blood pressure before you eat breakfast or take any medication.

There are 3 fully accessible talking meters on the market with speech supporting every function but new talking meters, and new features on older meters, are being introduced often, and the newest ones may not be covered in this article. The three available now are: PLEASE NOTE: Take extra precautions if your eyesight fluctuates, as is common to people with diabetes-related vision problems. Vision quality will be lowest when your blood sugar is highest (and the need to read your monitor is critical). Be sure you can read your meter accurately when your vision is poorest. If in doubt, choose a talking meter instead. Will any talking meter do?