Shake It Like a Bottle of Test Strips.

by Kerri on April 24, 2014

I can’t stop – I shake that stupid bottle of test strips EVERY SINGLE TIME before I open it.

What, you don’t?!

24 Comments Post a comment

Jennifer #

The sound of my mom’s rings on the insulin bottle… one of my favorite sounds, is that weird? (perhaps harkening back to the days before I had to take care of this damn thing by myself?) Thanks for the memory!

04/24/14; 12:54 pm

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StephenS #

Now the term “Shake it like a Polaroid picture” is burned in my brain again…

I don’t shake the test strips, but I do have a couple of other D-habits, like counting to three before I click my infusion set into place, and counting to five after (before I pull out the insertion needle). Why do I do this? Same reason you shake the strips: It makes us feel better. We all do what works for us individually. And that’s okay. Great video.

04/24/14; 3:16 pm

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Lindsay #

OK, so I watched your video this morning and thought, I do that but only when I take a new bottle of test strips out of a box. Then, as the day has gone on, I realized I DO shake the bottle everytime I get it out to check my BG. I don’t shake, shake, I just give it a once up motion to click it. So weird that i never even noticed that I did that! 🙂

04/24/14; 4:38 pm

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Jen #

OMG – I do this every time too.

04/24/14; 5:09 pm

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Kathy W. #

ha, I do that too! #diabetesmaraca

04/24/14; 5:39 pm

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Ana #

Use to do that, too! Not any more as my test strips now come individually wrapped…

04/24/14; 6:09 pm

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Sarah #

Yes! D-OCD!

04/24/14; 7:39 pm

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Lindsey Thomsen #

Every single time!! I had no idea that was a thing 🙂

04/24/14; 7:40 pm

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ria #

do you shake before or after coffee ?

04/24/14; 8:09 pm

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Sarah Truex #

My partner Paul just busted out laughing when I was watching this exclaiming “you do that too!”. My mother also used to roll the NPH, and that brought me back years. Thank you as always Kerri!

04/24/14; 9:53 pm

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Lauren #

Every single time, without fail. Glad to know others do, too!

04/24/14; 10:15 pm

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Emma #

I don’t shake my test strip bottles (mostly because it is in a little spot in my poker pouch). I do, however, click back the lever to prepare the lancet about four times before a feel like I can check my BG. It probably started about 6 years ago and it annoys the hell out of my mom but I just can’t stop doing it.

04/24/14; 10:49 pm

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Sara #

I could tell it was a reenactment because it was in black and white.

I’m also a shaker. #cannothelpit #howelsedoyouknowhowmanyareleft

04/25/14; 12:37 am

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Bridgett #

Thank you for this. My daughter is 15 and has been living with Type 1 Diabetes for one year, and for some reason this post really resonates with me. I love the fire! Thank you!

04/25/14; 12:45 am

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Brittany #

I do this too! When I catch myself I’m like I KNOW that there’s test strips in here so why am I shaking this thing?? Ahh, diabetes!

04/25/14; 10:51 am

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Bob #

Shaking the bottle of test strips. Yes. Guilty. Every time.

I do it to make sure there are strips left, yes, but I also to UNSTICK them. I hate it when you pull one out and get a second one … for free! A hitchhiker strip is the worst … especially if it falls and gets contaminated!

The things we think about … thanks for sharing, Kerri.

04/25/14; 12:44 pm

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Pam #

About a week ago, my daughter was wondering aloud why she does this every single time she checks. Now we know she’s not alone!

Love it!

04/25/14; 3:53 pm

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Mike #

LOL! A friend of mine has a habit to cough every time he clicks the lancet — he started hiding his testing in the bathroom, and coughed to cover it….now he coughs every time he tests, even when alone. D-habits.

04/27/14; 12:32 pm

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gretchen carney #

Haha, great post! I realized just recently that I have done this probably every single time I’ve touched a bottle of my daughter’s test strips over the past 14 months and have watched her do the same thing. Today my son said, “Erin really shouldn’t leave her test strips lying around” while shaking the bottle…

04/27/14; 10:45 pm

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Need A Nap2 #

Ok, I shake the bottle when I take a new bottle out of the box. But I think that’s the only time b/c it’s “buckled” into the case and a little hard to shake. But now I’ll have to see if I or my daughter do this. NPH takes me back (for my daughter not for myself) and how I hated that regimen!

So funny that others do this. I loved the “extra” at the end of the video. 🙂

04/28/14; 10:19 pm

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Bonnie #

My 4 year old son & I were out and it was time for a bite to eat and his insulin. When I took out the insulin vials he said he’d roll the NPH and while doing so he asked “Mom why doesn’t it click like when you do it?” I said I don’t know and we went on with the routine and ate. When we got home I saw your video post and your mention of how the vial clicked on your Mom’s rings when you were younger. I then took the vial and rolled it to ask my son if that is the clicking he was talking about and it was. Without your video I don’t know that I would have connected the clicking he hears and his connection to rolling NPH…at least not so soon. LOVE your blog and look forward to hearing you speak in person someday (we missed out a few months ago in MN when my son & I were both sick the day you came for a conference). We need to checkout your book too…congrats to you for that accomplishment!!

04/29/14; 1:00 pm

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Carla #

Shake, shake, shake Senora 😉

05/1/14; 9:14 am

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Olivia #

Wow, I’d forgotten that sound. I haven’t used NPH in a few years. I hadn’t realized how much I missed it. :p

I use the meter cases they come in, so the strip bottle is strapped in, but I still rattle them. I sort of flop open the bag in a way that shakes them around.

10/20/14; 4:08 am

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