Unboxing The UASure Uric Acid Meter

It is always exciting to get a new package, especially when it can help you avoid future gout attacks. That is what a uric acid meter does. By measuring the concentration in your blood, it will tell you if you are near the threshold of uric acid crystals forming in your body. If you are above the threshold value of 6.8 mg/dL, you had better be careful and take some precautions, like drinking lots of water and milk. You should also consider a diet change. 
WHAT IS IN THE BOX?
The contents of the UAsure meter package. Aric acid meter, four lancets, lancing device, test strips, calibration strip, battery. Manuals and instructions.
The contents of the UASure uric acid meter package.
The UASure uric acid meter comes in a fairly small box, much smaller than you would expect. It is actually quite small but the readout window is quite big, much bigger than on most similar devices (and the font is larger too). The box contains the box of the UASure itself, which comes ready to install with a battery, a calibration strip, five test strips and a program chip, and five lancets with a lancing device. Plus manuals and instructions, so you are sure to get things right. There is even a little notebook for your daily records. 
A bag containing a bright yellow UASure uric acid testing device, five blue surgical lancets, test strips in aluminum packages, a calibration strip, and a lancing device.
The carry bag for the UASure uric acid testing device, lancets and test strips.
NEVER ENOUGH LANCETS
A blue surgical lancet used to prick your finger when measuring the uric acid level in your blood.
The lancet devices which come with the UASure. You twist off the round part.
One of the problems with any device which requires you to draw a drop of blood is the lancets. Those are the little needles that you use to prick your finger. As you develop your skill, you will only need one lancet per test, but I will confess to using several before drawing enough blood. You need a fairly big drop of blood to apply to the UASure test strip, too. 
This means that the lancets you get when you order the device are not nearly enough. You need more. Many more. It makes sense to order a hundred or so in a go, but make sure you know how to use them. I made the mistake of ordering a batch which requires a specialized lancing device, and that is a lot more expensive than what I paid for the lancets. And always order more test strips than you were planning to use. While they do expire, there are three hundred and sixty-five days in a year, and you will be testing yourself every day. At least until you are confident you have your uric acid level under control. Then you can go down to testing once every two-three days or so. 
SETTING UP THE UASURE
The backside of a bright yellow device with serial number and battery hatch open, showing the battery inside.
The UASure with the battery hatch open.
The first thing you must do to make the UASure work is to insert the battery. It comes with the device and is inserted into the hatch in the lower backside of the device.
Small green circuit board used for the initial calibration of the UASure device.
The calibration strip for the UASure device.
The first time you set up the UASure you need to calibrate it, and you do that by inserting the calibration strip and waiting for the strip to show a smiley face. It is very easy, but it does not quite work as in the manual. For instance, the device asks for a code, which is actually the code of the UASure test strips. If you insert the calibration strip upside down. 
Bright yellow uric acid meter device with green circuit board inserted upside down, showing
UASure with calibration strip incorrectly inserted.
Once you put it in right, the device works fine and calibration is quickly over. 
IS THE MANUAL EASY TO UNDERSTAND?
The thin little booklet that is the manual is surprisingly easy to understand. Even if some operations could be better described, The area you need to smear with blood could olso be better shown.
INSERTING THE PROGRAM CHIP
Small aluminum package with serial number and code text printed on it, and somewhat bulky program chip next to it.
Each batch of UASure measurement strips comes with their own code chip.
When you get the device it comes with a few test strips and a program chip. The program chip is different for each batch of test strips, but other devices do not come with a program chip, so most likely its main function is to check that you do not try to sneak in pirate strips,if such a thing exists.
The backside of a bright yellow device with lots of printed text, and a code chip halfway inserted in the slot at the top.
Inserting the code chip in the UASure device.
You insert the chip in the top of the device, and then you can see the code which is printed both on the chip and test strips on the display.
INSERTING THE TEST STRIP
Once you have put in the battery, calibrated the device, and inserted the program chip, you can start using it. That means inserting the test strip at the bottom of the device,
A bright yellow UASure urine testing device with a green test strip inserted in the bottom slot.
The test strip inserted in the UASure device.
When you insert the test strip, the UASure uric acid tester will beep and show the code imprinted on the strip and code chip, and it is ready for use.
GIVING IT A DROP OF BLOOD
Green UASure test strip sticking out from the bottom slot of a UASure testing device.
The blood has to cover the white area to the left
When you use the UASure uric acid tester, you have to put blood on the reaction area, the white space in the middle of the left edge of the testing strip. You have to apply the blood while the strip is inserted into the device, and the blood has to cover the white area and from there enter into the stick.
Prepare to use up a few test strips the first time you use it, until you getbthe hang of using it. It does pay for the future to experiment a bit.
A green measurement stick coming out of the aperture of a bright yellow UASure uric acid measurement device, the contact surface smeared with blood.
The measurement stick of the UASure device with a drop of blood.
The easiest way is to capture the blood with the white area on the stick, as you never seem to be able to get out as much blood as you need. If you hold the stick vertically with the white point up, and stroke the blood drop onto it, it seems to work best.
You can not fill it up or add more blood - you have to get enough blood in the first go. Uric acid oxidizes very quickly in air, and the small amount of blood quickly coagulates.
READING THE RESULT
Once you have got the blood on the measurement stick and the device has beeped to show that it is working, the UASure display will show four bars, which gradually get reduced as the measurement finishes. When it is done, it will display a number. This is the amount of uric acid in your blood, measured in milligrams per deciliter.
Bright yellow test device with blood smeared green test strip, displaying 8.3 on the display.
The UASure meter will show the level of uric acid in the blood smeared on the measuring stick.
WHAT DOES IT MEAN?
The reading shows the amount of uric acid in your blood. At the time of measurement, which means that not only can there be different amounts of uric acid in your blood, there can be different amounts of blood in your body. This is why it is so important for gout sufferers to drink lots of water - the crystallization of uric acid starts when the concentration is 6.8 mg/dL, so if you have more blood because you have been drinking lots of water, the concentration will be lower.
EVERYDAY MEANS EVERYTHING
It is important to track your uric acid level, but it is not important what it is every minute. Since the concentration varies naturally over the day, you can not establish a baseline over one day. But you can do it over several days, and then it is important to measure the same time every day. If you are working on your diet and other factors, you will see a downward trend - but you may have 8.6 one day, 7.3 the next, 7.5 the next, 6.9 the following, and so on.
What is important is that the measurements are not absolute and can not be used as indicators of an attack. You can not measure your uric scid level in the morning, and if it is 6.7 conclude that you can have a surf&turf dinner with a few beers. Neither can you see it as a sign that you will be attack free - it is enough for you to be dehydrated so that the concentrstion will increase and trigger an attack.
The daily readings are much less important than the trend they fall into. Document it well and writenitnout as a diagram. It makes it much easier to follow your progress. And motivate yourself hanging on to it.
DOCUMENTING YOUR RESULT
You want to take notes of everything you do that can affect your uric acid levels. This is important for a simple reason: You want to repeat what worked and ignore what did not work. It can be hard to remember everything but try to take notes as soon as you can. I have tried to make it easy for you by creating a journal that you can use. I am finalizing it and it will be available in one 30-day version, and one one-year version.
Meanwhile, I have been documenting the results of using the UASure uric acid meter in my blog, and I created a special page for my experiences from the first two weeks of using the UASure to measure my uric acid every day on this web page.
USE FOR LIFE
The good news is that you can beat gout. And you do not need medication to do it. The medicstion is a help to get you through the lifestyle changes that will carry you through a gout-free rest of your life.