Eight-year-old Christiana Kirchner is a snacker, who likes nothing more than eating five or six mini meals throughout the day. But these days, she sometimes forgoes her favorite treats so she can avoid the necessary blood tests that precede them.
Christiana was diagnosed with Type 1 juvenile diabetes last March, and now the Palatine, Ill., third-grader has to prick her finger to test her blood sugar before she eats. The pricks provide vital information about her blood glucose levels, but are painful and leave her tiny fingers calloused and throbbing.
"There are times where she's like, 'Forget it, I don't want to eat,'" said her mother, Sue Kirchner. She and her husband sometimes prick their own fingers to just show their daughter that they feel her pain.
Sue said she wishes there was a way to measure her daughter's blood glucose levels without having to collect blood. Currently, there are no noninvasive blood glucose monitors approved by the Food and Drug Administration.
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