Exactive Vital Test Strips: Fifty Tests, With the Code Chip Included
Exactive Vital test strips keep your blood sugar testing going with fifty tests for the Exactive Vital MicroTech meter, and each box comes with its own code chip so the meter is calibrated to that particular batch of strips. That chip is a small thing that quietly decides whether your readings are true, and it is worth understanding before you open the box.
These work with the Exactive Vital MicroTech meter and no other machine. Every strip is manufactured for one meter model, so a strip from another system is either refused outright or returns a number with nothing behind it. Please read the name off the front of your own meter before you order, or bring the meter in to us and we will identify it in a moment.
What the Code Chip Is For
Strips vary very slightly from batch to batch as they come off the production line. The code chip tells your meter exactly which batch it is reading, so it can correct for that difference instead of guessing.
So when you open a new box, take the chip out and put it into the meter before the first test, and leave it in place until the box is finished. A meter still running the chip from the last box will give you readings that are wrong without looking wrong, which is the most dangerous kind of error a glucometer can make. Keep the chip with the strips rather than loose in a drawer, and where a chip is missing or refuses to seat properly, please bring the box in to us rather than testing without it.
Looking After the Strips
These strips are specified for storage between 5 and 30 degrees Celsius, which is worth taking seriously in a country where a closed car in the afternoon goes well past the top of that range.
Keep them in their own container with the lid shut tight, and shut it straight after taking a strip out rather than leaving it open while you test. Out of direct sun, out of the bathroom, and out of the car. Room temperature is right; the fridge is not. Handle a strip by its end and keep your fingers off the application area. One strip per test, and check the expiry date before starting a new box. A strip that has been too warm or too damp still produces a number, and that is precisely the problem with it.
Getting a Reading You Can Trust
Beyond the chip and the storage, most unreliable home readings come down to technique, and four habits cover nearly all of it.
Wash your hands with soap and warm water and dry them properly, because sugar from fruit, juice or food left on a finger reads far higher than your blood and is the usual cause of an alarming number. Use a fresh lancet every time and prick the side of the fingertip rather than the pad, moving round your fingers so no single spot gets sore. Let the drop form on its own rather than squeezing or milking the finger, which pushes tissue fluid into the sample and reads lower than the truth. Then apply the blood and keep still until the meter beeps. Please never share a lancing device with anybody, even within one household.
How Long a Box Lasts
Fifty strips is about three and a half weeks at twice-daily testing, or nearer a fortnight if our doctor has asked you to test four times a day.
Tell our pharmacist how often you test and we will set a standing monthly delivery at the right quantity, in plain outer packaging with a delivery note that names nothing. Please ask us about lancets at the same time, since a strip is only half of every test. And if you are still choosing a system rather than refilling one you already own, ask us what each option on our shelf costs per test and over a year, because the spread is wide and the cheapest meter is rarely the cheapest system.
What to Do With the Numbers
Write every reading down with the date, the time and whether it was before or after food, or let the meter hold them and bring the meter in. One reading says very little. A fortnight of readings shows a pattern, and the pattern is what our doctor treats.
Please bring the readings to us rather than adjusting your own insulin or tablets, because doses are changed on a pattern over weeks and a dose altered because of a single number causes harm in both directions. Our doctor will set your own target range with you as well, since the right targets differ between people and are different again in pregnancy, in older age and for somebody on insulin.
When to Act, and When to Get Help the Same Day
A reading below 4.0 mmol/L needs treating immediately. Take fifteen to twenty grams of fast-acting sugar, which is three or four glucose tablets, half a glass of ordinary soda or fruit juice, or three teaspoons of sugar in water. Wait fifteen minutes, test again, repeat if it is still low, then eat something more substantial so it holds.
Where somebody with low blood sugar is confused, fitting or hard to wake, treat it as an emergency and get help at once, and please put nothing in the mouth of a person who is unconscious. A very high reading alongside vomiting, stomach pain, deep rapid breathing, breath that smells sweet or of acetone, or unusual drowsiness needs hospital the same day rather than another test. Please also come and see us for lows that keep happening, lows you no longer feel coming, or readings that stay high for several days.
What We Can Honestly Tell You
If you own an Exactive Vital MicroTech meter, these are its strips and the included chip keeps it calibrated properly. Bring the meter in with the first box and our pharmacist will seat the chip, run a test alongside you and check your technique.
If your meter turns out to be something else, we will match the right strips to it: the Accu-Chek models take either Instant strips or Active strips depending on the machine. And where you are choosing a system from scratch and the running cost matters most, ask about the On Call Plus system, whose strips are the least expensive per test on our shelf.
Is This Pack of Test Strips Right for You?
Please talk to our pharmacist or our doctor before you buy if any of these apply.
- You are unsure which meter you have. Read the model name off the front, or bring it in. Strips fit one meter model only.
- The code chip is missing, or it refuses to seat in the meter. Please bring the box in rather than testing without it.
- Your strips have been in a hot car or a bathroom. Bring them in. These are specified for 5 to 30 degrees Celsius and a spoiled strip still gives a number.
- A reading below 4.0 mmol/L. Treat it at once with fast-acting sugar, retest in fifteen minutes, and tell us if it keeps happening.
- Someone with low blood sugar who is confused, fitting or hard to wake. Emergency, and nothing by mouth.
- A very high reading with vomiting, stomach pain, deep rapid breathing, sweet-smelling breath or drowsiness. Hospital the same day.
Where to Buy Exactive Vital test strips in Kenya
Order online and we deliver countrywide, or collect from our pharmacy at Kahawa Sukari Shopping Center, Nairobi. We send orders to Nairobi and every neighbourhood around it — the CBD, Westlands, Parklands, Gigiri, Muthaiga, Runda, Rosslyn, Kitisuru, Lower Kabete, Lavington, Kileleshwa, Kilimani, Karen, Langata, South B, South C, Eastleigh, Buruburu, Donholm, Embakasi, Ngong Road, Kasarani, Roysambu, Zimmerman, Githurai, Ruaka, Banana Hill, Two Rivers, Village Market and Pride Lands — and across Kiambu, Thika, Juja, Ruiru, Kikuyu, Limuru and Ngong.
Beyond the capital we deliver to Mombasa, Kisumu, Nakuru, Eldoret, Nyeri, Machakos, Athi River, Kitengela, Kajiado, Naivasha, Narok, Kericho, Bomet, Kisii, Migori, Homa Bay, Siaya, Bungoma, Busia, Kakamega, Vihiga, Webuye, Kitale, Nandi Hills, Iten, Kapenguria, Embu, Meru, Chuka, Kerugoya, Murang’a, Othaya, Nyahururu, Nanyuki, Maralal, Isiolo, Marsabit, Moyale, Wajir, Mandera, Garissa, Lodwar, Kitui, Mwingi, Makueni, Emali, Kibwezi, Voi, Taveta, Wundanyi, Mariakani, Diani, Ukunda, Kilifi, Watamu, Malindi, Lamu and Hola. Everything in this category travels in plain outer packaging with nothing on the outside to say what is inside, and the delivery note carries our name and no product description. At one strip per test a pack covers a known length of time, so tell us how many months you want covered and we will work out the quantity with you before you order.
Across Africa, ask us before you order. We have sent orders to Uganda, Tanzania, Somaliland and as far as Malawi, and we will quote for Rwanda, Burundi, South Sudan, Ethiopia, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Mozambique, Nigeria, Ghana, South Africa and the rest of the continent. Tell us the destination and we will confirm any import paperwork before the parcel leaves us.
Living abroad? Order from wherever you are and we deliver to your family here in Kenya. Kenyans in the UK, the United States, Canada, South Africa and the Gulf order from us regularly for parents and relatives at home. Blood glucose test strips is needed every day rather than occasionally, so running out is the thing to plan against. Tell us who it is for, the size and how many months you want covered, and we will set up a standing monthly delivery so nobody is ever caught short.
Why Buy Your Exactive Vital test strips from HealthAlone Kenya?
HealthAlone is a pharmacist-led health ecosystem licensed by the Pharmacy and Poisons Board, and our stock is original, sealed and correctly stored. Kahawa Sukari is a real counter with real pharmacists behind it.
Our pharmacists will match the strips to your own meter, seat the code chip from the new box and run a test alongside you, and add lancets, which are half of every test. Our doctor is here too if you would rather have the whole question looked at properly.
It is one more step in our vision: building Africa’s most trusted health ecosystem, accessible to everyone, everywhere.
Your Questions About Exactive Vital Test Strips, Answered
Which meter do these fit?
The Exactive Vital MicroTech meter, and no other machine. Read the model name off the front of yours, or bring it in and we will identify it.
What is the code chip for?
Strips vary slightly from batch to batch. The chip tells the meter which batch it is reading so it can correct for that difference.
When do I put the chip in?
When you open a new box, before the first test, and leave it in until the box is finished.
What happens if I leave the old chip in?
The meter gives readings that are wrong without looking wrong, which is the most dangerous error a glucometer can make. Swap the chip with every new box.
My chip is missing. Can I still test?
Please bring the box in to us rather than testing without it, and we will sort it out.
What temperature should they be kept at?
Between 5 and 30 degrees Celsius. A closed car in the afternoon goes well past that, so never leave them in one.
Should they go in the fridge?
No. Room temperature, lid shut tight, out of sun and damp, and out of the bathroom.
How many are in a box and how long does it last?
Fifty. About three and a half weeks at twice-daily testing, or nearer a fortnight at four times a day.
Why must my hands be washed first?
Sugar from fruit, juice or food on a finger reads far higher than your blood. Soap and warm water, dried properly.
Should I squeeze my finger for more blood?
Let the drop form on its own. Squeezing pushes tissue fluid in and gives a reading lower than the truth.
Can a strip or lancet be used twice?
One of each per test. And please never share a lancing device with anybody, even in the same house.
What do I do about a reading below 4.0 mmol/L?
Treat it at once with fifteen to twenty grams of fast-acting sugar, wait fifteen minutes and retest. Repeat if still low, then eat something more substantial.
When is a high reading an emergency?
With vomiting, stomach pain, deep rapid breathing, sweet-smelling breath or drowsiness. Hospital the same day rather than another test.
Where can I buy Exactive Vital Test Strips 50’s in Kenya, and what does it cost?
From HealthAlone, online for delivery countrywide or over the counter at Kahawa Sukari Shopping Center, Nairobi. The current price is shown above. We deliver across Nairobi — the CBD, Westlands, Parklands, Gigiri, Muthaiga, Runda, Kitisuru, Lavington, Kilimani, Karen, Langata, South B, South C, Eastleigh, Kasarani, Roysambu, Githurai, Ruaka and Banana Hill — and to Kiambu, Thika, Juja, Ruiru, Kikuyu, Limuru, Ngong, Mombasa, Kisumu, Nakuru, Eldoret, Nyeri, Machakos, Kitengela, Naivasha, Narok, Kericho, Kisii, Migori, Homa Bay, Bungoma, Busia, Kakamega, Kitale, Embu, Meru, Nanyuki, Nyahururu, Isiolo, Marsabit, Wajir, Mandera, Garissa, Lodwar, Kitui, Makueni, Voi, Taveta, Mariakani, Diani, Ukunda, Kilifi, Watamu, Malindi and Lamu. Outside Kenya we have delivered to Uganda, Tanzania, Somaliland and Malawi, and we quote for Rwanda, Burundi, South Sudan, Ethiopia, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Nigeria, Ghana, South Africa and the rest of Africa on request. Tell us the model name on the front of your meter, because these work with the Exactive Vital MicroTech meter alone.
