So I have not been prescribed a BG meter yet but I bought one because I wanted to test and see what food were affecting me. My original bottle of test strips seem to test 35 to 40 higher than my new bottle ie 149 (old strips) 109 new strips. I checked it three times with each and got the same. I have ordered some control solution but won't have it until next week. Anybody else ever see this? I know this doesn't give me a free ride but I generally have been testing 150 while adjusting my diet and waiting for Metformin to kick in (only on week 2 and only 1 week of taking 500mg twice a day)
Thanks for any feedback in advance.
Test strips have an expiry date so they were probably no good. The new strips are probably the more accurate. Also meters only have to be within 20% accuracy of what bg actually is but most are a lot better than that.
Hey boyordy:
Congrats on getting a meter and starting with regular testing. You will start to build your own personal database of how different foods impact your BG. One very helpful tool you might want to consider is dbees.com. It allows you to log all your measurements from any smartphone or computer and also has some great charting functionality to see trends. Best of all, it's free.
I've tested many different meters and have found that the accuracy on some can be deplorable. I settled on the Accu Chek Aviva after learning this is what Dr. Bernstein recommends and it was rated at the top by Consumer Reports. Just recently he switched his recommendation to the Freestyle Freedom Lite. I suspect with either you'll get more consistent readings than what you are getting now. Also, I learned that if I had to force the blood out of my finger too hard or if the sample was small it would always read artificially high.
Hope this helps.
Christopher
Thanks Christopher. I went with the Contour USB for the logging and tracking function. I hope my doctor prescribes me one in 2 weeks and I will go with one of the two you just suggested. Thanks for the help
I used to use a OneTouch UltraSmart for the same reason. When I (reluctantly) switched to the Accu-Chek Nano because of supplier issues for my mail-order pharmacy, I realized just how stupid that was.
I would far rather track accurate BG results by hand (or on Excel) than have an inaccurate meter track it for me.
