I just "check" by taking a reading with the last strip from the old bottle, and one from the new bottle -- I'd have to waste one anyway with control solution, and I'd rather get two real readings that can basically tell me the same thing -- yeah, the bottle of new strips is good/bad.
Also, then I don't have that screwy control solution reading polluting my data. I hate that. A bit of an OCD thing, perhaps.
Comments? What do you all think? Am I missing something important, or is this a perfectly valid way to verify a new bottle of strips?
I don't know about your meter but my meter will not include a control test in any averages and will mark the log entry as a test. Don't ask me how but it knows.
It is a good idea to test with the solution. A control test will catch more that a bad strip. It will also catch a meter that is out of calibration. The way you are testing will still get the same bad result with strips from both old and new bottles.
Control solution is kind of a hit and miss thing. While I've had luck with it using my one touch meters, I've heard of people having issues with it. I'd say they're accurate though because my meters seem to pick up my hypos very well. I'll feel high when it says a high number and low when it says a low number , and my a1c is good so I'd say that's a sign I've got a good meter. I also would say a fasting number is a good place to judge. If you feel low in the morning and your meter says a low number chances are it's right? I mean I'm just guessing here. The opposite with high and feeling high and your meter says high that's a good chance it's correct too?
I don't know which meter you use, but many meters have a way of marking a reading as "control" so that it's not counted in the average and such. On the OneTouch Ping, this is done by pressing the up/down arrow while the screen to apply blood is being displayed.
I also use this (when I remember) if I am high and test twice in a short period of time.
I think I might use control solution more if the bottle lasted forever, or at least a long time. But most of the ones I've seen only last three months, which is kind of useless as I'd probably only use it once during that time frame, anyway.
Yes, I'm aware that control tests can be marked so they don't get included in overall statistics. Regardless, I don't like having them there. I'm just weird that way, I suppose.
Also, given that I keep a "chain" of verified results from bottle to bottle, I'm not worried about accuracy.
Add to this occasional cross-checking with another meter (happens for various reasons now and then), the CGM data to compare to (roughly -- I know, the CGM gets calibrated with the meter, so there's a bit of a circular dependency there), and finally my own "feeling" detector, I'm pretty comfortable forgetting about control solution most of the time.
I consider control solutions to be a scam. Their only use seems to be checking to see if your meter is totally shot. You can't calibrate the meter and the meter is only accurate to +/- 20% so what is the point. I always have backup meters, if I really am concerned about my meter or strip batches it makes more sense to check against another meter.
I think control solution is there to mislead us that meters are accurate. The only good use for control solution is as a treatment for low and even then the stuff leaves your tongue blue. So maybe there is no real use for control solution.
