I had a new A1C done yesterday and as usual it was much higher than my meter readings. it was 6.3 and I never see numbers above 120. My endo suggested trying a different meter and gave me a Freestyle Lite. I am seeing higher numbers with the new meter. Just now, my 2 hour reading was 95 with my One Touch Ultra and 111 with the Freestyle. Has anyone else experienced this kind of discrepancy. Previous threads seemed to suggest that most people are happy with the One Touch and find it to be quite accurate. I would believe the new readings, since they match the A1C except that the One Touch correlates better with what I would expect to see based on carbs and insulin and also how I feel. When I start to feel shaky I am seeing numbers in the 70s. If the Freestyle showed me 90s that wouldn’t make sense. My fasting numbers this morning were almost the same with both meters- 95 and 97- but the post-meal numbers have been around 15-20 points higher with the Freestyle. I do have two One Touch meters and they always show similar BG readings so I don’t think there’s a problem with the particular One Touch meter. I am aware that there is a pretty wide margin of error with meters but this is a consistent discrepancy and I am wondering whether to believe that I am at the higher or the lower number since it makes a difference in how much insulin to take, etc. Any ideas?
I’ve tried a couple of Freestyle meters and they have both always read higher than my Ultra meters. I don’t think there’s any way of knowing which meter has more accurate readings unless you do a lot of comparisons with lab tests.
If you have been using One Touch meters for awhile and say that you feel shaky in the 70s, that’s based on those readings. It’s possible that you actually do get symptoms in the 90s, and the Freestyle meter is correct. You might be somewhere in the middle.
I’ve given up worrying about the differences in meters. I stick with the Ultra series and base my treatment on that. I would not switch back & forth between meters or keep one kind at home and one at work because it can throw you off.
Also, BG checks are just a single point in time. I don’t know how often you test but even if you’re testing hourly, they miss a lot. You can be spiking very high but then return to normal by your 2 hour check.
Thanks, Liz, that’s helpful. I do test frequently, and even when I test at 30 or 45 minutes, or at an hour, I rarely see high numbers. If I do spike, it’s only for a few minutes. I have occasionally seen a 200 reading but then I test again 15 minutes later and I’m down to 100. I am still in the honeymoon phase and have an intact second phase which is partly why I get shaky, I think. If I’m up high, even for a few minutes, and then come down suddenly, that can make me feel shaky. I don’t believe I do feel low in the 90s because both meters agreed that I was around 95 this AM and I felt fine. But that was a stable number where I’d been for a while. Rapidly falling numbers tend to make me feel low. I think I will stop driving myself nuts with this since either way, my numbers are fine.
Libby, Liz is right on in her thoughts about meters go with one and stick with it. I used to use the BD Lodgic meter and when Max bought them out and they went away from coding the readings were not as good. I am wairing a CGMS and have found that with the One Touch Ulrta the monitor is much more accurate.
Good luck and God Bless