So I have been meaning to ask this:
The other day I tested and I was 160 which seemed really high. Granted it was 2 hours post meal but I was 90 pre-meal and didn’t have anything too carb heavy.
I washed my hands and re-tested only to get a 125!!!
I then re-tested for a 135!
This was all in a matter of a minute or two.
Is this normal?
Does using the control solution help with this?
This may be a stupid question but how do you use the control solution?
I know that my HA1C can give me a more accurate picture of my levels, but 25-35 points is a big difference considering a bolus could bring me down to 50 or 85!
And that right there is why most diabetics want the FDA to put stricter rules for meter accuracy. +/- 20% isn’t good at all. When that happens to me, I just find a middle number.
I wonder if you could have had something on your hands accounting for the 160? I once had spreadable fruit (jam just sweetened with fruit juice) on my finger and screamed when I tested at 426!
125 and 135? :::shrug::::that is a normal variance I wouldn’t be bothered by. Some people have 2 or more meters and constantly compare them. That would drive me nuts. I just have one I feel comfortable with and trust what it says unless it is unexpected as was your 160 to you.
yeah, your discovering the Dark Side of this Disease and the Dirty Little Secrets…
-Meters are Allowed to be off by as much as 20%… isn’t that nice?
-Test strips cost ave of $1 each -OTC but they aren’t anymore accurate as the one’s they replaced and so why aren’t those generic for only 10% of that Cost?
-But your Meter Matches pretty close to your Blood Lab? How can it? Your meter test in Whole blood while the lab test in Plasma… and every lab uses a different method to determine your A1c’s.
-Did you know, Non D’s can spike to 150’s after eating?
-The A1c can be a nice 5%, but that’s easy to get those… just have alot of hypo’s to off set being above 150… Get a Meter you can download into the PC and it shows your Deviations…
-every hypo causes Less blood to the Brain , just like get concussions and Eventually can cause strokes and Alz. alot sooner…
-They know we should be testing at least 8-12 x a day, but Medicare says you can only have 3 strips a day now!
-Actually ? The Ins. co’s and Medicare wants us to just go away…
-And with only about 2 million in the USA being t1’s? their isn’t enough $ to justify improving things… The drug Companies are in business to Make $… They are making a Fortune from us now as it is! Right?
It’s our FDA at the root cause… Under the Republicans they made the Rules and Laws so lax to help business make $… and It’s still that way…! The FDA uses the Companies Test studies , they don’t do them themselves anymore…
-Just like our Cars… They don’t get any better gas mileage now, than 10 yrs ago…but they cost twice as much!
these test meters have made us More Paranoid and Given us OCD…and incraesed Aniexity levels to Infinity and Beyond that we now pay thousands of Dollars to have even a More Inaccurate Meter, the CGM! By telling and conning us that we don’t have to test as much having a CGM… and that Insulins Pumps, now costing $8,000 and last only the ave of 3-4 yrs will do everything for us and we don’t have to inject Needles anymore! Another Con Game!
_ 60 min show showed, they can put a Microchip under our skin and we can ue a Laser to get a Blood Sugar reading …but It has been kept off the market! By guess who?
I just lick my finger and then wipe it dry before using a strip and never touch the part that goes into the meter , nor the other end that takes in the blood…
Been ave. 5.5-6% A1c’s For yrs… Big deal… I also have an ave of 1 hypo ( <70) everday and get 1 hyper ( +150) everyday too…and they tell me all the time, You have Very Good BG’s and don’t need a Pump…
I don’t want a Pump, I want a Cure! at least Give me a BG meter that is at least 10% off at the most!
But the test meters are not made for having Tight Control… they’re made for the Passive and for the Masses… the T2’s, who don;t use Insulin…
There is one other flaw in ALL METERS. If the contacts between the strip and the meter get “goofy” and change the circuit characteristics the reading takes a trip out the window. I had a series of readings with two meters, two vials of strips and five minutes go something like this 429, 136, 352, 129, 116, 124, 133. The first three were with meter #1, the last four were alternated. Called meter tech support. Only possible issue, look at contact area of strips - there were differences in the depth of the scratches where the strip went into the meters. Best guess - dust. Go figure.
Thanks for the responses! I guess that sometimes we just can’t know exactly what’s going on. I will double check to make sure there are no sugary substances on my fingers! haha
