alright people, just out of curiosity…
"DO YOU RUN CONTROL EVERYTIME YOU OPEN OR USE A NEW VIAL OF TEST STRIPS?
nope…hard to get controlsolution here–have to order by mail–very expensive that way…you’dthink insurance co when they send you 900 (more or less) strips at a time would include sucha thing! ha!
Guilty as charged here!
aha! lol.
ahhh no, have never run control in my 41 years of type 1, granted I have not even have a meter the whole time, but…never have
I don’t use control solution either…oops! I think out of the 4 years I’ve been diabetic I may have only used it once…hahha looks like I am not alone.
nah i just check to make sure i have the correct code on my strips and skip the control solution.
Haven’t used a control solution since I was diagnosed 18 years ago. I’ve always considered it a waste of a strip. gulp Guilty as charged, here.
I have a hard enough time staying IN control…
I’m also guilty of not using it. I’m glad I’m not the only one that doesn’t use it.
Never - don’t wanna waste a whole strip.
Are you kidding? It’s a special occasion if I even change my lancet.
Control solution? Is that the sticky red stuff in the little vial that expires in like, a week? I thought that was pancake syrup for faeries.
Rarely use the stuff because:
a) It’s a waste of a strip.
b) It’s a pain to get the sample into the strip.
c) It makes a sticky mess all over the place.
d) It’s a gimmick to get more money out of me.
I throw my control solution away most of the time. I remember one year I had pink eye and I had the control solution by my bed and my eye drops for the pink eye by the bed and I woke up to do the drops and used the control solution. Wound up in the e.r. because no pharmacy knew what was in the control solution. Finally got a hold of the company and it is sugar water and red food coloring. They said they actually have had a lot of people who have mistaken it for eye drops.
LOL Cody… gives a whole new meaning to watery, red eyes…glad no harm was done from that!
I too am guilty of not wanting too waste a test strip.
I was never taught to use it, so I never have. And now that I know what it’s for, I honestly can’t bring myself to waste a test strip for it. I have a hard enough time keep enough around to last me until I can get more to go and waste it on something like that.
I’m with the majority here. Why waste a dollar??
For “control”, I measure my blood sugar when I get lab work done to see if they are in the same range and I sometimes measure with two different meters, again just checking for the right range.
I have about 20 bottles of control solution lying around (all expired, I think) if anyone is interested??
Thanks for the info Cody that it’s just red food coloring!!! Maybe I will use it to make some really red frosting 
Yumm…
I have been testing my BS for twenty years, I think that I have done a control test about 4 times and mostly during that “I want to know how things work” phase
I never do either, unless I feel that my readings seem off. However I also tend to not keep a meter for all that long so maybe if I used the same meter for a few years I may be more inclined to run a control test.
Never once.