I have two glucose monitors (both are OneTouch, just different models). I just realized today that they read about 20 points different. For example, one said 120 and the other said 102. Those are great numbers, I know but I’m still curious which i should go by or does it matter? I checked them both with the control solution and they’re both showing as accurate. Should I just assume an average or just pick one and stick to it? Should I go with the one that gives me a higher reading or the lower reading?
Hey, That is a great question… I have been testing myself with my son’s meters. My dad has type 2, my son is type 1 and I
am always testing myself to see if I will be type 2 - I know - who does that??? ANyway, my sons medtronic meter will read
108 and the other portable meter will read at 91. I of course, hope the 91 is correct, but his 2 medtronic meters are always higher than the little disposable one that I have. Using the control solutions that came with both say they are both within their
proper range. Is there a standard deviation of 10 points or something with these meters??? I hope someone can help us out -I am driving myself crazy with all of this testing and guessing. Thanks.
Pick one and use it consistently. Home meters aren’t really designed for accuracy and you will get different readings when you use different meters or even when testing the same blood sample multiple times on the same meter. You have 3 factors for a home meter. Convenience, price and accuracy. The higher you go in one category the lower you go in the others, except price is opposite to that. You can get a home meter that is accurate enough to be used for diagnosis, however it is very expensive and not convenient. A home meter trades off accuracy in order to get better convenience and price.
Neither is more accurate and neither is more correct than the other. They’re both estimates.
Even if you take two readings at one time with the SAME meter you’ll get different results each time and those could also differ by 20 points. The FDA deems that an acceptable margin.
I use the OneTouch Ultra 2 and just tried an experiment… 2 pokes in the same finger about 30 seconds apart. I got a 106 (wooohooo!) the first poke and a 117 for the second poke. Same meter, same finger, 30 seconds apart.
Makes it very hard for me to take my humalog when there is even a 20pt. difference!! I always go with the LOWER reading…just to be safe…too many LOWS and I feel awful low!
