its really hot here in seville right now, like over 100F/40C and im getting a whole bunch of e13 error messages. ive used different boxes of strips and theyre different lot numbers and two different meters (relion).
i know that when i went skiing and it was really cold that it affected my meter and it wouldnt work until it warmed up again.
strips cant be refridgerated but it says they should stay 86F tops. what do you people in hot places do? i have air conditioning in my bedroom, but its for sleeping. we have siesta for the daytime :)
I have the opposite problem I live in a very cold place… I just have to keep m strips in a controlled climate environment all the time… Like maybe keep them in your bedroom or maybe keep another package of them at your workplace, etc
I'd get a large enough Frio to put the meter and test strips in. The Frio's work by radiational cooling, so they just need water to activate. They don't freeze anything, but they can keep insulin safe for (last time I personally tested) up to 12 hours in 90 degree weather in the trunk of a car which probably got well over 100 degrees!
For now, do you have a refrigerator? You could maybe keep them in the fridge (also ziploc so they don't get any moisture)...that'd keep them cool without freezing them. Then you can just take out the ones you'll be using for the day and hopefully they won't get as hot, since they'll have started out at a cooler temperature.
When you go back to your bedroom AC, do the strips and meter work fine a couple hours later? Might be largely that the meter needs to be at certain temps to operate efficiently.
Yeah, but we (me and my meter and strips) arent at that temperature all day. im going to try the frio idea though.
i was at the pool all day with no idea of bg, not hungry at all cuz its so hot, two glasses of wine, gonna walk 3km home, trying to fix my basal cuz its too high from the heat. stupid relion (oh, the irony) meter not working. i got home to my hot house and tested on the accucheck meter i have and it worked. so ok, sometimes expensive is better.
Ruth, it says on the strips not to put them in the fridge. thanks for the frio idea though. will try it today.
Frio is great but they are not perfect… They work by evaporative cooling so their efficiency is greatly affected by the relative humidity of the environment they are in. I carried around a thermometer in mine for several weeks once and never saw a temperature reduction of more than 5 degrees from outside temperature…
Never actually considered high tempts before..maybe me go read my strips packets. And yep, a operational temperature from 9-30C only. Ok I've only really encountered issues with them not working in the cold when sub zero, and been a few degrees over that on the upper end and they work. Going 10+ degrees more I guess it looks like that's even outside the working boundaries.
I guess I might consider a frio pack for the strips on a hot trip. Makes me wonder though if the meters themselves also have operational temperatures I'll need to consider if anyone knows?
The Relion (Prime?) manual can be found here. The meter is supposed to be able to operate between 5 and 45 deg C and relative humidity of less than 80%. The "e13" error refers to not enough blood on the test strip. The meter itself can be stored between 0 and 50 deg C, but being in a car or direct sunlight may be too much.
The test strips are the most sensitive to temperature and you are advised not to leave the strips above 30 deg C. The strip canisters are airtight, to protect them you can put them in a frio pouch as Ruth suggested. When used properly a frio is claimed to keep it's contents at 18-26 deg C. My experience is that a frio does well in low humidity but can stop working in high humidity.
My meter does not work if it is too cold outside. Shows a thermometer then and i have to warm it up. that sometimes happens when i go skiing and dont carry my meter close to my body. i then just put the meter somewhere warm and it recovers quickly.
If it works fine once you are back in cooler temperatures, I think the issue is mainly that you just have to keep it cooler before and/or while testing.
