Need Recs for a new glucometer. Small blood drop and inexpensive strips desired. Type two, diagnosed four years ago, age 70, weight normal to low, required to test three times a week, On Metformin and occasional glipizide with big meals such as Thanksgiving.I am now testing more than three times a week as I am going through a period of extreme stress and not eating often enough. Thanks in advance.
There will likely be a number of comments on your question, but I think it would help if you could clarify a few points.
Apparently you have a meter now. Is it not meeting your needs or costs too much for the appropriate strips, or both? You say you need to test 3X per week, so perhaps a dozen times a month? There may be a few outliers, but I think most strips fall in a range between twenty cents and a dollar. If that’s the case, we would be looking at a monthly cost of between $2.40 and $12. And while there are variations in the required blood drop size, I don’t think it’s that large and I would consider most of them “small.”
From what you’ve told us, I’d be much more concerned about dealing with the stress and getting your eating plan under control.
and the strips that I like retail for $1.44 each! a 100 count box of Contour Next strips are $144. thankfully, I’ve got Medicare coverage so my cost is zero.
Cheap strips are the store brands such as Walmart’s Relion.
We recently switched to the Contour Next strips. There are a few meters which use these strips. The strip requires a very small amount of blood and has a very highly rated level of accuracy.
Amazon has the Contour Next strips at 26 cents per strip when buying 100 at a time. Or 21 or 22 cents per strip when buying 300 at a time.
https://www.amazon.com/Contour-Next-Bayer-Blood-Glucose-Strips/dp/B0097OY70Y/
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Contour next strips on eBay can be got for 20-22 cents per strip.
I just received 50 Contour Next strips for about $13 from an Amazon seller. Not that I needed another meter, but I just wanted to compare with what I’ve been using. I just received the package and my first comparison test against my One Touch was within 1 mg/dl of each other.
But what was the difference in blood size required…
(We just switched from One Touch Ultra to Contour Next !!!)
Small drops read with the same accuracy as lots of blood.
But much easier on the fingertips.
wow, that’s a lot cheaper than at Walgreens! I was shocked when I saw the $144 sign in front of the 100-count box of Contour Next. IMO, best strips/meter on the market currently (compared to everything I’ve used since the mid 1990’s which is a lot of meters). Some were so bad I returned them to the pharmacies for a refund within hours or a few days of purchase. The ultimate worst meter ever, for me was made by Medisense. If I’d continued using that meter I’d have ended up in the hospital from a severe hypo thanks to it’s incredible inaccuracy. They made a credit card size (more or less) and a pen shaped meter at the same time, back in the 90’s. Can’t find a photo. Anyone find a photo? I remember the screen was gold-tinted.
This one?
YES!!! that’s it! it was a random number generator!
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Dave44, I think you are talking about the Medisense QID or Medisense Precision that was available in the “pen” as well as the skinny one. I used one for a while in early 2000’s and thought it was OK.
My wife just told me that before we met, she too, had that same Medisense meter and it was highly inaccurate for her as well! I don’t think we ever talked about that before.
If you want a cheap cost meter and test strips go to Walmart. Their Prime (ReliOn) meter and test strips is about as cheap as it goes for out of pocket basis. The meter runs about $14 and the test strips $9 per 50. On accuracy they are par with the Medtronics (90% of time) provided meter with their pump. I tested both of them side by side for a month (burning up the prime test strips I had left). The only time I saw a big difference was on high levels ( above 240 ) then it was -10 to +20 point difference on readings.
I hope that helps.