Sometimes I take my blood sugar twice in a row, out of interest

And literally, in the span of under a minute, I can take my sugar and it will be, say, 140…and twenty seconds later I check again (I do this once in a while because I did it once, out of curiosity, and noticed this trend) and it will read 190 (or the reverse). What is this about? Does this happen to anyone else? What does it mean? Help!

hmm yea i have that sometimes. Make sure your fingers are completely clean. Ive started licking my fingers now before a test just to make sure they’re completely clean or using an alcohol swab. Ive noticed the readings are now more consistent with how I feel and two in a row are closer together

Meters just aren’t that accurate. The FDA requires that meters be within 20% accuracy of a lab test. It’s just one of those frustrating things. We all know that the difference between 80 and 65 is a big deal. That said, using the control solution to test your meter and doing all that handwashing stuff can’t hurt.

That’s a roughly 25% difference… too much for normal test to test variance. I suspect Roman is right and it has something to do with contamination.

If you want to see how repeatable your meter is, start with clean hands and a stable blood sugar (not right after eating or exercising) and do at least 6 tests. That should give you a reasonable idea of what kind of variation you can expect. 10% is probably the largest difference I would accept.

I test on my forearm and don’t now get this. Also check the info on your meter on David Mendosa’s website. Some are more accurate and consistent with others. My Freestyle Mini is pretty consistent. In fact when it went wonky recently, I realised I needed new batteries. I don’t use alcohol swabs as they evntually harden the skin. Athletes who are prone to blisters often use alcohol for this purpose.

If her actual bs was around 165, this is within 20% variation. That’s still unacceptable, but so are the FDA’s regulations.

If your blood sugar is fluctuating that fast, you might feel some symptoms. I’m not sure what the best description is, perhaps feeling dizzy or light headed. It’s safer to have access to two meters. Sometimes I wait 15-20 min to test a second time, to see which direction my blood sugar is going, before making a management decision.

I tested mine earlier and it was 226, then excersized and it was like 180 then waited another hour and it was 210 again. Whats up with that?

Sometimes I do this too. I’ll do one on my left hand, and then one on my right. However, mine have always been with in about 20 units of each other.