Walgreens True2Go

Diabetes Technology Glucose Monitoring
1

I'm going on vacation soon and when I saw Walgreen's little True2Go meter I thought, that looks like it would be easy to take along. So I bought one, along with 100 strips. The meter is very small and attaches to the top of the strip container. It and the lance fit in a tube and make a unit not much bigger than an old 35mm film canister. (picture attached)

I read all the instructions and this morning I tried it. The instructions say to poke your finger first, THEN get a strip and put it into the meter. Wow, the strip container is a little hard to open with the meter on top of it. They seem to ask for this sequence because there is an issue with having the strips exposed to the air for too long. I finally got it all together, though. My blood sugar was 201!!! Aaaaack. It's barely ever over 100 in the morning. Oh, wait, I had the meter upside down and those ditigal numbers look the same both ways. The meter actually read 102. I decided to check it against my One Touch. That one said 88, which is pretty typical for me. At least it's typical on my One Touch. Now I'm getting paranoid about the One Touch (the batteries are fresh, by the way).

I couldn't find the test solution for the One Touch. I've never used it. But I decided to test the True2Go. I opened the solution box and read the instructions, put in a strip and tried to get it to absorb some solution. The drop sat on top the strip. When I finally got some to absorb, there was an error message. I put in another strip and tried again. Three strips later I got a reading. 48. The instructions said: "When Meter displays result, compare result with Control range printed on Test Strip vial label." Guess what? There is no such thing on the vial label. There is also nothing on the box it came in, nor in the instructions about what a test reading is supposed to be.

So here's my evaluation so far of the True2Go. I love the price. The meter was about $10.00. The box of 100 strips was about $60.00. I'm a T2, and if I ever have to buy my own supplies I could handle this. I have been able to get away with testing twice a day because I'm doing well so far on a low carb diet.

I like the smallness of the unit but I don't think it will last long banging around in my purse, the sleeve that holds it does not protect it because the most sensitive part, the meter, sits right out on top of it. I'll try it and see. My purse is a great stress test for anything.

I don't like it that the strips seem to be very sensitive to exposure to the air. This might make me feel better if I thought it was because they're more finely calibrated. Because of the half-baked test solution instructions I get the feeling the strips are just not very well made, though. I don't know if that's true, it's just my impression. They certainly don't look as fancy as the One Touch strips. Maybe that's not relevant.

The thing that disturbs me the most, in the depths of my little OC brain, is that we spend all this money and we have no guarantee how accurate the systems are. In my case, at this point in my diabetic life, it's not going to be crucial. But for someone who is trying to get in control of their T1 diabetes and coordinate food and insulin, it's not helpful to have to deal with meter inaccuracies as well.

I'll take this new meter on my vacation and let you know how it holds up. Unless I read the meter upside down again and die from a heart attack first.

2583-True2Go.jpg (52.4 KB)
2

When I opened the box of 100 new strips, I found the test table printed on the new strip container. If I had just used the original 10 strips that came with the meter, however, there would have been no test table. It gives a range, 30-60 for the test strip. So at 48 I guess I can deduce that the test solution shows the strip is valid, just not very accurate.

3

i used that meter this summer and it always tested higher than my accucheck aviva. i liked the price too but not the numbers it gave me. i replaced it with a target up and up meter cuz the strips were half the price. they measured closer to my accuchek.

4

This sounds like a dud. The test strips sound as if they are measuring more than the glucose D.

5

The meter accuracy thing is huge, especially for those of us T1s who are insulin sensitive and/or children. My ISF is 1:40 (1 unit makes me drop about 40 points) and I know there are children who have an ISF of 1:70 or 1:100. Meter accuracy issues can make it really hard to get tight control because you're always wondering if that high you're correcting is as high as the meter says. For safety, I will frequently check a high reading (anything above 200) a second time and on another meter if available. I don't want to take 2-3 units of insulin unless I know for sure that I really need all that insulin, otherwise I will CRASH. Obviously, double-testing can get expensive, but I don't feel safe otherwise.

6

I find myself in same predicament where I get a high reading - 200 up and I recheck on other hand on another finger and get a sub 200 number.

It is a costly pain but for insulin dosing reasons stated critical to prevent crashing body on the tail end of insulin cycle and digestion.

prior to settling on strip/meter i would also keep a backup meter to catch meter offset nonsense due to non glucose d sugars fooling strip/meter.

thanks for sharing.

7

I use the True 2Go, sometimes, as well as the even cheaper Relion meter. They're not perfect, but good enough for me. In my estimation, you will probably achieve better results testing more frequently with these, than less with the more expensive meters.

8

I think you're right, Sam. Yesterday I threw the little meter in my purse and did a daylong experiment, taking my readings every 2 hours. It was very educational, I was between 85 and 114 all day, which gives me some confidence in my low carb endeavors. I tested the two meters against each other again at the end of the day and they were only 2 points off. The new one gets to go to Hawaii with me.