DO YOU TRUST YOUR BLOOD MONITOR

[VinnyJames]

I can't see any reason not to trust your meter. Even if it's the worst meter it will still show you what spikes you.
Then your hba1c will give you the bigger picture. )

 

[vit90]

Getting used to my new SD Codefree - I seem to be getting fasting/pre-meal figures in the mid-5s (full blood test FBG of 4.5 before starting Newcastle-style diet two weeks ago), does this seem OK? The figure is mid-6s 2 hours after a meal but remember I'm consuming very small meals (minimal carbs and only 200-300 calories). Feedback very welcome, thanks.

 

[Robbity]

I tend to trust my meter to show me patterns/trends, and it's usually fairly consistent. When I'm eating properly (very low carb, highish fat), and I'm not ill or stressed, then my pre and post readings can be fairly level, often quite flat. Otherwise they can be higher and/or more erratic, and I'll see more spikes.

@vit90 - To see how you're doing look at this guide to recommended levels on our main UK Diabetes site. Many people with good control aim to be as close to normal as possible, so you're obviously doing pretty well.

Robbity

 

[vit90]

Thanks - was really looking to see if the Codefree routinely produces slightly higher numbers than venous blood tests, which I would have thought would be the benchmark.

 

[msmi1970]

i bought a ketone meter that also tests blood sugar. pitted it against my trusty old device.
0.1 discrepancy. happy with both as a result.

 

[msmi1970]

this question has made me a tad paranoid...retested this morning with 3 different meters. wildly different. range from 4.9 to 5.7 to 6.1.
not doing that again...

 

[ConradJ]

This study seems to suggest there is no statistical difference between lab-tested venous glucose levels and capillary blood testing:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15625997

Of course I have no idea what the performance of the capillary meter they used is, probably a lot better than the ones we have.

I've just picked up on this posting and your post @vit90 .

When you read their conclusion, there is an extremely important point to pick up on [My bolding, underlining and colour]:

CONCLUSION:
Capillary whole-blood glucose values best approximated venous plasma glucose values from the laboratory. Measuring the venous whole-blood glucose using the glucometer resulted in an overestimation of the venous plasma glucose compared with the laboratory result by about 0.97 mmol/L (17.46 mg/dL). This may result in the withholding of intravenous glucose for patients who are actually hypoglycemic.


It would,of course, be essential to know whether this is found to be constitent throughout the range of Glucometers.

 

[vit90]

Now even more confused!

 

[ConradJ]

I can't see any reason not to trust your meter. Even if it's the worst meter it will still show you what spikes you.
Then your hba1c will give you the bigger picture. )

Err... um...

"Even if it's the worst meter"..?

Some of the 'worst meters' have shown wildly differing results from the same drops of blood taken and repeated within minutes of the first set...

About a decade ago, I had two of the same meter and decided to see how accurate they were when I started getting anxious about my highly erratic results.

I put brand new batteries in both meters then washed my hands, put test stips from the same package into the meters, pricked my finger and applied the droplet to both strips. Result: meter A showed something in excess of 15, whilst meter B showed something like 11mmol/ml.

So I washed my hands again, took out two more strips and pricked another finger, applying the same drop but this time meter B getting it first. Result? Meter A showed something like 18 and meter B was something like 8.9.

Needless to say, I ditched those meters pretty quickly and got something else.

Considering that ISO, FDA...can set the acceptable tolerance level at 20%, even the best meters on the market leave us with a significant margin for error.

There is a move to reduce the tolerance margins, which will be an enormous help to us all, but in the meantime, managing one's diabetes with so many variables proves to be 'mission impenetrable" for many of us - this is one of the key, utterly logical arguments behind the Low-carb movement.

 

[VinnyJames]

Err... um...

"Even if it's the worst meter"..?

Some of the 'worst meters' have shown wildly differing results from the same drops of blood taken and repeated within minutes of the first set...

About a decade ago, I had two of the same meter and decided to see how accurate they were when I started getting anxious about my highly erratic results.

I put brand new batteries in both meters then washed my hands, put test stips from the same package into the meters, pricked my finger and applied the droplet to both strips. Result: meter A showed something in excess of 15, whilst meter B showed something like 11mmol/ml.

So I washed my hands again, took out two more strips and pricked another finger, applying the same drop but this time meter B getting it first. Result? Meter A showed something like 18 and meter B was something like 8.9.

Needless to say, I ditched those meters pretty quickly and got something else.

Considering that ISO, FDA...can set the acceptable tolerance level at 20%, even the best meters on the market leave us with a significant margin for error.

There is a move to reduce the tolerance margins, which will be an enormous help to us all, but in the meantime, managing one's diabetes with so many variables proves to be 'mission impenetrable" for many of us - this is one of the key, utterly logical arguments behind the Low-carb movement.

And yet I have non diabetic hba1c levels

 

[catherinecherub]

New standards are going to be implemented at the end of May 2016 according to this article.


http://www.diabetes.co.uk/blood-glucose-meters/blood-glucose-meter-accuracy.html

These is also a list of the present ISO guidelines on blood glucose meter accuracy bounds at the moment.

 

[ConradJ]

New standards are going to be implemented at the end of May 2016 according to this article.


http://www.diabetes.co.uk/blood-glucose-meters/blood-glucose-meter-accuracy.html

These is also a list of the present ISO guidelines on blood glucose meter accuracy bounds at the moment.

Thankyou for confirming my own mental arithmetic!

And yet another reason for not bothering with DUK anymore... I've been a member for years, yet where's their info about this???

 

[msmi1970]

ooo. got to get me one of those...