buying blood strips in France for a uk machine

nhkf

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if i have a uk acc check machine and is set to uk measurements MMOL (i thinks called) can i buy blood strips in france (they have a different measurement, and us in a uk machine?
 

JohnEGreen

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You could always order from Amazon UK they do deliver to France.
 

nhkf

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thank you, the scenario is a little more complicated, i need to decide if i use uk insurance or french to pay for insulin and strips while in china, i have both duality, and use a uk machine at the moment and through the french health system i can get blood strips, at discounted price but both countries have different measurements on blood readings i.e mmol v other(forgot the name of measurement) so i wanted to know if i keep my uk accuchek aviva rather than buy a new one will the french blood strips work ie will the reading be accurate using a strip set(maybe the strips have nothing to do with the readings) that is set to MMOL
 

bulkbiker

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Sounds like you are in a pretty unique position the conversion factor from mmol/l to dl/mg is 18 though so you can convert pretty easily which ever you get... i.e. 100 dl/mg converts to 5.556 mmol/l
 

DCUKMod

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The strips I bought on a French island, in the Tropics worked perfectly well in my UK meter. In my personal expeience it is the meterr that decides how to express the number, as opposed to the strips.

I just walked into the La Pharmacie and asked for the strrips for my meter. I had my meter with me, just in case my French was unintelligible.
 

bangkokdiabetic

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The Strips Will be The Same World Wide...It is the meter which decides on mg/dl or mmolL your reading should remain the same.
 

phoenix

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As above, I agree, its the meter that deternines the output. Its only a few years ago that meters could be switched from mmg/dl to mml/l ( they stopped the capability when people made errors after switching inadvertently) As long as the meter and strips are available in each country (not all are, even from the big manufacturers )the correct strips will be fine.
I've just moved back from France and have over the years had to buy strips in the UK for several 'French' meters. Now back in the UK, I have two Contour meters, one in mmg/dl originally from France, one in mmol/l from the UK. ( my gp was confused and my new consultant preferred not to have to do division in his head so I got a new one!)
I can use the same pot of strips for either.
 
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Deleted member 308541

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Strips are universal, they work with both meter measuring systems.

The only thing I have noticed with Australian strips are they are not for sale in the USA.
 

Robbity

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The strips I bought on a French island, in the Tropics worked perfectly well in my UK meter. In my personal expeience it is the meterr that decides how to express the number, as opposed to the strips.

I just walked into the La Pharmacie and asked for the strrips for my meter. I had my meter with me, just in case my French was unintelligible.
That's my understanding too; essentially the meters are identical, but with their units switched to reflect a particular country's usage, so their little computer chips will calculate the results in the relevant form - and this should in no way alter the actual method of acquiring the blood for testing.

Robbity