Hi all. Can anyone help me please? My meter gives very different readings when I test twice in a row.the difference can be as much as 1 mmol. Is this normal? I have an accu chek aviva by the way.
Most results are not reproducible and meters have a limit on their accuracy. Check on-line for the accuracy figure for your particular meter. The data is published.
Hana
Hana
It looks like my meter is very dodgy! Perhaps I should buy a new one, unless there is a way to fix it. Does anyone know of a way??
Tania
Tania
I sometimes feel I might be low, test on my right hand and get a normal reading..maybe around 6, then try my left hand and get a reading of below 4. This is explained away by not washing hands before testing which COULD be true!!! 
I'm a bit obsessive about handwashing so it's unlikely to be that in my case. No, I've decided I need a new meter. Perhaps the dog sat on it or something.
ShortStuff
Well-Known Member
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- 71
If you ring Aviva on their help line they are great.
They will look at their chart and tell you if yours is 'within range' - but their (and others) range is 15%, so you are bound to be if you are only one point apart. One day I had readings of 7/5.8/8.5/6.2 one after the other!! When they looked on their chart it was within their 'acceptable' range?! They sent me out (FOC) some control solution and I tested with that and it was right in the middle of each of the ranges (there are two solutions).
It's annoying as to us that's a HUGE difference 5.8 - 8.5, but not to them.
Anyway, I've decided that as I'm 'only' a type 2, currently diet controlled as long as it's 'within reason' I'm not too stressed about it (stressing about it was costing me a fortune in strips - testing several times each time!!) and will just see what my next HbA1c is like. I don't know how insulin dependants get on though?!
A friend said to me that it depends how deep you go and at what angle?! I can't really see how that works tbh, but for her it seems to make a differce and it also makes a difference which finger she uses?! Weird huh.
They will look at their chart and tell you if yours is 'within range' - but their (and others) range is 15%, so you are bound to be if you are only one point apart. One day I had readings of 7/5.8/8.5/6.2 one after the other!! When they looked on their chart it was within their 'acceptable' range?! They sent me out (FOC) some control solution and I tested with that and it was right in the middle of each of the ranges (there are two solutions).
It's annoying as to us that's a HUGE difference 5.8 - 8.5, but not to them.
Anyway, I've decided that as I'm 'only' a type 2, currently diet controlled as long as it's 'within reason' I'm not too stressed about it (stressing about it was costing me a fortune in strips - testing several times each time!!) and will just see what my next HbA1c is like. I don't know how insulin dependants get on though?!
A friend said to me that it depends how deep you go and at what angle?! I can't really see how that works tbh, but for her it seems to make a differce and it also makes a difference which finger she uses?! Weird huh.
Yorksman
Well-Known Member
- Messages
- 2,445
- Type of diabetes
- Treatment type
- Diet only
sunnyspots said:
Yes it is normal, both for the meter and for capillary blood testing, ie finger prick samples, in general. The difference between my index finger and middle finger is often 0.3 or 0.4, my annular is 0.7 higher. That's to do with the way blood circulates. The other factor is the quality of blood sample by finger prick. These samples are a mix of undetermined proportions of blood from arterioles, venules, capillaries, plus interstitial and intracellular fluids. Venous blood samples, ie where they syringe the blood out of a vein are better but also still variable. If you want to read further, this article will give you a general idea: http://care.diabetesjournals.org/conten ... 8.full.pdf especially the section Factors Contributing to Variation in Results.
Sid Bonkers
Well-Known Member
- Messages
- 3,976
- Type of diabetes
- Type 2
- Treatment type
- Diet only
- Dislikes
- Customer helplines that use recorded menus that promise to put me through to the right person but never do - and being ill. Oh, and did I mention customer helplines :)
Its not fixable Im afraid and is perfectly normal. Blood glucose moniters work have to comply with certain guidelines and these lay down a tolerance of - or + 20% so a reading of 6 could theoretically be anywhere between 5 and 7 although it is more usual for them to be fairly accurate.
Testing two samples of blood however will never bring the same results either from different blood samples or even from the same blood sample. There are various technical reasons for this but it is a fact so dont sweat it, just test once and go with that figure :thumbup:
Home testing meters are there to give us a good indication of where our bg levels are at a given moment, the HbA1c is a more accurate figure which is why it is relied on for medical assessments and diagnosis.
Testing two samples of blood however will never bring the same results either from different blood samples or even from the same blood sample. There are various technical reasons for this but it is a fact so dont sweat it, just test once and go with that figure :thumbup:
Home testing meters are there to give us a good indication of where our bg levels are at a given moment, the HbA1c is a more accurate figure which is why it is relied on for medical assessments and diagnosis.
