GP asked me to use GlucoRx meter but i am not sure

[Klang180]

Hello everyone

I recently had an appointment with my GP who asked me to "try out" the Gluco Rx Nexus mini meter as the prescriptions were half the price.

I appreciate their need to save money and if the meter does the same job i cannot see the harm however after reading a few reviews i see people are not happy with the accuracy of the meter. I therefore want to know whether i should bang my drum all the way back to the GP's surgery?

I use quite a lot of sticks 8-10 a day, which i believe to be reasonable for good control and i can see therefore that halving the cost of prescriptions is appealing for them. I don't want to cost them more money and nor do i want to create a fuss if there is no need but what are your experiences? Have you been "offered" this other meter?

Would be great to hear from people in a similar situation.

 

[mo1905]

I use this meter and never had any problems with it. However, I've nothing to compare it against. Is it meant to produce high readings, low readings or just erratic ? If it is unreliable, I'll speak to my nurse too !


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[Andy12345]

Exactly the same for me i have this meter and really like it, especially the plug it into the computer and get all the info charts etc, until i read this i had no idea meters could be unreliable i just assumed it was accurate, i bloody hope it is because i havent been higher than 4.5 (been bouncing between 3.5 and 4.5) today and was feeling chuffed with myself

 

[fractureman]

I'd prefer to stay about 4.0 below that is hypo


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[Klang180]

Well first comparison and it isn't looking good.

Washed hands throroughly, used same exact finger and same blob of blood and the readings were very different.

Accu Test Aviva - 10.5
GlucoRx - 8.1

Those are very different to me, one would require 2 units to remedy and the other 1 unit!

 

[Andy12345]

Omg!

 

[mo1905]

Question now is which one is correct ? We need a third meter lol !

 

[mo1905]

You'd think by law that there must be a degree of accuracy they adhere too ? Surely if it was common knowledge a certain brand of meter was providing false readings they would be withdrawn ? Or is this just naive and because it's cheap, we can allow a little deviation !!

 

[Klang180]

Mo you'd think so wouldn't you!

I have 9 more strips left to compare so i will post all results as they come in. Next one will be before bed i think.

I do have other meters but unfortunetly they are accu check ones as well and i think it is the strip that is the more important component.

 

[clifton90]

I was recently diagnosed with type 1 (october 2012). I was given this blood testing machine after I had been using a freestyle linx one. I have to say I really didn't like the gluco rx machine, found it required a lot more blood to take a reading and my fingers were starting to feel sorry for themselves! I went back to my doctor and said I wanted the freestyle linx back on my prescription rather than the gluco rx one and even though he explained the pricing I still insisted I did my want to use it! My nurses say it is our choice as to what best suits us! So I would say if you're not happy, go back and say something!


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[mo1905]

To be honest, I am quite naive to this and just wrongly assumed they would all be pretty accurate, or fairly close. I don't mind giving a little extra blood if it means my readings are correct. Trouble is, unless someone takes readings every day, same time with various machines, how will we know ? Is there a PROVEN list of accurate meters which we should request ?

 

[Klang180]

Hello again everyone

So an update. I did a few more tests and the gap between the two has closed to under 1 in most cases. It must be said though that over the 6 tests i did the GlucoRX was NEVER higher than the Accu Test and was never closer than 0.5units. I actually found a third meter with old sticks but which still seemed to work. It read somewhere in the middle of the two every time, which i think you'll agree is useless.

I spoke to my diabetes clinic today about the GlucoRX and they have said they find it "very inaccurate" and have had £frequent complaints" about it. As a result they have drafted a standard letter they send to GP's who insist on using this meter.

So in conclusion, i am going to reject this meter and hope they leave it at that.

Kind regards

 

[SamJB]

Here's a link that someone posted on a similar topic. The long and short of it is that you're lucky you get any accuracy!

http://www.diabetesmine.com/2012/09/why-meters-cant-tell-us-our-blood-sugar-levels.html

Here's the link to where this was posted:

viewtopic.php?f=15&t=37570

Lots of good discussion there. A good point is that the first reading you get from a finger prick contains more intra-cellular fluid than a second reading from the same site. Therefore you won't get the same reading twice.

I use the MyLife Pura meter as it claims to be the most accurate and precise. If you read the guff that comes with it, it states that most of the error comes from the test strips. In the test strips there are enzymes that release electrons when they encounter glucose. This creates an electric current that travels down the strip and is measured by the meter. MyLife reckons that a lot of this current is lost by poor electronic connections in the strip. So they've made a strip that has gold-plated connection and has a small distance between where the blood sample is gathered and the meter.

I've not had much of a variation at all with it. It's a bit fiddly. The test strips are a bit bulky and the carry case is a bit rubbish if you want to test whilst out and about. They will give you a free meter and a pot of trial strips if you call them. I can't find the post that gives NHS prices for test strips, but they're also one of the cheapest strips.

 

[Andy12345]

this is all bad news i was given the gluco rx nexus by my dn and thought it was fine before reading this, trouble is at the moment they are giving me as many strips as i want so im terrified to rock the boat ill just have to stick with it

 

[sarah1282]

Ok I use glucomenLX plus.
Does anyone else use this metre and do they like it?

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[syb]

hi
just looking back on some old posts here , I have the same machine im 4 weeks into diabeties now , I thought I was controlling it well , but I see that really I should be getting my levels into the 4s. some days it shows 4.8 somes days im mostly in the 5s .
I monitor my blood about 5 times a day . ive noticed on different fingers you get different readings is this normal ,

 

[SamJB]

Hi, syb. Check out the links that I posted further up, they explain why you are seeing differences.