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2 Meters

DumfriesDik

Well-Known Member
Messages
224
Location
SW Scotland
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
Dislikes
Carbs
Okay, give a man a watch and he will tell you the right time. Give a man two watches and he will never be quite sure.

I have a travel blood meter which I use for my own amusement and travel, in addition to the official one used by clinic.

Just out of interest, I took readings with both last night before bed and the travel one said 6.3 and the official 7.1. To me that is quite a difference. This morning they were 7.5 and 7.7 respectively, which is much more understandable.

Should all meters read the same or is a 10% variance acceptable?
 
There will be a variance both in the meter and in the strips and 10% would be considered acceptable. If you would like to know how accurate your meter is compared to the lab take it with you when you get your bloods drawn and check blood sugar right when they draw the blood.
 
good morning, I'm new to this so still learning but understand 10% variance is acceptable. Also read that different fingers can give different readings!!!
I have an easylife monitor that reads the whole blood and an sd codefree that reads the blood plasma and the readings are very different. For example this morning my codefree said 10.0 when converted to whole blood that was 8.9. Both way too high but 8.9 sounds so much better than 10!!!! ( There is a calculator on this site to convert one to the other.)
Could I be cheeky and ask if your official monitor reads plasma or whole blood?
 
Thanks for the info. Although I have raised an eyebrow that 15% is an acceptable range
 
You very easily get control solution to check your meters at different levels. Having checked a few different types against control solution and found most read high only one meter gave low readings. The only meters I personally trust are my SD Codefree and the Contour Next series.
 
Bayer will send control solution and new batteries to you for free for the contour next, at least in canada anyways. They also have wallets in four different colors for free. Free shipping in Canada as well but I don't know about UK.
 
Hi thanks for getting back to me, I just thought you might know off the top of your head. I had to check my booklet that said it read blood plasma!!!!!
I presume you feel happy with the results from the " official monitor" , I just go with the lower number, bit of denial creeping in!
 
Some variation is going to happen and in time the standards they have to meet will be improved
 
as a T2 not on insulin, the +/- 15% doesn't really bother me, because I am just looking for patterns and trends. But that is why I have mainly switched to the Libre. Yes it can be more expensive. But it is so much less hassle, and it gives me far more info across the whole 24hrs, rather than just a few snapshots through the day.

I've learned so much from it, that I only use it part time now, so the average cost per week is now very manageable (currently about £10 a week, if I put a sensor on every 5 weeks. Each sensor lasts 2 weeks, so I have 2 weeks of 24/7 testing, followed by 3 weeks of no testing. Works for me).
 
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