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Accu-chek Aviva Nano

T

thediabeticswife

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As a finger-pricking virgin, this is what my husband brought himself to track his BG levels. He was concerned that the readings might not be correct, so he tried a couple of tests on different fingers within the space of a minute. One came back as 6.9 mmol and the other 7.4 mmol. He does wash his hands first and makes sure he washes off the soap.

He is waiting for Accu-chek to send him some control solution (no idea what that is), but in the mean time, we wondered whether anyone on here might be less mystified about these strange results than we are?
 
The different readings are perfectly normal. You will get a slightly different reading from different fingers or different meters and there is an 'acceptable' error of 10% I think. I had 8.1 and 7.5 this morning on consecutive tests. (I just average them, to be honest).

Control solution is a liquid that you test instead of using blood. The box that the strips came in (or the tub) will give a control range for the solution, i.e. it will say 6.1 - 8.2. If the meter reads within that range, then there is no problem. I have my doubts about control solution. If I do a reading and think it's wrong, I might do another and get a result that's quite a bit different. I then do a control test and it comes out as okay. Which number do I trust? From my personal experience if I don't like the number the meter tells me (i.e. I think I'm likely to be higher or lower) I do a couple of tests and take best out of three. Having said that, I'm T1 and have multiple strips on prescription so using 2-3 is not a real problem for me. I only generally retest if I'm around the hypo border and feel the number isn't right.

Despite looking beautifully and scientifically accurate and all that, with their lovely digital display and decimal point readout, they're not really that accurate at all, IMHO. What you're looking out for are trends over time. If you get a sustained rise in levels to, say, 12, then it might not be 12, it might be 11.5, but you know for sure that it's gone up.

If you think the meter is reading incorrectly, most manufacturers will swap a meter.

Hope that helps.
 
different readings are quiet normal... you can even get variation from the same finger prick.. most meters have a tolerance of around 10%.. as long as your not getting more than 1 mmol/l variation then I shouldn't worry..

Also you want to check the amount of blood you used.. sometimes on meters I have used they can give a reading when you have just not enough blood.. this can lead to an incorrect result.
 
Thank you both - we were under the impression (probably based on the meter's appearance) that it would be a lot more accurate!

Happily the trend over the short time that my husband has been testing seems positive, and I guess that's the main thing.

I do hope that eventually we will work out exactly what foods are better for him than others - it's evidently no so clear cut as we first thought it might be (eat something, test a bit later, job done).
 
As a way of speeding up what can be the lengthy process of food evaluation, you might want to try low glycaemic foods first. They are generally foods that are converted into sugar less quickly, thereby helping to avoid spikes in glucose readings: http://www.diabetes.org.uk/Guide-to-dia ... 4QodgSpIyg

I don't know whether your husband has seen a dietician yet but here is the advice that I was given many years ago: "Your diet is OK but remember that pizza comes in triangular portions not round ones!!"

Happy metering.

Doug
 
Many thanks Doug!

He was told that dieticians aren't much help (this is from the DSN), so she would only refer him if he really, really wants her to. I think he may decide that he does really, really want to see one!

I'll show him your link - thank you for posting!
 
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