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Are Strips Interchangeable?

SueJB

Well-Known Member
Messages
3,336
Location
Heaven
Type of diabetes
Type 1
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Insulin
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cold weather
Does anyone know if you can use any strips in any monitor? I use Glucomen areo strips but through my own stupidity I might have to buy some and I know for a fact Boots don't have mine on their shelves.
I suppose what I'm asking is, if I buy a different brand of strips, will I need to buy a new monitor to go with them?
Thanks in advance
 
Meter manufacturers make their money from the ongoing supply of strips not from the meters which they subsidise and are sometimes even free. It would make no business sense to supply a meter which could use another manufacturers strips.
 
Mr_Pot said:
Meter manufacturers make their money from the ongoing supply of strips not from the meters which they subsidise and are sometimes even free. It would make no business sense to supply a meter which could use another manufacturers strips.
Click to expand...
Have you ever tried using a different strip in an "incompatible" machine @Mr_Pot
 
SueJB said:
Have you ever tried using a different strip in an "incompatible" machine
Click to expand...

Personally I haven't tried all of them, but as the owner of several monitors purchased over the last 20 years from several different manufacturers, none of them are interchangeable. Even different monitors from the same manufacturer use different strips.
 
Thanks @DavidGrahamJones it means I'll have to buy both if my GP can't help
 
As a type 1 your GP should be able to help you - urgently - and if you do end up having to buy, then pop into a Boots the chemist or other largeish chemist and ask the pharmacist for advice. They can probably recommend a brand where you just have to pay for a pot of strips and the meter is thrown in free. That was how I picked up my first meter and strips.

Also worth noting that buying a meter means that it usually just comes with a token 10 strips, rather than the 50 you might be expecting. Been there. Got caught out. So make sure that you know how many strips are included in the package, or you will be out of strips again in a few hours.
 
@SueJB - If you do end up buying strips that aren't for your own meter, I would suggest buying one of the "big name" monitors, rather than something obscure.

In terms of strip interchangeability, strips from a manufacturer don't necessarily fit all their machines. I know this is certainly the case with Abbott strips.

When I had to buy strips overseas (after diagnosis - I had miscalculated how much I would be testing in 4 months!), the overseas pharmacies seemed to have Accu-chek, Abbott, and I think Contour. At the time, I was using iBGStar and couldn't source them until we went to Guadeloupe (which although in the Carib is actually French - very French).

Of course, I have absolutely no idea what might be on sale in Latvia, but in your shoes, I'd be looking to gamble if I needed to buy yet more strips whilst away, that'd there'd be a fair chance I could.

I hope you get something sorted.
 
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