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Bg Readings All Over The Place

S

SteveDuk

Member
I'm recently diadnosed T2 and I bought an SD Codefree meter.

Over the last couple of days I have noticed some weird readings and I just tried doing a series of tests with the following results:

13.1
11
12.1
12.5

All within 2 minutes.

This morning I took two readings before going to bed (I work nights) and got:

13.6 and 8

Yesterday I got post breakfast readings of 13.7 & 10.8

Do I need to buy a better meter
 
No.

No meters are 100% accurate. All meters have to be within 15% higher or lower than the true reading 95% of the time before they can be marketed. Your series of 4 tests are all within normal acceptable limits.

Your 13.6 and 8 may be just that one was a rogue reading due to either a corrupted test strip or a speck of dirt/sugar/food on your finger.

I assume you followed the instructions to thoroughly wash and dry your hands before each test?

We all get the odd rogue reading every now and again.
 
To be honest when I read the first reply I wondered why I was bothering to test at all as it makes the results pretty meaningless. On one thread I read that a rise of 2 means that food wasn't good and on another thread that a difference of 2 is within spec for the meter.

No wonder people are confused.I see meters recommended on here purely on a cost basis but at the momont I am using three strips per test to get what might be an accurate reading. I'd much rather pay a bit more and get proper results the first time.
 
Well I bit the bullet and bought an Accu-Chek mobile. Four tests so far today done with both and the new one is a lot more consistent.

It just means that all the foods I had tested over the last week and a half will have to be done again.
 
SteveDuk said:
Well I bit the bullet and bought an Accu-Chek mobile. Four tests so far today done with both and the new one is a lot more consistent.

It just means that all the foods I had tested over the last week and a half will have to be done again.
Click to expand...
Agreed! Finding a meter you are comfy with is very important! You build a truat relationship over time and that's my case... I have been usung Accu Chek Performa for a while now and I can't imagine testing on another meter
 
I tried the same thing this morning with TEE2 meter. The first finger tested st 15.8. This is very high for me so I tested the finger next to it. This was 11.4.

***!!!!!
Don't know how I can have confidence in these meters for an accurate reading when they give wildly different results. Even if only to indicate a trend (up or down) this can't be relied upon
 
When your sugars are extremely high then I would imagine that the accuracy of meters will indeed be doubtful.. however what they are showing is that your sugars are way too high...
 
The good news is that after nearly 40 tests all seems to be ok with the new one. I had an appointment with the nurse yesterday and she was impressed with the spreadsheet printout I took with me showing before and after readings for different foods. She wrote me a prescription for 4*50 test cassettes.
 
When I was first diagnosed I ended up with 3 meters, all good brands (Doc gave me one, hospital gave me another and I already had one). I experimented with all three and when I tested all 3 at the same time the ranges were always anything up to 4 mmol's difference, I tested all 3 again and it was the same and also each brand positioned differently, ie the highest before became the lowest reading, the middle before became the highest and so on. I would say just stick to the one you have, it will show you your pattern accurately enough. The only thing that worries me is that when your readings are in the 4's you could easily be in the 3's or vice versa. This might make you think you are hypo and act accordingly. When this happens I re check. (Obviously anything around the low 3's I treat immediately as a hypo).
 
SteveDuk said:
Well I bit the bullet and bought an Accu-Chek mobile. Four tests so far today done with both and the new one is a lot more consistent.

It just means that all the foods I had tested over the last week and a half will have to be done again.
Click to expand...
They would have to be done again anyway. You need about 3 tests to be reasonably sure about a food item / combination.
 
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