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Blood/Glucose testing meters.

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yingtong

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Location
Swindon uk
Type of diabetes
Type 1
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Insulin
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I have 5 blood/glucose meters and, today,carried out 5 tests,one with each meter,from the blood sample and guess what? 5 5 different readings varying from 5.9 and 9.1.Has anyone got any answers ?


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They do have a 20% range ,best idea is to choose a monitor and stick to it
 
I agree with Totsy. No point in carrying out multiple test, they will always vary. A 20% error margin could put your levels at 7.7 ( 5.9+20% ) and 7.3 ( 9.1-20% ). Stick with 1 meter and look for trends. The lower the readings, less margin for error.
 
This almost goes back to the days of 5 drops of urine to 5 drops of water and guess the colour that is how I started 50 years ago.As per 20% error on meters.leads to a question am I hypo or not? I would have thought 20 % error is very poor when calculating insulin requirements quite risky.


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yingtong said:
This almost goes back to the days of 5 drops of urine to 5 drops of water and guess the colour that is how I started 50 years ago.As per 20% error on meters.leads to a question am I hypo or not? I would have thought 20 % error is very poor when calculating insulin requirements quite risky.


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The lower the readings are, the less the margin of error. A reading of 10 gives margin of error of 2 either way. A reading of 5 is only 1 either way. The meters should still be a good indication of a potential hypo but will never be a truly accurate reading.
 
yingtong said:
This almost goes back to the days of 5 drops of urine to 5 drops of water and guess the colour that is how I started 50 years ago.As per 20% error on meters.leads to a question am I hypo or not? I would have thought 20 % error is very poor when calculating insulin requirements quite risky.
Click to expand...

I believe the error margin of meters is significantly reduced when blood glucose readings are low around hypo levels, in other-words they are more accurate at lower levels than they are at higher.

I do remember the Clinitest kits, pleased we have moved on from them days.....

edit, just seen Mo's post saying the same
 
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