Confused

Hi Clarence, that is impossible to answer!

All testing machines are only accurate to +/- 15%. The readings are too far apart to be acceptable so suggest you try again and see what the difference is. Why do you have 2 machines anyway?

jim

Hi and welcome,

And congratulations on getting a meter and starting to get to grips with this disease. There are a lot of people with Ostrich Syndrome (head buried in the sand) who just carry on doing the things that made them ill in the first place!

Regarding the meters, I'm afraid that all meters are a bit inacurate. They all have a + or - error. Usually this is small, but sometimes it can be more. I usually think of it as a 10% error on either side. So a reading of 10.0 could really be up to 11.0 or down to 9.0 - and the higher the reading, the bigger the variation might be!

This is very irritating, to start with, but the longer you are testing, the more you relax and look for trends, and recurring patterns - and this is what you are looking for.

A single reading doesn't really tell you very much, but if you eat a sandwich for lunch 3 days in a row, and each day your blood glucose reading jumps up by 2 or 3 each time, then that pattern shows you that 2 slices of bread are not a good idea.

See what I mean?

Regarding your question about your two meters, I would test again, on both meters, and take average, or I would just pick half way between those readings.

Then tomorrow, I would test using both of them again. If they are still showing widely different numbers every time (one always high, the other always low), then I would find your local chemist and ask them if they offer a free blood test, then you could compare the chemists reading to yours, to work out which meter is most accurate.

You can get a control solution and test them, but as said you follow trends, its a good idea to use a ruled.diary

This site is good for testing
http://www.phlaunt.com/diabetes/

Clarence said:

My name is Clarence I live inl PlymouthPlymouth I am 77years old and have type 2 for 4 weeks,I have 2 test metres the accu chek aviva and the accu chek mobile,I have taken 2test at the same time and both metres show a different reading.one shows 8.8 the other one 11 .5 which one should I believe

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At your early stage choose one of your two meters and stick with it. The difference was probably not one of the meters but site contamination. It only needs a trace of sugary or starchy residue on your skin to mix with the blood to give a falsely high result. Later, when you are more experienced with testing will be the time compare meters. When I do that I use the same drop of blood for both tests.

If you get an unexpectedly high result always wash your hands with soap and water (if possible) before re-testing.

Please read this for some other tips to help you begin: Getting Started

Yep Allan got it right.

I have calibrated more instruments than I care to remember (in major industry) and I am still amazed how bad these testers are, so you have to accept them as a rough guide only

As Allan said contamination gives high readings, in my experience even sweat sends the readings high.

I do not know the innards of these meters but my guess is they measure electrical conductivity of the sample and "infer" BS and that is why salty sweat sends it high. (I live in the sub tropics)
I complained once and they sent me a test sample and my meter read ok (no contamination with the sample but one point calibration says nothing about another level of reading)

When I get an odd reading, I then do 3 tests from different sites. That then gives me the option to discard one, average the others.

Or I can pick the one I like. (grin)

Clarence said:

My name is Clarence I live inl PlymouthPlymouth I am 77years old and have type 2 for 4 weeks,I have 2 test metres the accu chek aviva and the accu chek mobile,I have taken 2test at the same time and both metres show a different reading.one shows 8.8 the other one 11 .5 which one should I believe

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8.8 and 11.5 are actually within 15% tolerances. 8.8 could actually be 7.4-10.2 and 11.5 could be between 10.0 and 13.0 approx ! Good advice from others though, if you get a reading you think is odd, wash a re-test.

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Hi Clarence and welcome to the forum.

If I get a reading I don't believe I test again. If there is a significant difference I will test again. If the 3 readings are widely different, I average them. If 2 of the 3 are similar I discard the 3rd and average the 2 similar ones.

If I were you I would just use one of your meters, keeping the other as an emergency spare. You will only get confused using them both.

@Alan S How do you use the same drop of blood twice? I have an Accu Chek Mobile with an internal cassette of strips. I can't see any way of using the same drop more than once. It all gets used up on the first test.

Bluetit1802 said:

Hi Clarence and welcome to the forum.

If I get a reading I don't believe I test again. If there is a significant difference I will test again. If the 3 readings are widely different, I average them. If 2 of the 3 are similar I discard the 3rd and average the 2 similar ones.

If I were you I would just use one of your meters, keeping the other as an emergency spare. You will only get confused using them both.

@Alan S How do you use the same drop of blood twice? I have an Accu Chek Mobile with an internal cassette of strips. I can't see any way of using the same drop more than once. It all gets used up on the first test.

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When comparing meters I deliberately lance a little deeper and produce a larger drop. My three most recent meters (Freestyle Lite, Accu-chek Performa Nano, One Touch Verio) all only required a tiny drop.

Hi @bluetit I'm using the freestyle lite and you only need just the tiniest drop of blood for it...I also had the accu chek but preferred freestyle more (and they use abbott in hospitals too)


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Alan S said:

When comparing meters I deliberately lance a little deeper and produce a larger drop. My three most recent meters (Freestyle Lite, Accu-chek Performa Nano, One Touch Verio) all only required a tiny drop.

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OK. My meter requires a lot of blood or I waste a strip.

Adelle0607 said:

Hi @bluetit I'm using the freestyle lite and you only need just the tiniest drop of blood for it...I also had the accu chek but preferred freestyle more (and they use abbott in hospitals too)


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Maybe I should think about changing.

What are we saying is a big drop of blood and a small drop?

If you look at my avatar, I can get away with a slightly smaller drop than that shown.

jim

jim1951 said:

What are we saying is a big drop of blood and a small drop?

If you look at my avatar, I can get away with a slightly smaller drop than that shown.

jim

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That would be about as little as I could get away with, certainly no smaller. I find it difficult enough getting that much and only certain fingers will give it.

Bluetit1802 said:

I find it difficult enough getting that much and only certain fingers will give it.

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Sometimes the amount I get is miniscule, so I lance again otherwise I know I will waste a strip.

jim