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Type 2 Could BG Monitor be faulty?

Cobwebs

Cobwebs

Member
Messages
19
Location
Mid Cornwall
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
Dislikes
Bossy or pompous people.
I have a Code Free BG monitor, but wondered are they ever faulty?

I've stuck rigidly to a low carb diet and lost a stone in weight in a month just over. But my BG hasn't changed at all in that time.
My last hba1c was 12.5 (112). Every morning my fasting BG is around 14.5 or 15.1 and my before lunch test is 12.5.
Surely it would have started to come down after being on the low carb diet for just over a month?
I have a fatty liver and under active thyroid. Don't know if that affects anything?

So I wondered if my meter was faulty? I'm not on meds yet as I have a regular appointment Friday with the Glaucoma Eye Clinic, so will start the meds after Friday. I did have blurry vision just over a month ago and was told by optician it was probably high BG so hence had an hba1c. But after following the low carb diet my eyes returned to normal after a week!!! Amazing.
 
Cobwebs said:
I have a Code Free BG monitor, but wondered are they ever faulty?

I've stuck rigidly to a low carb diet and lost a stone in weight in a month just over. But my BG hasn't changed at all in that time.
My last hba1c was 12.5 (112). Every morning my fasting BG is around 14.5 or 15.1 and my before lunch test is 12.5.
Surely it would have started to come down after being on the low carb diet for just over a month?
I have a fatty liver and under active thyroid. Don't know if that affects anything?.
Click to expand...

It’s possible, but not very likely that you have a faulty meter and I know you’ve now updated the testing strips. You could ask Home Health who distribute the Codefree for a control solution/replacement meter.

However, far more likely is that it’s the morning FBG that is often the last to come down. I also started with a very high HbA1c (108/12%) but didn’t test for the first month so have no sense of what happened in that time, but it took at least 6 months of keto to bring that reading anywhere close to normal.

Are you testing before and after meals - how you’re responding to food might give a better idea of the trends in your blood sugars. Alternatively you could get. a 2 week free trial of the Libre to get a fuller picture: https://sample.freestyle.abbott/gb-en/freestylelibre.html
 
Goonergal said:
It’s possible, but not very likely that you have a faulty meter and I know you’ve now updated the testing strips. You could ask Home Health who distribute the Codefree for a control solution/replacement meter.

However, far more likely is that it’s the morning FBG that is often the last to come down. I also started with a very high HbA1c (108/12%) but didn’t test for the first month so have no sense of what happened in that time, but it took at least 6 months of keto to bring that reading anywhere close to normal.

Are you testing before and after meals - how you’re responding to food might give a better idea of the trends in your blood sugars. Alternatively you could get. a 2 week free trial of the Libre to get a fuller picture: https://sample.freestyle.abbott/gb-en/freestylelibre.html
Click to expand...

No I'm not testing after meals, I only started testing the last couple of weeks. I'm testing just before breakfast which is anytime between 8 and 9.30 and again just before lunch which is usually around 1.30 to 2pm. And not tested before dinner for a few days as got so fed up with nothing changing. The DN told me not to test my BG when she phoned with the results of my hba1c but I couldn't see the sense in that because you obviously want to know if you're efforts are doing anything.

I can't understand why my fasting test is so high because I don't snack in the evenings well I don't snack all day. Maybe I'm just expecting to see it lower faster than is possible, being impatient.

I'll have a look at the Libre thank you x
 
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Your fasting figure is mainly determined by your liver making sure you get enough fuel to give you a good start to the day, so you won't generally have as much control over this as you'll have for the meals you prepare and eat. So you really need to be testing immediately before each meal and then two hours later to see how what you've eaten is affecting your glucose levels - by watching these figures and possibly then adjusting your carbohydrate consumption you should have most control over these results.

And definitely consider the Libre. It wasn't available for some time after I was diagnosed, and although I considered I knew what I was doing low carb wise by the time I could get hold of one, the sensors gave me much more information about what what going on not only in relation to food and glucose levels, but how other issues, such as certain medications (e.g. steroids), stress, pain etc, all had an impact on them too - and sometimes even more so.
 
Do you have someone without diabetes who could do a blood test to check your meter?
If they have not eaten recently, their number should be around the 5s (could be 4s or low 6s).
This is not as exact at the test solution but it should give you some confidence in your meter.
 
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