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Expired Test Strips

LauraC27

Well-Known Member
Messages
96
Location
London
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
I have just noticed the test strips i have are out of date..
I am going away tomorrow morning (within the UK) and i realised when i was packing that on the box it says exp: 23rd Feb 2017.
I picked them up from the pharmacy on 28th so they were already 5 days out of date when i received them which isn't great! I have some in date ones.. but not a alot. I will go and buy some more this afternoon but my local pharmacy doesnt always stock the strips for my BG machine and they usually order them in so it would mean driving round a few until i found them. Which is a pain in the neck! Obviously my health is more important.. but im just wondering what happens to the expired strip.. do they not work past the expiry date? I mean obviously there's an exp date for a reason! I just tested an expired one with a strip thats in date and got the same reading .. maybe that was a lucky one!?
 
I think I would use the out of date strips ( they are only a month out of date )
and keep the spare in date ones to do a back up test if you get a weird reading ( really high or low )

get your repeat script in too for further strips for when you return.
 
I would say that as time goes on the accuracy will begin to decrease in the expired ones one way or the other (higher or lower) as they start to break down (they're made up of enzymes that react to our blood I think). I don't believe that strips marked expiring on 05/04/17 for example wouldn't work just as well on 06/04/17 but they would no longer be guaranteed to be accurate past the date.

I know you've had them for a month but it may still be worth reporting the expired ones to the pharmacy you got them from. I was given a tub of 10 instead of 50 amongst my last repeat by mistake and they swapped them even though I'd opened them before realising a week or two later.
 
I have used out of date strips and compared results to in date ones. There was no significant difference in results, so you can use out of date strips.
 
Hi just a quick question i would like to know what the pharmacy Is doing giving you out of date test strips anyway don't they check? if i was you i would take them back and see what they have to say let us know thanks
 
Dairygrade said:
Hi just a quick question i would like to know what the pharmacy Is doing giving you out of date test strips anyway don't they check? if i was you i would take them back and see what they have to say let us know thanks
Click to expand...
I totally agree with dairygrade. Take them back.
 
They'll be fine to use. I use so few syringes for my daily Lantus ( I use 'em over and over again) that a box of 100 lasts me like 4 YEARS! They're so far past expiration when I need more. Same with the pen needles. I use the same one until the pen's empty. But the phcy probably shouldn't have legally sold them to you. Heck, there's an expiration date on a can or Coke I think. Right?
 
Yeah i agree it's totally an error on their part, they obviously didnt check at the time. I will go to the pharmacy i was given from first and see from there! I will use the expired ones first anyway so they dont go to waste.. from what i have read online it seems they are only slightly out of date and should be ok - i will watch out for odd readings of course! My repeat prescription is already with the GP so it will all catch up, i didn't expect to be running low as the 2 spare boxes i do have were expired before i even got my hands on them! .. accidents happen i suppose.
 
Depends on the brand. I once tried this years ago with aviva and the machine refused to read them and gave an error message. Good luck with getting them replaced. You shouldn't have to buy them.
 
Dairygrade said:
Hi just a quick question i would like to know what the pharmacy Is doing giving you out of date test strips anyway don't they check? if i was you i would take them back and see what they have to say let us know thanks
Click to expand...
I'd like to ask another quick question .. well, two actually ..
# how many people have experienced this sort of service(?) in the past ?
# how many people are surprised that this is happening today ?
 
My father was a pharmacist so I know that any error made in dispensing a prescription should be recorded in the pharmacy's 'Error book'. This should be examined when an inspection of the pharmacy is made. The idea is that by recording errors, those concerned learn from past experience.

In the last ten years, I have twice been given the wrong insulin and once the correct insulin with a date that showed it expired a fortnight before. I have always insisted any error is recorded. I would do the same with any other out of date prescription item
 
I always check to make sure the 100 strip box containing two containers is still sealed before leaving the pharmacy. I also check the expiry date.

This applies to all of my medication packets and bottles.

Caveat emptor.
 
tigger said:
Depends on the brand. I once tried this years ago with aviva and the machine refused to read them and gave an error message. Good luck with getting them replaced.
Click to expand...

Wasn't it the case though that strips/meters used to be coded so this would presumably have caused this refusal? I remember at the end of 2013 when I was diagnosed there were coded and uncoded meter systems available, but have only ever used current uncoded system.

Robbity
 
I had this recently with my Accu-Chek Mobile. There were several tests still left on the cartridge, but it had gone past it's expiry date and wouldn't advance to the next test. Obviously a feature 'for our own protection'

As I recall, the old coding chips were only for calibration across batches.
 
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