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Glucometer recommendations

DavidW82

DavidW82

Member
Messages
10
Location
Halifax, West Yorkshire
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
Hi

I've spent a while researching, and have come across so many different reviews and so many pro/con opinions that I'm now completely confused by what blood tester I should get.

I'm just diagnosed as type-2, and my doctor stated that measuring wasn't necessary as I'm not insulin dependent. I'm a programme manager by trade, so obsessing over details and changes is the way I manage things and keep a level head, hence have decided that I'll buy one myself and negotiate the prescription for strips, lancets etc at some point down the line.

I've come across the Contour NEXT USB which I love the idea of being able to download all my measurements into a spreadsheet, but note that online reviews seem to vary wildly. Can anyone recommend from experience how good these are - are the comments I've read about being difficult to use etc just people being finicky, or are there genuine problems with them (accuracy etc)?

Also, if anyone has any recommendations of other devices, then I'd really appreciate the help..

Thanks

Dave
 
I have two meters, Glucolab which is said to give higher readings and an Acucheck Active which gives readings on average at least two points below the Glucolab. However the Glucolab is easier to use and is my main one. Both were given to me by the hospital and the GP as I'm on insulin.
 
If you are going to fund this yourself then you may find the price of test strips prohibitive and as a type 2 not on insulin you may find that you lose your negotiation for prescriptions at some point down the line.

A lot of us fund the whole thing ourselves but the easiest to fund is the SD codefree. If I were you I should stop including accuracy in your list of requirements since the spec for meters is so wide very few of them claim accuracy.
 
I have the dario, freestyle lite, and accu-check nano. I try and stick to one meter at the moment which is the dario. The dario is a glucometer that operates from your phone using an app and the device that you plug in to your phone to insert a test strip. But when it comes to reliability I think my freestyle lite is probably the best that way as it always works with minimal errors and the battery life is super long in comparison the accu-check nano I have which chews through batteries. The dario seems to give me a lots of errors. I've discovered one reason for that is every time they update the app the device doesn't register... so have to do the update. But then it has a problem in general of recognising the device mostly. I use it though because I like how it stores all my numbers without me having to remember to put it in to a diabetes app or something. It gives stats as well. I really need to make more use of it. I hope you find something reliable and affordable. I agree with others that accuracy isn't a key feature with any meter.... I can get 3 different readings on my 3 meters.
 
DavidW82 said:
I've come across the Contour NEXT USB which I love the idea of being able to download all my measurements into a spreadsheet, but note that online reviews seem to vary wildly. Can anyone recommend from experience how good these are - are the comments I've read about being difficult to use etc just people being finicky, or are there genuine problems with them (accuracy etc)?
Click to expand...

I used both the Contour USB and the updated Contour Next USB meter and didn't find it inaccurate or difficult to use, it's a great little meter and quite simplistic to use.
 
As @Mep has already suggested, the Dario Smart meter is excellent . I've never had any issues with it and the app updates aren't a problem (considering there's been one on Playstore in the last 6 months). I'd imagine the symptoms @Mep is having is probably due to fluff or other small debris in the phone's audio jack.

I previously used the Glucomen LX Plus meter, it's a good meter but basic. The Dario is a winner for me, due to it being about the size of a cigarette lighter.

As mentioned, strips will be your stumbling block... Dario ones are £14.95 for x50 so not cheap if you're self funding. Again, as mentioned - the SD Codefree meter offers the cheapest strips.
 
I would like to add that I also have a Freestyle Lite and it is my meter of choice for "accuracy" and reliability but the price of the strips was always extortionate and a quick look at Ebay shows that the situation is getting worse in that respect. All prices are high and I think some of them are a joke.
 
As you have T2 and not on insulin then the SD Codefree meter that most T2's use here should be fine and it does use the cheapest strips why spend more than you need to they all do the same job and none are 100% accurate so you have to allow for that
 
I use the contour next. It is the one I settled on after trying several. It is dead on with the lab results. I did my BS right while they were drawing bloods. You may find the strips very expensive. I am in Canada and my health insurance pays for them. It also uses a very small amount of blood so I can get away with less of a jab. The software is easy to use as well.
 
How much testing are you thinking of doing?

The repeat cost of test strips is the primary concern, if you are self funding. With downloadability of readings.

Here are a couple of examples of cost v test info.

For £7.50 ish you would get 50 tests for the SD Codefree (initial investment about £12 for the meter) cable and software free, i think.
For the Accuchek you are looking at around £30 for 50 strips (at Boots)
For the Freestyle Lite, around £20 (at Amazon)

So how many tests will you do?

If you test on waking, before breakfast, 2 hours later, same at lunch and evening meal, and again at bedtime, that is 8 a day.

If you are thinking of 8 tests a day, 7 days a week, then i would go for the SDCodefree.
Or buy a Freestyle Libre. You get can test as often as you like (literally 100s of times a day, if you want) for £25 a week.
(Each sensor lasts 2 weeks and costs £50) and for that, you get 24/7 readings downloaded to your computer. Plus an additional one off £50 for the reader.

I think it all comes down to budget and what info you want out of it.
 
Thankyou all so much for sharing, there's so much useful info! I had no idea that the meters weren't regulated - in my naivety I thought that they'd have been calibrated and tightly controlled devices..

In terms of budget and how much I'd use, I'd anticipate testing once or twice daily, just to keep an eye on averages long-term..

@Squire Fulwood you mentioned about losing free prescriptions down the line; I'm not sure what you mean? My GP provided me with the form for free prescriptions when she diagnosed me, and I was already using a PPC due to other meds - are you meaning that they might backtrack if I ask for testing strips to be prescribed?

Thanks,

Dave
 
Hi Dave
Regarding prescriptions, as a diabetic, you are entitled to free prescriptions, end of, and it's not up to the GP, nor any other doctor, to stop that. What the GP is in control of is whether to prescribe you test strips which you would then get for free or whether he said he wouldn't prescribe them. Yes, it's crazy but apparently "Type 2's do NOT need to test". Ha! How on earth can we take control and learn what foods we can and can't eat because of glucose spikes? I believe the reason for telling Type 2's there's no need to test is so that they don't have to supply Type 2's with meter and test strips! If a Type 2 is then prescribed tablets which can cause hypo's, as I am, then they are obliged to supply meter and test strips because of the implications re driving. I hope I've explained that well enough?

If you are going to test, you really need to test just before you start your meal, after 1 hr preferably and again after 2 hrs from starting to eat. Testing at random won't actually tell you anything worthwhile as you really need to test, then eat, then test at 1 hr and 2 hrs after starting your meal. When I was buying my own test strips, I would test before, at 1 hr and again at 2 hours but then might not test for a day or two, therefore choosing when it would mean the most to me.

I now have Freestyle Libre, since about 3 months now and it's fantastic. The sensors aren't usually spot on as against my meter but my current one definitley is spot on, which is great. Even if not spot-on, the reader will show a graph of your glucose level (interstitial fluid) and will show the ups and downs, even during times you don't scan. So, it will graph your levels during the night, for instance, and during the day in between your scans. I think the most frequent you can scan is about 1 minute and you can scan as often as you like and very easily. Obviously cost is a factor you would have to consider.

So, I hope that's explained some of your options etc. Good luck
 
GrantGam1337 said:
As @Mep . I'd imagine the symptoms @Mep is having is probably due to fluff or other small debris in the phone's audio jack..
Click to expand...

No, I don't think that is it... I always make sure it's clean. It just plays up. I have to twist it a couple of times to get it to recognise the device. My headphones work just fine when I use them... so something to do with dario I think.
 
Energize said:
Hi Dave
Regarding prescriptions, as a diabetic, you are entitled to free prescriptions, end of, and it's not up to the GP, nor any other doctor, to stop that.
Click to expand...

Unfortunately this is not automatically true, although i wish it was! :)

The fact is that once a diabetic has been prescribed medication for their diabetes then they can apply for exemption from all their prescription charges, whether the prescription is for diabetes or for something else.

There are many diabetics (usually T2s) who are not on medication, and who therefore cannot apply for exemption on the grounds of recieving diabetes medication. Unless they qualify for exemption on other grounds (age, benefits, other medical conditions) they have to pay for any prescriptions. Although, of course, if they get a diabetes medication prescribed in the future, they can apply for the 5 year renewable exemption at that point.
 
DavidW82 said:
@Squire Fulwood you mentioned about losing free prescriptions down the line; I'm not sure what you mean? My GP provided me with the form for free prescriptions when she diagnosed me, and I was already using a PPC due to other meds - are you meaning that they might backtrack if I ask for testing strips to be prescribed?
Click to expand...

NHS are extremely reluctant to advise type 2 diabetics to test and seek to prevent this. Although an honest nurse will reveal that it is due to costs, the official reason is that meters and strips are only prescribed to people who are in danger of having a hypo due to their medication. If you are not on a powerful drug or insulin your chances of being prescribed test strips are virtually nil.

At one time I made it into the more powerful drug category and I was prescribed strips. They were stopped after a month because I used the repeat prescription to get more. One box a month was considered excessive use. That's only one or two per day. Having a driving license and taking Glimipiride and not testing did not seem right to me so I queried the reason. The nurse told me that they had had £60,000 removed from their budget.

Being provided with a meter is entirely possible since it is a one off capital cost and even the meter sellers give them away in the hope that they will make a profit on the consumables which are eye wateringly expensive. This is the bit the NHS and everyone else do not wish to do given the choice.

You don't have to read all of this to get the flavour but this has been discussed on this site before. Click this link.

http://www.diabetes.co.uk/forum/threads/have-you-been-told-not-to-test-your-blood-sugars.66574/
 
Last edited:
DavidW82 said:
Thankyou all so much for sharing, there's so much useful info! I had no idea that the meters weren't regulated - in my naivety I thought that they'd have been calibrated and tightly controlled devices..

In terms of budget and how much I'd use, I'd anticipate testing once or twice daily, just to keep an eye on averages long-term..

@Squire Fulwood you mentioned about losing free prescriptions down the line; I'm not sure what you mean? My GP provided me with the form for free prescriptions when she diagnosed me, and I was already using a PPC due to other meds - are you meaning that they might backtrack if I ask for testing strips to be prescribed?

Thanks,

Dave
Click to expand...
Good morning David.

Whilst over the longer term testing a couple of times a day seems like a plan, I would suggest in your early period of gaining control, you will not get the biggest bang for your buck if you adopt this methodology, in terms of learning about your blood glucose performance and trends.

Infurtiatingly, so many factors impact blood scores, like foods eaten, stress, general well-being/viruses/infections/lack of sleep and so on. All you will learn from testing today and lunchtime and before dinner is that that's what your meter told you today for that food, not necessarily your usual response to what you ate and drank, which is the main objective.

I'm a data monster too, and will always want to work on robust data, rather than hunches or someone else's hearsay. I found in my early days I undertook and intensive programme of structured testing. I tested fasting, 2 hours after breakfast, before lunch and dinner, then 2 hours after those, and sometime just before bed. As I really only have a couple of breakfast option I run with (my choice, rather than not having other things I like), I could drop the after breakers testing fairly quickly, once I had worked out the options that worked for me, and I enjoy. Similarly with lunch. I have a wider, routine menu, but it took me a while to nail lunch. Then I still fairly regularly test around dinner, as that tends to be my biggest and most varied (some would say chaotic) meal of the day.

Doing that, I now feel I have a decent handle on how things work, for me. We are all very different.

As others have stresse, your consumables are where your costs lie, not the meter itself.

@Brunneria - I think the SD Codefree cable and software carries a cost, but to be honest, again, as a one-off, I just tend to write it off in my mind.

Good luck with it all David. If you look upon this as a mini programme, with you as your major stakeholder and budget controller, you get straight into the groove.
 
Squire Fulwood said:
NHS are extremely reluctant to advise type 2 diabetics to test and seek to prevent this. Although an honest nurse will reveal that it is due to costs, the official reason is that meters and strips are only prescribed to people who are in danger of having a hypo due to their medication. If you are not on a powerful drug or insulin your chances of being prescribes test strips are virtually nil.

At one time I made it into the more powerful drug category and I was prescribed strips. They were stopped after a month because I used the repeat prescription to get more. One box a month was considered excessive use. That's only one or two per day. Having a driving license and taking Glimipiride and not testing did not seem right to me so I queried the reason. The nurse told me that they had had £60,000 removed from their budget.

Being provided with a meter is entirely possible since it is a one off capital cost and even the meter sellers give them away in the hope that they will make a profit on the consumables which are eye wateringly expensive. This is the bit the NHS and everyone else do not wish to do given the choice.

You don't have to read all of this to get the flavour but this has been discussed on this site before. Click this link.

http://www.diabetes.co.uk/forum/threads/have-you-been-told-not-to-test-your-blood-sugars.66574/
Click to expand...

Thankyou very much - it makes sense for this to be the case. I'll make a point of directly asking whether she's saying that I *shouldn't* test my levels, and see where I get from there..
 
Energize said:
Hi Dave
Regarding prescriptions, as a diabetic, you are entitled to free prescriptions, end of, and it's not up to the GP, nor any other doctor, to stop that. What the GP is in control of is whether to prescribe you test strips which you would then get for free or whether he said he wouldn't prescribe them. Yes, it's crazy but apparently "Type 2's do NOT need to test". Ha! How on earth can we take control and learn what foods we can and can't eat because of glucose spikes? I believe the reason for telling Type 2's there's no need to test is so that they don't have to supply Type 2's with meter and test strips! If a Type 2 is then prescribed tablets which can cause hypo's, as I am, then they are obliged to supply meter and test strips because of the implications re driving. I hope I've explained that well enough?

If you are going to test, you really need to test just before you start your meal, after 1 hr preferably and again after 2 hrs from starting to eat. Testing at random won't actually tell you anything worthwhile as you really need to test, then eat, then test at 1 hr and 2 hrs after starting your meal. When I was buying my own test strips, I would test before, at 1 hr and again at 2 hours but then might not test for a day or two, therefore choosing when it would mean the most to me.

I now have Freestyle Libre, since about 3 months now and it's fantastic. The sensors aren't usually spot on as against my meter but my current one definitley is spot on, which is great. Even if not spot-on, the reader will show a graph of your glucose level (interstitial fluid) and will show the ups and downs, even during times you don't scan. So, it will graph your levels during the night, for instance, and during the day in between your scans. I think the most frequent you can scan is about 1 minute and you can scan as often as you like and very easily. Obviously cost is a factor you would have to consider.

So, I hope that's explained some of your options etc. Good luck
Click to expand...

Thankyou - that's my mental argument as well; surely if the medical profession's advice to Type 2 people is to be more conscious of their diet and to understand blood sugars, then they can't argue that there's no reason to know your own levels...

I'm a creature of habit, so have a fairly fixed routine; I'm thinking that doing some testing around this initially would help me get a feel for how my body reacts, then if I want to scale-down the testing if the cost of strips becomes an issue, then so be it - at least I'll have a baseline..
 
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