Have I broken my monitor?

[Louisette]

I thought I would ask here as the pharmacy is shut today.
Yesterday morning was my first test. Worked perfectly. Last night I tried before bed time and it didn't work. Tried again this morning and still nothing.
The monitor is an Accu Check performa. It switches on and accepts the strip. Once the 'waiting for blood' indicator flashes I put blood on it. But it just keeps flashing. I have tried putting more blood on but nothing changes. The same indicator flashes and eventually it switches off.
Is there any reason for this? Have I done something wrong? Is there something I can check?
Thanks
Running out of fingers and test strips

 

[paulliljeros]

Hi @Louisette Sorry if these are overly simple questions, but have you definitely put the strips in the right way (with the contacts going into the machine) and the right way up? It's a long time since I used a machine with strips, but have made that mistake in the past, and placing the blood at the right position (I think a small amount of blood gets "sucked" into the strip)?

 

[slinkimalinki]

That's the meter I use. The gold end goes into the meter and the grey end 'sucks' blood off your finger. Maybe you have a faulty meter. I would return it to the pharmacy when you can, sometimes these things happen.

 

[Louisette]

Hi @Louisette Sorry if these are overly simple questions, but have you definitely put the strips in the right way (with the contacts going into the machine) and the right way up? It's a long time since I used a machine with strips, but have made that mistake in the past, and placing the blood at the right position (I think a small amount of blood gets "sucked" into the strip)?

Hi there and thanks for your reply. I am still at the stage of having the instruction leaflet in front of me and following the step by step pictures so the questions are not overly simple . If I had the strip the wrong way round then the machine would give an error message and would not ask for blood. The area to put blood is clearly marked in yellow so I don't think I am getting that wrong.
What type of machine do you use? Maybe I should try a different one that doesn't need strip.

 

[Louisette]

That's the meter I use. The gold end goes into the meter and the grey end 'sucks' blood off your finger. Maybe you have a faulty meter. I would return it to the pharmacy when you can, sometimes these things happen.

Thank you. Yes it is all quite straight forward. I will take it back tomorrow and hopefully they will just swap it for one that works.

 

[paulliljeros]

What type of machine do you use? Maybe I should try a different one that doesn't need strip.

Although I have CGM, I use the Accuchek Mobile for calibrations twice a day. As I am type 1, I don't have to be concerned about costs, so you may want to bear that in mind, but personally, I have never had any problems with the meter as it is completely self contained. One thing I would recommend is don't scrimp on the amount of blood, whilst you are getting used to it, and I'm afraid I can't comment on whether it gives an error if the strip is wrong. Have you done a search on youtube for videos ... there are usually plenty of videos people have posted of every aspect of diabetes, so I would expect something for your meter, although cannot search myself from work Im afraid .. Sorry!

 

[GrantGam]

I thought I would ask here as the pharmacy is shut today.
Yesterday morning was my first test. Worked perfectly. Last night I tried before bed time and it didn't work. Tried again this morning and still nothing.
The monitor is an Accu Check performa. It switches on and accepts the strip. Once the 'waiting for blood' indicator flashes I put blood on it. But it just keeps flashing. I have tried putting more blood on but nothing changes. The same indicator flashes and eventually it switches off.
Is there any reason for this? Have I done something wrong? Is there something I can check?
Thanks
Running out of fingers and test strips

Hello @Louisette,

When you apply blood to the strip, make sure that you're actually putting it right on the end - as in on the bottom. Imagine it like the test strip is a straw - I've attached a photo to try and explain what I mean...

 

[Gannet]

I use the Gluco RX Nexus. I wasted several strips at first because the blood wasn't getting onto the strip. It was all to do with the angle I was holding the monitor/strip against the drop of blood. Now, after months of using it, I can test without taking the monitor out of the case. Having said that it would be worth taking it to the pharmacy; they may even show you how to use it.

 

[DaftThoughts]

The strips are designed to 'suck' the blood up. In the beginning I sometimes made the mistake of applying the blood on the wrong way, on top instead of on the tip/side where the opening is, which meant the strip wasn't actually getting any blood in the place where it needs to be and the glucometer kept asking for blood.

I also recommend holding your finger and the blood drop beneath the strip, holding the glucometer vertically like in this video.

That way you can always tell whether it correctly sucks up the blood. If the blood gets sucked up properly and the device still isn't reading anything, I also suspect it's faulty.

 

[noblehead]

The monitor is an Accu Check performa. It switches on and accepts the strip. Once the 'waiting for blood' indicator flashes I put blood on it. But it just keeps flashing. I have tried putting more blood on but nothing changes. The same indicator flashes and eventually it switches off.

Have a look in the instruction manual and see if it mentions anything about resetting the meter, a few years back I had some trouble with one of the Accu-Chek meters (may have been the Nano) and on ringing the Accu-Chek helpline they explained how to reset the meter, once I did this the meter worked absolutely fine

Failing that just return it to the pharmacy, good luck.

 

[Louisette]

Thank you everyone. I don't know if it was taking the battery out to rest it @noblehead or the new way of putting the blood in @GrantGam, thanks for the pic and @DaftThoughts the info. Today I got a reading. Much lower than the one on Sunday So that has done me good.

 

[GrantGam]

Thank you everyone. I don't know if it was taking the battery out to rest it @noblehead or the new way of putting the blood in @GrantGam, thanks for the pic and @DaftThoughts the info. Today I got a reading. Much lower than the one on Sunday So that has done me good.

I'm glad that you're not sorted

 

[Louisette]

I'm glad that you're not sorted

Typo?
Thank you

 

[GrantGam]

Typo?
Thank you

****...

I'm glad that you're NOW sorted