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Intriguing! Have you ever....

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CarbMonster

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Have you ever tested your urine with the BG meter? When I dip my urine using urine glucose strips, they don't register glucose, but when I test a drop of urine (as opposed to blood) on the test strips in my blood glucose meter, it always registers glucose!! Mainly in the region 5.5-8.5 mmol/l. I have also tried water as a control on the BG meter and it registered an error, then I tried Lucozade and it registered high glucose on the meter. Have then tried another meter just to check it wasn't a faulty meter, same result, detects glucose in urine. The blood glucose meter is properly calibrated and does appear fairly accurate, just seems strange that it is detecting glucose in urine (albeit relatively small amoints of glucose) but dipping the urine with urine strips doesn't detect said glucose.

Can anyone shed any light on this? Particularly since I am not currently diagnosed! Have tried several different kinds of strips and glucose is not detected, but is detected on strip test in BG meter. Urine strips do show protein also. Is there anything which can give a false negative on urine testing for glucose? This might explain why glucose is showing in my urine when tested on blood glucose meter but does not show on urine dip test strips?

If anyone whom normally has glucose appear on urine test strips could please test their urine using their blood glucose meter and report the results here, I'd be grateful, even to reassure me I'm not cracking up lol.
 
cant say ive used test strips in urine but we always check drinks with it when out to make sure dylan isnt given full fat coke etc and it works a treat full fat registers as hi and diet is either lo or very low numbers

anna marie
 
With all due respect, most diagnosed Type 2 Diabetics have to fight to get test strips and don't have the luxury of wasting them on random experimentation !

However, some of your points. Urine test strips are specifically formulated to test urine, you would need a blood sugar in excess of 10-12 mmol/L to register glucose on a urine strip.

As ams says above some have been known to test the strength of Coke etc to check it is diet or not when out. Best way round that is to always buy cans/bottles and not trust the on-tap !

Test strips are specifically designed to test blood so again, any readings you get from other fluids will not be accurate. Hope this helps.
 
I seem to remember than Bernstein recommends, when in doubt about the carb content of a food, chewing a little bit and immediately (without swallowing) testing your saliva with your meter.

Viv 8)
 
viviennem said:
I seem to remember than Bernstein recommends, when in doubt about the carb content of a food, chewing a little bit and immediately (without swallowing) testing your saliva with your meter.

Viv 8)
Click to expand...

'Bernie'........another one who recommends wasting of blood glucose test strips then....... :roll: The strips are designed for the testing of blood, nothing more. Some of us have to fight to get them or keep them........such a wasteful idea.
 
I don't mind some of what he has to say but he isn't the only person who deals with Diabetes and I have never hung on his every word as some seem to. As you say.....a bit extreme for me.
 
"Bernie" approaches diabetes as a problem to be solved, in the same way a scientist, an engineer or a mathematician would. The problem is, a lot of the other people working in Diabetes management approach it as a bunch of symptoms to be treated.

As an engineer, I can see why "Bernie" approaches it the way he does. He's looking to solve a problem, and stop it recurring.

Not "just" treat symptoms.

(I'm not a huge follower of Bernstein (Atkins is my man!) but his theories are all sound).
 
It's a pity the strips are not reusable. But if you are covered by insurance it's not so bad. Out of curiousity-- what do you think the average number of strips per day is for a diabetic II? How many do you use?
 
cugila said:
The strips are designed for the testing of blood, nothing more. Some of us have to fight to get them or keep them........such a wasteful idea.
Click to expand...

I think there may be some debate to be had here.

In rare cases, I think it's fair enough to check in this way.

I've bought drinks with 'diet' coke in them and on rare occasions when I'm not wholly sure if it's diet or not, I've tested with the meter and it's provided a clear indication of whether the drink was good to drink or not. Of the few times I've resorted to this method, it has mostly shown that the drink has contained far too much sugar.

You could argue that it's best to just re-order the drink but say it has a double vodka in, that's quite an expensive uncertainty.

If you were to drink the drink anyway, to save wasting either the strip or the money you spent, you may end up having to use twice as many strips to check your levels after the resulting high blood sugars (certainly likely if you correct it with insulin).
 
alaska said:
cugila said:
The strips are designed for the testing of blood, nothing more. Some of us have to fight to get them or keep them........such a wasteful idea.
Click to expand...

I think there may be some debate to be had here.

In rare cases, I think it's fair enough to check in this way.

I've bought drinks with 'diet' coke in them and on rare occasions when I'm not wholly sure if it's diet or not, I've tested with the meter and it's provided a clear indication of whether the drink was good to drink or not. Of the few times I've resorted to this method, it has mostly shown that the drink has contained far too much sugar.

You could argue that it's best to just re-order the drink but say it has a double vodka in, that's quite an expensive uncertainty.

If you were to drink the drink anyway, to save wasting either the strip or the money you spent, you may end up having to use twice as many strips to check your levels after the resulting high blood sugars (certainly likely if you correct it with insulin).
Click to expand...

I for one completely agree!

If i'm in doubt i'll test. Where possible i'll buy bottled diet coke, but thats a rarity as i live in a small village/town so it doesn't cater for minorities really.

Most of the time i can tell difference by taste, and i'll ask who ever served me if they are sure it's diet, if they aren't they are 99% of the time happy to swap :)
 
I'd like to know exactly how Mr Bernstein and some of you others test drinks with a bg meter, I have an Accu Chek Aviva and I have just wasted three test strips doing the following:

Water.................................................Error E-1
Water with sugar....................................LO (how dangerous would it be to take notice of this reading!!!!)
Tea, no sugar, dash of semi skimmed milk.......Error E-7

BG meters are for testing blood not random drinks, stop wasting strips and just order bottled or tinned drinks.
 
On the rare occasions I've had to...

I take a decent sip of the drinks, let it wash with saliva for a few seconds, stick the strip in the meter, put the strip into my mouth. must look like a right eejit in the pub/club but I have found it to be effective.
 
...and what about pubs/clubs that don't offer bottled drinks?

So say you've ordered a double whiskey and diet coke and it doesn't taste right, what would you do Sid?
 
Sid Bonkers said:
I'd like to know exactly how Mr Bernstein and some of you others test drinks with a bg meter, I have an Accu Chek Aviva and I have just wasted three test strips doing the following:

Water.................................................Error E-1
Water with sugar....................................LO (how dangerous would it be to take notice of this reading!!!!)
Tea, no sugar, dash of semi skimmed milk.......Error E-7

BG meters are for testing blood not random drinks, stop wasting strips and just order bottled or tinned drinks.
Click to expand...

When you test diet coke or normal coke you get two VERY different readings.

Diet coke - LO or 0.6 (or something very near that)
Coke - Hi

Its not wasting strips IMHO. by doing this if im unsure it's saving me from wasting money and drink, and also saving me from being SKY high and having to use several strips to monitor my correction bolus and make sure im returning to a safe level, which benefits my health, which is what test strips are for.

And like i also said, tinned or bottled drinks are not always available, so i'm working with what i have thanks.
 
I think you have missed the point of this thread alaska.......

The OP isn't a Diabetic yet wants those of us that are to participate in some inane experiment wasting test strips to see the results of using blood glucose test strips for something they are not designed for. They are specifically designed to be used for blood testing, not urine testing, not testing soft drinks......

I have bought drinks too and have been caught out before with the wrong thing being provided. Nowadays I carry a few Glucostrips with me and if any doubt just dip the drink with one of them, that soon provides a clear indication as to whether it is diet or not.

I buy those strips.......I don't get them prescribed.....it is my own expense. No burden on the NHS budget. Now if you want to use one of your prescribed strips and test using a meter, go ahead......your choice. However it is not meant for that purpose.......if I wanted to knock a nail in I could use my meter I suppose.....not really what it is designed for though, is it ?

Now if Members who have problems getting test strips, many T2's.......not T1 like yourself, start to waste those self same strips in this manner and their HCP's find out that is what they are doing logic dictates that they will question even more why a Diabetic needs strips if they want to use them for other than the purpose intended.

That means even more of us will have to resort to buying our own strips off Ebay etc. Many T2's have a hard enough time getting them as it is without this sort of thing being encouraged. A lot 'lurk' here as I know because I have spoken to some.......what sort of image does that portray of what we like to think are well controlled and responsible Diabetic's........

If I told my GP I used it to test drinks/urine/food I know what response I would get next time I asked for a prescription........ :shock:

No doubt as a T1 your quantity of test strips is far greater than those of us who are T2 ? Those of us on limited income, those of us on benefits or no longer able to work, retired etc........

You want to waste YOUR strips in the way that the OP suggested.....fine. Me I would never encourage such behaviour.......... :roll:

Anyway, off to get my usual Diet Pepsi........out of a can of course....... saves having to waste my hard won test strips. :wink:
 
viviennem said:
I seem to remember than Bernstein recommends, when in doubt about the carb content of a food, chewing a little bit and immediately (without swallowing) testing your saliva with your meter.

Viv 8)
Click to expand...

I'm lost here! :? Surely if you are following Bernstein's crazy diet to the letter then you would know the carb content of your food?

Nigel
 
I wouldn't say I missed the point, I simply chose to comment on the train of conversation the thread had begun to take.

It seems as though we're in agreement on things here. If the original poster were to be using NHS provided strips to test urine, this would be a waste in my opinion too.
 
alaska said:
...and what about pubs/clubs that don't offer bottled drinks?

So say you've ordered a double whiskey and diet coke and it doesn't taste right, what would you do Sid?
Click to expand...


:shock: :shock: :shock:

You mix Whisky with diet coke..........Yuk ! :(

If you can't get a bottled or canned drinks.....do as I do, ask for water, you know the same stuff some put in whisky....... :D Simples......
 
I have indeed ordered vodka with water in places. generally means that the combined 'drink' gets downed.

I sympathise with the idea of not using strips in this way, especially against a backdrop of many type 2s struggling to get strips...

My own usage in this way amounts to less than once a year -and in exceptional circumstances I'll pardon myself. Sadly, I waste significantly more strips by using a OneTouch UltraEasy -the strips for which need a relatively large quantity of blood and end up with spoiled tests much more often than other strips would.
 
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