Hi everyone. My name is Nic. I'm 64 and a nurse in the NHS but a complete novice in this health field (I work in mental health).
I don't have a diagnosis (yet) although I will be contacting my GP surgery on Monday for a blood test.
My question is: can different BG machines give "false" or inaccurate readings?
The backstory is for the past year or so I've been feeling tired during the day, sometimes I have to go out to the car park at work during break times and have a nap in the car.
No other symptoms: no excessive thirst, no getting up at night (although I make up for it by needing to use the loo 6-7-8 times in the mornings and regulate my fluids so I drink less in the afternoons/evenings). My diet's not good and I eat too much (although I have lost about 12lb in weight in the past 6-8 months).
The tiredness is what made my wife worried, so I bought a BG machine (something called a Kinetik) and, once I was in from work, spent the best part of an hour last night learning how to use it. When I finally did, my first "score" was 7.1 mmol/L.
This was after not eating since yesterday morning and drinking water only (work pressures!), so theoretically a "fasting" test. I looked up what that might mean, so to be sure I did it again about 30 minutes later, still without having eaten. This time the machine came up with 7.9mmol/L.
I told my wife and this morning she asked a friend of ours who was recently diagnosed as having Type 2 to come round. I then used her BG machine (sorry, don't know the make) and the score this time was 6.4mmol/L. I'd only had a coffee at this point.
This confusing me. Needless to say, I know the final word is in the hands of the GP after a blood test has been taken, but I'd welcome any initial insights from anyone who has experienced anything similar.
Thank you for reading this.
I don't have a diagnosis (yet) although I will be contacting my GP surgery on Monday for a blood test.
My question is: can different BG machines give "false" or inaccurate readings?
The backstory is for the past year or so I've been feeling tired during the day, sometimes I have to go out to the car park at work during break times and have a nap in the car.
No other symptoms: no excessive thirst, no getting up at night (although I make up for it by needing to use the loo 6-7-8 times in the mornings and regulate my fluids so I drink less in the afternoons/evenings). My diet's not good and I eat too much (although I have lost about 12lb in weight in the past 6-8 months).
The tiredness is what made my wife worried, so I bought a BG machine (something called a Kinetik) and, once I was in from work, spent the best part of an hour last night learning how to use it. When I finally did, my first "score" was 7.1 mmol/L.
This was after not eating since yesterday morning and drinking water only (work pressures!), so theoretically a "fasting" test. I looked up what that might mean, so to be sure I did it again about 30 minutes later, still without having eaten. This time the machine came up with 7.9mmol/L.
I told my wife and this morning she asked a friend of ours who was recently diagnosed as having Type 2 to come round. I then used her BG machine (sorry, don't know the make) and the score this time was 6.4mmol/L. I'd only had a coffee at this point.
This confusing me. Needless to say, I know the final word is in the hands of the GP after a blood test has been taken, but I'd welcome any initial insights from anyone who has experienced anything similar.
Thank you for reading this.
