irregularities in readings

The meters given out by the clinics are the same ones ou can buy at the pharmacy.
The technology is such that there is a variablity in readings. the ones you quote are all within an acceptable range. they're not very far apart. There are dozens of reasons why you might get different results, including non-uniformity of the sample.
By all means get another meter, but I don't think ytou'll see much change. David Mendosa has a report on meters on his website. He's in the US, so not all the ones he lists are available here and if you buy on-line, you may spend ages dividing by 18

Hi

I have an optium xceed and have had the same prob. Found out by accident when re testing due to an unexpected reading and found that wasnt in fact having a hypo.Ive had variations of up to 1.2 also and called Abbott who make my meter to discuss this with them.

They said that most meters have a 10% variation in readings but that this is accepted as fine by regulatory bodies. I asked for some control solution and also a new meter and Abbot sent both out. It wont solve problems of inaccuracy (did explain to Abbott that varation might be the difference in treating a hypo or not) but its def handy to have a 2nd meter as I found out recently when I couldnt find my original one (dark recesses of the car) and nearly had a panic attack at the thought of not being able to test.

L

hi all
i have found this too with my accuck machine , reason why it happens is possibly change in temprature ! i did mine other day while it was minus 11 in belgium and got readings all different with minutes .... so i warmed my machine by heater for 10 mins and checked again and voila 3 readings taken within 10 mins all the same 6.5

so try warming it before use

There is only one way to get as accurate blood glucose reading as possible, and that is a blood sample direct from a vein and tested on hospital lab equipment which it self has a tolerance level….

Every manufacturer that manufacture glucose meters, will have to prove that there meter constantly falls with in the +/- tolerance that is set for acceptable use, other wise it wouldn’t be awarded the CE mark that enable it to be sold in Europe…

Even identical meters can give slightly different results, and when you consider the tolerance percentage, then the near to the 4mmol/l you get the less a difference this makes…

Meters are more accurate method than any that we’ve had so far to monitor our BG’s at home, but with anything there are limitations, that we have to accept when using the kit.

The best advice I’ve ever been given, is to stick to one meter for consistency… As I know that even though my husbands meter is identical to mine, there is a difference if I test, his reads slightly higher than mine…

This seems in the long run make little or no difference as his HbA1c’s are slightly lower than mine, which in theory if we go by our individual meters mine should be lower than his!

And there are other factors, such as ambient temperatures, of environment, test strips and even the meter than can have slight effects…

But the meters do far out pass, the ability of the first home monitoring available of doing a mini experiment on your urine, to see what colour the chemical/urine changes to indicate whether you has a small, medium or large amount of glucose passing into your urine, which of case your actually BG’s could have hit high levels at some point.

8 blood tests of the same finger prick in a minute....

Several considerations

A very basic description of how the meter is testing the glucose level, is by electrical resistence...

If you squeeses your finger to get a large sample of blood out, this will include body fluids which will alter the consistency of the blood sample, and if you are testing from the same sample of blood, the blood sample will start to dry very quickly, both will change the electrial resisdence that the eletronics are measuring, so alter your reading...

If you used a small sample, and then squeezed your finger again to draw more blood, again this will include some of the clotting palsma so alter the consistancy of the sample that will effect the reading.

Testing on different finger can also have different readings as the blood you are sampling has arrived at these points at different times...

The body glucose level isn't xxxx level at any one point of time all around the body, but depending how far it's travel arround the body will be at slightly different to it's starting point, which my human biology is great, but I'm sure that the starting point is near the pancreas/ardenial liver area where both the main insulin and glucose enters the blood system, but perhaps some who is more farmilar with the goings on in this area will explain better than I...

im suprised that no one has mentioned that glucose meters have an accuracy tollerance!


And if you're comparing reading from different meters... it's also worth considering that some meters give you a Whole Blood reading, and some meters give you a Plasma reading. The difference it something like 12%.

i did mine other day while it was minus 11 in belgium and got readings all different with minutes

Click to expand...

If my Accuchec is below 5C it will not give a reading (error message) If its between 5 and 10 it will show a thermometer as a warning that the reading is not accurate.
When Skiing, for the most part as long as I keep the meter warm (wrapped in bubblewrap and in an inside pocket) and then test quickly it works fine.

the makers of my meter allow a 20% variation on tests ... that's HUGE!

if my BG is something I really don't expect then I retest, usually using same finger but new drop of blood, a gentle squeeze will usually draw blood not clotting agents ...

some variation WILL occur in the same drop of blood as the longer it's exposed to air it oxidises which can affect the reading in itself

you have to accept that some natural variations will occur and appreciate that at the moment, these testers are about as good as they get, although some seem to have better accuracy ratings than other.

if you feel your machine is behaving poorly, contact your supplier who should offer to exchange it for you

J.x