Most accurate blood sugar monitor that isn’t massively expensive

[Dontknowwhattothink]

Just that really, blood sugar has gone from 30-40 in a year so I’m wanting an accurate monitor so that I can see what is happening,

thanks.

 

[jjraak]

Hi

I might be wrong, but I'm taking this as you don't currently have a monitor as such ?

If you do and are aware of the limitations, please ignore.



But otherwise, for my tuppence worth.

None of the BG finger prick monitors seem particularly accurate, I think an error of Upton 15‰ is accepted as normal.

(Don't use a CGM, but even they have a lag, to be aware of, I have heard others warn of )

But more importantly is why would we need such accuracy ?

When it's the trend I really kept an eye on.

And of course, I wanted to know what foods worked best.
So tested regularly.

Was my machine inaccurate like all the others.....most likely.

But if it was wrong today by a certain %, it was likely wrong every time time (give or take) by that % , just like all the others are.

so it told me MY trend, which was it's job.

Could I have spent more and got the accuracy up an extra decimal place or two...maybe, at a cost.

And given, once you take your readings, a second reading of onother fingers or even the same one, moments later could show a different fbg ,

for my money, given you want an accuracy they can't give (imho).

I'd suggest stop looking for accuracy, and test more often if you want a better picture of what's going on.

Buy the ones with the best reviews and the cheapest strips.

as it's the strips that cost us, just like inks in printers.

( * For transparency, I use the gluco navii.
works fine for my purposes.)

Good luck finding one that works for you.

 

[Robbity]

I've use Contour meters for most of the 9 years I've been testing and I'm happy with their levels of consistency. Like @jjraak I am more interested in trends/patterns rather than actual figures, and although my HbA1c results are slightly higher that my meter's predictions, I still see the same trends. And again when I used the original Libre sensors for a while although their results were slightly lower than my meter, again the trends, etc were consistent.

One of the most useful features I've found with my meter is that I can set target ranges for my fasting, pre & post meal finger prick results and it records time in, above, below these for various periods from 7 to 90 days.

I've been able to keep my glucose mainly at lower pre-diabetic levels , and any slightly higher blips have coincided mainly with health or stress issues, rather than "naughty" eating.

 

[catinahat]

Don't have much to add because jjraak has pretty much covered it.
The actual test results don't give you much useful information, just a rough idea of your sugar levels.
Its the difference between your pre meal and post meal levels that gives you the information you need to decide if that meal was suitable.
It matters not if your results were 4 before and 6 after, or 6 or and 8, or 5.5 - - 7.5, that meal has caused a rise of around 2mmol, which is all we need to know.

 

[Dontknowwhattothink]

Don't have much to add because jjraak has pretty much covered it.
The actual test results don't give you much useful information, just a rough idea of your sugar levels.
Its the difference between your pre meal and post meal levels that gives you the information you need to decide if that meal was suitable.
It matters not if your results were 4 before and 6 after, or 6 or and 8, or 5.5 - - 7.5, that meal has caused a rise of around 2mmol, which is all we need to know.

Thanks, for that, how much of a rise do people try to stick to?

my monitor just arrived and I took my first reading 2 hrs after eating and it was 4.8. That’s good isn’t it?

 

[plantae]

I don't know if this helps, but this morning my libre sensor was 4.2, my countour next glucometer was 4.2, my freestyle libre2 glucometer was 4.1. Given that all these devices have an acceptable margin of error I'd call those numbers exactly the same for all three. For the glucometer I prefer the countour next over the freestyle libre2 but only because I find it easier to use -- the freestyle libre2 glucometer seems to need more blood than the contour and the strips don't seem to suck it up as easily. Often with the freestyle libre2 I have to use two test strips because I muck the first one up. That very rarely happens with my contour. The freestyle libre2 strips come wrapped in foil, the contour strips are just in a bottle, it doesn't seem to make much of a difference for me. I have, and need, the freestyle libre2 though because it can measure ketones as well (with different strips which cost a lot more than the glucose strips but I don't use many so *shrug*)

Edit: I'm buying a new glucometer to keep in my backpack and it'll be a contour next

 

[CaravanWife]

Just that really, blood sugar has gone from 30-40 in a year so I’m wanting an accurate monitor so that I can see what is happening,

thanks.

I use a sinocare machine from Amazon and use a free app called mySugr to record my readings. I don’t think it’s pinpoint accurate, my DN was happy with the machine choice and app so I would recommend it. It gives a weekly review of your average, ups & downs plus an estimated HbA1c from your inputs. Hope this helps.

 

[jjraak]

Thanks, for that, how much of a rise do people try to stick to?

my monitor just arrived and I took my first reading 2 hrs after eating and it was 4.8. That’s good isn’t it?

General consensus is
The rise from before you eat, to two hours after the meal, being less then a 2 mmol rise.

(Everybody rises after eating.
The 2 hours/2 mmol limit is us trying to mimic the response to carbs by non diabetics )

Could you say what you ate, and what your pre meal reading was.

I personally would say a reading of 4.8 two hours after is wonderful.

I rarely run below 5 mmol myself.

 

[catinahat]

how much of a rise do people try to stick to?

Generally speaking people who don't have diabetes will see their blood sugar return to base levels within 2hrs, so ideally that would be my goal.
As mentioned above to be less than 2mmol higher after 2hrs is usually considered acceptable. But there are no hard and fast rules, each of us must decide how tight we want our control to be.
The more testing you do, you will understand how the various foods affect you.
One thing to keep in mind is that meals are very seldom made up of one ingredient. The combination of various elements such as carbs and fat for example can delay the timing of when the sugar hits our blood.
Things like pizza, you could test at the 2hrs and see what looks like a reasonable level, only to see the actual spike hit you some time later.
So if you really want to know your reaction to different meals you should test at maybe 1hr, 2hrs, and perhaps every 30 - 45 min after until you have returned to base level.