My Accu Chek Mobile Reads Too High

[Bertiedog]

I have been getting concerned at how my bs readings have been going up so last night I found my old Aviva meter and did a check on the reading. The mobile one said it was 6.9 which was 3 1/2 hours after eating a light meal with a small amount of carbs and I actually felt quite hungry so couldn't believe it.

Using my old meter 30 minutes later I did another test and during that time I had eaten about 25 gms of peanuts and a few almonds and the reading was 5.9 which seemed far more likely.

This is so frustrating because I have been concerned at how my bs keeps moving up with readings I have found hard to believe because I haven't eaten much.

I did ask for Accu chek to send me a test solution which they did and it was fine but I can see that this seems useless because the range is so large regarding accuracy of the testing. It also explains why I had an HbA1c reading last year of 32 whereas I regularly get readings in the 6s from my mobile meter. It got me wondering about the real accuracy of meters that we use.

Personally I think I will go back to using the Aviva once I have used up the 2 cassettes I have just ordered because it was stressing me out all those high (for me) readings I was getting with the new meter.

 

[Oldvatr]

I have been getting concerned at how my bs readings have been going up so last night I found my old Aviva meter and did a check on the reading. The mobile one said it was 6.9 which was 3 1/2 hours after eating a light meal with a small amount of carbs and I actually felt quite hungry so couldn't believe it.

Using my old meter 30 minutes later I did another test and during that time I had eaten about 25 gms of peanuts and a few almonds and the reading was 5.9 which seemed far more likely.

This is so frustrating because I have been concerned at how my bs keeps moving up with readings I have found hard to believe because I haven't eaten much.

I did ask for Accu chek to send me a test solution which they did and it was fine but I can see that this seems useless because the range is so large regarding accuracy of the testing. It also explains why I had an HbA1c reading last year of 32 whereas I regularly get readings in the 6s from my mobile meter. It got me wondering about the real accuracy of meters that we use.

Personally I think I will go back to using the Aviva once I have used up the 2 cassettes I have just ordered because it was stressing me out all those high (for me) readings I was getting with the new meter.

You may find the following links explain this effect:
http://www.joslin.org/info/plasma_glucose_meters_and_whole_blood_meters.html
https://www.accu-chek.co.uk/gb/news/14april10.html
i will again tag -
@DCUK Jessica

 

[Bertiedog]

You may find the following links explain this effect:
http://www.joslin.org/info/plasma_glucose_meters_and_whole_blood_meters.html
https://www.accu-chek.co.uk/gb/news/14april10.html
i will again tag -
@DCUK Jessica

I don't think this applies in the case I have outlined because it's the same company and the strips used were from last year.

 

[Oldvatr]

I don't think this applies in the case I have outlined because it's the same company and the strips used were from last year.

OK. another topic to consider is the accuracy limits that each meter is designed to meet. Currently each meter should indicate a measurement within +/- 20% of the actual reading acording to the ISO standard. Thus two meters can differ by up to 40% and still be considered 'correct' Thus a difference of 2.4 mmol/L is 'acceptable for an actual reading of 6 mmol/L. Your meters seem to be quite accurate.
The other things that could be going on is that because you ate between taking the two comparison readings, then your bg levels could be changing anyway. Also, did you use the same finger for each, since diferent sites would differ naturally if your bgl is not static.

One final point is do both sets of strips have the plasma logo displayed. I have recently been supplied with outdated test strips that had been reboxed by counterfeiters, and i had purchased them through a recognised source (my local pharmacy) They misread by 5 mmol/L compared to my previous set. The packet had been overprinted very convincingly, but when i rang the manufacturer the batch code was not a valid release. These strips were not Accuchek.

 

[Dillinger]

Anecdotally I feel that the Accu-Chek Expert device I'm using shows higher levels than the Freestyle Insulinx device I was using recently. I won't be able to confirm that until I have my next HbA1c done; it could just be that my blood sugars are running higher.

If it does run high a bit that might be quite a useful way of reducing my average bloods though as I'll be aiming for a lower target.