Please Help

[DRAGON76]

Hi People.

I am a little worried about the 2 BG Meters I have been given the nurse. The first one was a BG-Star and I used it for a week to see if my meds are working. Now once I was feeling really bad so I checked and found that it was 3.5 so that said to me the meter works as it should do. But the pricker from the BG-Star did not get much blood and sometimes none needed to do 2-3 times to get blood as my hands are like iron from doing karate. Now I have the ACCU - CHEK Aviva with the muiticlix which is great for getting blood first time everytime but the readings don't match on the ACCU - CHEK Aviva it is higher between 5-7 mmol/l which seem to me to be not good as it can be a case from normal or not normal. Like if my true blood glucose was 3.8 and the ACCU - CHEK Aviva said 4.5 showing normal it out by a long way. what meter would you trust they have both been tested with the stuff that comes in the small bottle..

Sorry if this as been asked over 1000's times before but I am new to this and I really want to go by the book keeping 4-7 before meals and no more then 8.5 hours after meals ... Thanks

 

[Sid Bonkers]

Ive personally always had best results from my Accu-Chek Aviva but thats not to say they are all great. Unfortunately home testing meters have to work to certain tolerances and these tolerances are + - 20% which is a huge amount but at lower levels they should be closer as the differences tend to widen as the numbers get higher.

You say that your BG Star blood pricker is hard to get blood so it could be that you are squeezing the blood out which will give a false reading as squeezing causes the sample to degrade somehow (dont know the technicalities but it does) so this could mean that you are running higher and your Accu Chek is the more accurate.

One way to check this would be to use the Accu Chek Multiclix pricker to get the sample but test it with your BG star and see if there is still a difference, but accept that there will always be a difference between any two meters and even two tests with the same blood sample and the same meter. This is why the HbA1c is so important as it gives an accurate measurement that we can never get with home meters, they just give a fairly accurate indication of our current bg level but will never be 100% accurate.

 

[DRAGON76]

Yes I have been using the Multiclix pricker to get the blood as I don't need to be squeezing the blood out :lol: but what meter would you trust the BG seemed to be spot on when I felt funny done a test and it was 3.5 .. I want to keep my levels close to
4-7 before meals & no more then 8.5 2 hours after meals as I don't other health problems

 

[Sid Bonkers]

I would stick with which ever you prefer as at low levels there are going to read fairly similarly as I said earlier the big differences are generally only seen at high levels. But you will never get the same reading from two different meters.

 

[Chas C]

Try washing your hands with warm / hot water before you test, it helps with blood flow if this is an issue.

Regarding test meters - choose one and stick to it, don't compare as it will drive you nuts as none will read the same, even two of same make.

 

[DRAGON76]

Thank for your help