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SD Codefree Strips - Batch ending 44

aylalake said:
Oh is THAT what the label,is all about?! Doh!

Thank you so much!

EDIT: Just been to buy some more and wow!!! £17+ saving on 10 pots! That's made my day -and night! AndBreathe, you are my hero! Thank you, too, Bluetit!
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My pleasure.

One thing to remember though is that the discount is for 5 or 10 pots only. If you buy, say 7 pots, and put the 5 discount code in, you only get discount on 5. Similarly, if you buy 20 pots (like someone I know), you have to make two purchases, of you only get discount on 10.

I daresay it only affects a tiny handful, like myself, who sometimes buy in real bulk, to last ages. But, it's a simple site.
 
I have been testing every two hours today as I am now able to do light exercise, and I am testing sucralose. So far the results have been pleasingly low, with an average of 7.1 which includes a high 8.4 fasting result.
So far,so good on this new pot of batch 44.

One thing that happened the day before I finished the previous pot was that the battery of my meter ran out. I wonder if that failing battery had any effect on the readings as they were exceptionally high for 48 hours prior to it going fully flat.
 
I've finished the cassette on my Accu chek so am now back to using only batch 44.

Over the week the Accu chek average is 6.0, the Codefree 44 is 6.3. BUT the week before I started batch 44 my Codefree average was also 6.3. So no difference over a week between previous batch and batch 44. My Accu Chek seems to read significantly lower than my Codefree, all things being equal.
 

Thanks for your persistent and consistent feedback Blue.

"Folks" seem a bit more settled around these now, which sort of reflects my own feelings (until I lose the plot again! ). Clearly my own predicament was impacted by some stress, jetlag then infection all throwing their hats into the ring.

I'm not settled on my strategy that where I see a reading that's in my (starting) personal range, I stick with it, unquestioned. If I have something that's out, I'll re-test, as I usually would. I'm accepting I may see a marginal rise in my averages, but I have to go with that; with 20 boxes un-opened here.

I think sometimes we are mentally disadvantaged by having a handle on what we expect to see from any given test. A year ago, for any of these out-riders, I would have just thought, "Well, I never" and moved on without question. Sometimes, watching our collective angst, that seemed like a more relaxed place!

Clearly once any "new" averages are established, I'd be expecting to maintain them, in the usual way. I'll delay my next HbA1c a bit to allow the impact of the chest infection a while to work through the weighting, then toddle off the the nice man at the nice lab in town.

It's all very different here. In some ways quite charming, but odd nevertheless when the receptionist asks what you want to have done (I choose from a vast, vast menu of potential tests), then she confirms costs, I pay, then the vampire is called. A few hours later, an email gives my my detailed results, with a copy emailed wherever I want, or not as the case may be.
 
I'm finding that batch 44 is ok most of the time- I'll probably get at least one bizarre reading a day but most are in the same ballpark as my other two batches. If it's there or thereabouts it gets an ok- otherwise I'll retest with it and if still odd, use one of my other batches to see if I have been that naughty. I will do a matched test once every other day or so just to see where I am at. Only 3 pots left so not too long to fret.
 
One thing I have noticed with any Codefree test is you really do have to careful the blood is sucked right to the top of the vertical yellow strip. If it isn't, you do sometimes get an error warning, but not always. I find when it isn't right to the top but the test proceeds, I get a bizarre reading. This happens when I can't get much blood out.
 

I sometimes find that- or if it gets too much blood on it I can get a bizarre reading too, at either end of the scale.
 
I am halfway through my new pot of 44s and so far I have had no,problem readings, and no errors which I was getting a lot of on the last two pots! Odd.

Maybe it is the new battery making the difference?
 
cold ethyl said:
I sometimes find that- or if it gets too much blood on it I can get a bizarre reading too, at either end of the scale.
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Oh my gosh, Bluetit and Cold Ethyl! I didn't realise one has to be sooo precise with the drop size! *gets calipers out*
 
sods law i buy a meter an strips(lot 44) and they are giving you guys conflicting readings what hope have i got with no readings to check on as just started testing
 
RiffRaff said:
sods law i buy a meter an strips(lot 44) and they are giving you guys conflicting readings what hope have i got with no readings to check on as just started testing
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Don't worry about it.

To begin with you just need readings. Once you have some repeat tests (of food or timings)things begin to make sense. It takes a few weeks to get the data together that starts to give you a true picture of where you are.
 
I emailed Homehealth asking if they had received any complaints about batch 44, and explained I was unhappy with the consistency etc. I gave a couple of examples of the spread of readings when re-testing. I had a reply back today saying how surprised they are as no other complaints received. He asked me to confirm I keep the strips in the original container and snap the lid shut after removing a strip. )Of course I do.) He said batch 44 has now all been sold. Hurray! We can order more now!
 

Hi Bluetit, the strips work through 'capillary action', that is to say when you touch the blood against the end there is this 'Capillary' action which sucks the blood into the strip
.
The capilary 'space' cannot accommodate more blood than the space available in that capillary, so although there is a minimum amount of blood required, presenting more blood will not have any effect as there is a limited amount of space.

It appears to me that the capillaries split into 2, even finer capillaries, and arrive at the testing end. Unless there is a fault with the size of the capillaries then more blood will not have an effect.

The size of the capillaries is part of the way the machine will be or is designed to test a specified amount of blood dictated by the capillary size.

Hope this helps
Neil
 

Thanks @daddys1 Have you been pulling them apart to see how they work. That's something Mr. Blue would do.

It wasn't me that mentioned bizarre readings when there is too much blood. I just noticed it when there isn't enough blood to fill the vertical yellow strop right to the top. When this happens sometimes you get an error message, but not always. Sometimes the tests proceeds but throws out silly readings.
 
Hi Bluetit, your right as always (well mostly) , Yeah I realized after I had posted that it was @cold ethyl who mentioned the extra blood on the strip.

Thought I would just wait to get caught out .

Yes I have studied the strips and I do wonder that the mere fact of sometimes touching the top of the strip where the reading contacts are with unwashed hands could effect the readings we have. Even tipping the tub and grabbing 1 is not easy without touching many tops where these contacts are.

Anything on those contacts will transfer also to the internal contacts within the testing slot.

To be honest though, I have found this little machine quite consistent, when you consider the allowable variance is + or - 15%, that is a 30% overall.

That does mean they would be in tolerance showing levels of say your actual 5mmol/L + 15% an increased reading to 5.75mmol/L, or your 7.5mmol/L +15% would read 8.6mmol/L. These would be numbers we would not be happy with.

Conversely could have 15% lower readings and if we were in the predominantly high numbers it would give a false feeling of assurance.

If all the strips were showing these high readings that would still be within tolerance, so unless you have a very accurate test to compare it to, it is not easy to gauge anything.

I'm using batch 44, I haven't noticed any massive deflection on the readings yet. They'll probably start now.............

Neil
 
I am still finding this batch really variable. I'll get one way out reading then the rest are pretty similar and not too much higher than my other batches. I am glad they've all been sold though given mine were in boxes with a different batch number on them I'm holding off a bit.
 

Party time!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I had another reply from Homehealth this evening. Have a look at this reply

Thank you for getting back to us. The reason I asked about removing the strips is that (believe it or not) we have had several customers before who buy in bulk and then empty all the strips into a different container (such as a Tupperware box)! Of course this exposes them to the air and makes it impossible to know which tests were from which LOT.

I am very sorry about the issues you have had but unfortunately I cannot offer an explanation for it at this time - I have forwarded your feedback to the manufacturer and as soon as I hear back from them I will let you know. We did check the tests when they were delivered to us and the blood result and control solution tests were all within range and consistent with previous batches. However, a variance of ~0.5mmol/L is going to be very difficult to detect from isolated testing.

In the meantime, I have sent you another 10 packs of tests from a new LOT free of charge via MyHermes today. Please use these and let me know how you get on.



Kind regards



And I was just about to order some more to replace the rest of my batch 44!
 

Are you sharing these out Bluetit?
 

As I have said many times, they are a very human company.

Excellent result, Blue.
 
AndBreathe said:
As I have said many times, they are a very human company.

Excellent result, Blue.
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I agree. I was impressed with the genuine concern shown that one of their products might be sub standard. I didn't ask for, nor was I expecting a free replacement, let alone 10 tubs. I hadn't even complained as such, just asked if they had received other complaints about this batch and pointed out a couple of re-testing spreads I'd experienced. Although I did say the batch had been discussed by a few members on this diabetes forum as being inconsistent. Maybe that put the wind up them a bit.
 
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