Strange readings on meter

Peadair O Brionn said:

Ok so just tested my blood before bed and after having 2 strawberries and a few raspberries with lots of double cream about 1.5 hrs ago .. reading. Amel up 7.1 from a reading after dinner of 4.9 . Now this was a shock as I have never been that high since I started testing . Even after strawberries and raspberries . So I tested twice more within a minute of the 7.1 and got 2 readings of 6.1 and 4.9 . So now I don’t know what to believe from this meter . Any suggestions or reasons for this

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Did you wash your hands thoroughly after handling the fruit the first time?

Rachox said:

Did you wash your hands thoroughly after handling the fruit the first time?

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Good advice, anything on your fingers can transfer to your strip and give a dramatic and alarming result. I did it once, I forgot to wash my hands, testing in a hurry before going out, I’d cut tomatoes and must have had traces of their juices on my fingers

Peadair O Brionn said:

Ok so just tested my blood before bed and after having 2 strawberries and a few raspberries with lots of double cream about 1.5 hrs ago .. reading. Amel up 7.1 from a reading after dinner of 4.9 . Now this was a shock as I have never been that high since I started testing . Even after strawberries and raspberries . So I tested twice more within a minute of the 7.1 and got 2 readings of 6.1 and 4.9 . So now I don’t know what to believe from this meter . Any suggestions or reasons for this

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If your meter is new it should be accurate to 15%, so for example:

If the true value is 6, your meter could read between 5.1 and 6.9. That's very close to the range you got, but your readings fell just outside this range.

If your meter is older it should be accurate to 20%, so for example:

If the true value is 6, your meter could read between 4.8 and 7.2. That's very close to the range you got, and your readings are inside this range.

The samples of blood are also no likely to have precisely the same 'ingredients'(!) between readings, so all in all, it could be that everything is working fine, and it just goes to show the importance of multiple readings and taking an average if you really want to be sure. In theory, since your readings were at both extreme ends of the accuracy range, you 'true' reading should be about 6, if your meter is working.

As @Rachox says, one reason for the blood 'ingredients' not being the same could be because of contaminants on your skin.

maybe it would have been better to wait another half hour or so before testing? i know there are different schools of thought on this, but personally i always wait for just over 2 hours after finishing eating to test. and yes, i occasionally get weird readings, but i've decided that i'm not going to worry about them unless they persist - i keep a record and look at averages over a few weeks or a month or so at a time, and since adjusting to a keto diet so far they've always been ok.

Peadair O Brionn said:

over a couple of weeks my average is 5.7

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That's great, glad things have returned to normal. I've noticed that veery few months my readings all go up a bit for a week to ten days for no apparent reason, though possibly due to the odd slight lurgy (never bad enough that I actually feel unwell) - but then I guess our bodies are not machines, so it's probably normal to have some variation now and then.