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Strange readings

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mickj

Member
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8
Guys and Ladies, i wonder if you could help? My 6 year old boy was diagnoised type 1 last month. I am using a contour reader for blood readings. My son looked fine but the machine came up with 2.1, so i checked the same blot of blood with a second stick and it went to 3.7, a third reading on the same blood went to 2.9? whats happening?
i gave him some Oranje juice and then lunch, he was fine, but similar incidents have happened at least 3 times?
can you help?
 
u will never get the same reading even from the same drop of blood with any tester, treat the hypo and dont worry too much, i think there is a so much percent allowance with meters not sure of exact number. if u have some control solution use it to make sure ur meter is working properly but other wise the readings are fine

anna marie
 
If you got that difference in reading straight away it is due to meter inaccuracy. A 10% variance either higher or lower is tolerated. You just have to assume the true reading is half way between the highest and the lowest. :)
 
thanks daisy, just seems weird i have to look out for anything below 4 and i can get a 3.1, which is adifference of 1, thats 25% inaccurate ( if i can do maths). ??
 
My meter has never been that inaccurate with low readings. You can get a difference of 1mmol or sometimes even more with the higher numbers but once you get hypo readings you want it to be fairly consistent and accurate in readings. Have you tested your meter with control solution to make sure it is reading correctly? When you do a finger prick test are you making sure your child's hands are clean and dry (moist hands can affect the reading). If you have any doubt that your meter is faulty get a new one, don't take any chances.
 
Mick,

As others have said it is very unusual to get the same reading twice, all those readings meant your boy was having a hypo and you did well in treating the hypo. Blood glucose meters are not a precision instrument and only act as a guide within a 10% variance.

Nigel
 
I might also suggest that you take the meter in to a pharmacist and request that they do a test on the meter. Apparrently there is a solution they can use as a control. If the meter is not working properly, you may get a new one at no charge.
 
Blood that is sitting on a finger evaporates so that might explain how the second test got a higher figure and then you may have pushed more blood out to get the 3rd reading which was then closer to the initial test. I sometimes get falsely low readings if I haven't got enough blood on the strip. The meter should error but sometimes it still works. I have found my Exceed and Mobile meters to be very accurate. For young kids it is great to have an Exceed meter at home as it will also test for blood ketones.

Hope you've all been coping okay with the steep learning curve that goes along with diabetes. I'm sure you'll have plenty more strange readings in the future but that's just how it goes.

I would be giving my son something with carbs to eat for anything under 5mmol so it isn't just looking out for numbers under 4mmol. You just need to treat the ones under 4mmol much faster. You did a great job with the juice.
 
Hi

This is my first post on here :D I have a son (now 14) who has had Type 1 for 3 years and is on an Animas 2020 Insulin Pump.

Firstly, I would never repeat a test on the same sample of blood, as I don't think it has any validity. If we get a low on a meter, we always treat for a hypo - as sometimes it takes a while for the brain to react to the low glucose and show outward signs of a hypo. Your lad may not yet be able to tell very easily for himself when he is going low, but hopefully he will recognise the early symptoms as time goes on. My own son usually notices that something is amiss once he drops below about 3.5mmol - but at that stage I wouldn't notice any difference in him. Sometimes his hands shake a little as we do the test.

We do quite often do a repeat test if a result is high - particularly if we are not expecting it. Then we would wash hands and repeat using a fresh drop of blood - just to make sure before we give extra insulin that the BG test is genuine!

Meters do have variable results even on two samples taken within a minute or two, but there is much greater variation at high levels and usually very little at low levels.

Another point. Having treated a hypo with some fast-acting carbs, we find its best to wait until the blood sugars are back in range (and re-test) before eating other food such as a meal which is due, or a snack. This is because we find that the other food slows down the action of the hypo treatment (the fast carbs) which are much more quickly absorbed if there isn't other food arriving straight away. For us, we need to allow a good 15 mins after the last hypo treatment, before eating other starchy carbs. It can be tricky making them wait, as the hypo is likely to make them feel ravenous.

Well done for dealing with the hypos though!
 
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