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Test Strip Confusion

G

GyCix

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I have an Accucheck nano testing kit. Often I will get a high reading and immediatley re-check myself. Take this morning for example I tested at 7 so in a panic retested and it read as 6.5. is the level of inaccuracy normal?
My hands were washed.
 
I get this a lot. I use SD CodeFree. If I am surprised at a reading, I test again. Sometimes the readings are wildly different so I do a third.
 
It usually stated that meters are accurate +/- 15%.
The values you quote are within this range.
Bear in mind, the higher the value the greater the absolute inaccuracy.

Edited to add: this is one of the reasons we look for a trend rather than focus on individual numbers
 
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GyCix said:
I have an Accucheck nano testing kit. Often I will get a high reading and immediatley re-check myself. Take this morning for example I tested at 7 so in a panic retested and it read as 6.5. is the level of inaccuracy normal?
My hands were washed.
Click to expand...
I have never used an Accucheck, but in general, sadly, meters are pretty inaccurate. I suspect it may in fact be the strips rather than the meters that are at fault. OK, there are rules as to how inaccurate they are allowed to be, but who is policing them? Each time I open a new tub of strips I am in suspense, as it seems to me some give higher readings than others (I think Bluetit has remarked on this also.) I use a TEE2 and a Codefree, and like Xfieldok I test one against the other when I get a suspect reading. Or retest up to 3 times with the same meter, same drop of blood. 7 and 6.5 are not so very far apart, but I have seen eg 6.6 followed by 4.9. As a pre-prandial reading that leaves me in a quandary. Do I accept the 4.9 and cheerfully eat a meal which includes some carbs, or do I go for the 6.6 and postpone eating or at least eat just protein and fat? (in the event it may depend on how hungry I feel and how inconvenient it may be to eat later.)

Meters are a pain in the neck, but they are all we have. IMO they are better than nothing.
 
I also have a Agamatrix jazz supplied by my DN. I have tested both with the same blood drop. Only once have they gy the same reading.
 
The meter reads an electric current, that would typically have an accuracy of about 1%. However, the electric current comes from an electrochemical reaction between the glucose in the blood and an enzyme in the strip. Apart from any deterioration in the enzyme due to age, humidity etc the electrochemical reaction is inconsistant which results in the inherent inaccuracy of readings which is similar for all meters.
 
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