Used 2 Meters & 2 Different Numbers

[Mep]

I had dinner and an hour later felt like I was having a hypo so I firstly used my freestyle lite meter and it said 4.1. So I got the Dario and it said 5.1. So I was thinking ok maybe not a hypo. So I go back to freestyle lite and it gives me 4.2 and then go back to Dario and it gives me 4.2. Now I did all this in less than a minute. Weird how the Dario gave me numbers that was almost a mmol out. Well anyhow I decided I better treat the hypo as wasn't feeling too good.

This **** pain fluctuating on me is making my sugar levels fluctuate... it's really annoying me.

 

[ElkBond]

Yer meters are pretty annoying, they can be 15-20 percent from the actual level. You could have pre mixed amount of sugar liquid say 5.0mmol on the dot and you will never get 5.0 everytime. One day... we may get a 1 percent meter.

 

[Oldvatr]

PAcc

I had dinner and an hour later felt like I was having a hypo so I firstly used my freestyle lite meter and it said 4.1. So I got the Dario and it said 5.1. So I was thinking ok maybe not a hypo. So I go back to freestyle lite and it gives me 4.2 and then go back to Dario and it gives me 4.2. Now I did all this in less than a minute. Weird how the Dario gave me numbers that was almost a mmol out. Well anyhow I decided I better treat the hypo as wasn't feeling too good.

This **** pain fluctuating on me is making my sugar levels fluctuate... it's really annoying me.

According to the ISO standard for meters, for readings below 4.2 mmol, each meter is allowed to be out by +/- 0.83 mmol/l so two meters in parallel can be up tp 1.66 between them, and still be considered 'accurate'

I use a NEO and an SD Codefree, and I am getting up to 3.5 between them when my body is clearly suffering a low bgl event So if the SD reads 6 or lower, I have to assume a hypo may be beckoning. I trust my NEO at low levels since it reflects my physical symptoms. Both of my meters always pass their calibration checks so I could not get a refund.

EDIT: To make matters worse, the NEO is calibrated for 'whole blood' and the SD is calibrated for 'Plasma', so the SD wil always read 12% higher than the NEO by design, Thus the 3,5 I report above is uncorrected for this.

 

[Mep]

Yeh I guess our bodies usually don't lie when we're in trouble. I definitely had the usual hypo symptoms. It looks like my freestyle lite was more consistent with readings.

 

[Oldvatr]

Yeh I guess our bodies usually don't lie when we're in trouble. I definitely had the usual hypo symptoms. It looks like my freestyle lite was more consistent with readings.

Yup. My NEO repeats well which is why I don't trusr the SD. There will always be some variation in readings even on the same drop with same meter.

 

[AndBreathe]

PAcc

According to the ISO standard for meters, for readings below 4.2 mmol, each meter is allowed to be out by +/- 0.83 mmol/l so two meters in parallel can be up tp 1.66 between them, and still be considered 'accurate'

I use a NEO and an SD Codefree, and I am getting up to 3.5 between them when my body is clearly suffering a low bgl event So if the SD reads 6 or lower, I have to assume a hypo may be beckoning. I trust my NEO at low levels since it reflects my physical symptoms. Both of my meters always pass their calibration checks so I could not get a refund.

EDIT: To make matters worse, the NEO is calibrated for 'whole blood' and the SD is calibrated for 'Plasma', so the SD wil always read 12% higher than the NEO by design, Thus the 3,5 I report above is uncorrected for this.

When you have your quoted 6 on the SD, do you do anything about it, if you reckon it is beckoning a hypo??

 

[ameeno]

Hi Mep,
I'm also finding this so frustrating as I have two meter first one easylife that reads whole blood and a codefree that reads plasma ( this reads mg/dl rather than mmol/l, first rookie mistake) even after using the calculator on this site to convert the plasma to whole blood reading it still seems high, while the easylife reads low aarrghh!. I bought the control solution to check the accuracy but the high solution range is from 8.6 to 12.4 which is a big difference.
I understand getting the numbers down is the most important thing but which one do I trust !!! Just tested and one says 4 and the other 5.6, have had in 7s and 10s.
Wondering if the whole blood or plasma is more accurate? I have ordered a codefree in mmol/l so hopefully this might read between the two!!!

 

[AndBreathe]

Hi Mep,
I'm also finding this so frustrating as I have two meter first one easylife that reads whole blood and a codefree that reads plasma ( this reads mg/dl rather than mmol/l, first rookie mistake) even after using the calculator on this site to convert the plasma to whole blood reading it still seems high, while the easylife reads low aarrghh!. I bought the control solution to check the accuracy but the high solution range is from 8.6 to 12.4 which is a big difference.
I understand getting the numbers down is the most important thing but which one do I trust !!! Just tested and one says 4 and the other 5.6, have had in 7s and 10s.
Wondering if the whole blood or plasma is more accurate? I have ordered a codefree in mmol/l so hopefully this might read between the two!!!

To be honest, choose the one you want to use and stick with it.

According to your profile, you are using diet only to work on your diabetes. Assuming that is still correct it's unlikely you will have a hypo, and even significantly more unlikely that you'll have a medically concerning hypo. You may feel some odd feelings as your bloods come more into line, but for now, you should be paying much more interest in your trends (hopefully downwards) than exactly what any number is.

If you are self-funding, like most of us, then the Codefree is significantly cheaper to run that any other I know of in UK. Around your newly diagnosed period, you are likely to get through a fair few strips, so saving £8 or £10, per tub, all adds up.

Of course, Mep may have a view of her own, and I'm certainly not trying t put words in her mouth.

Good luck with it all. It can be a bit of a puzzle to begin with.

 

[Mep]

Yeh I usually stick to the Dario but I'm starting to run short on tests strips and had just tested an hour earlier. So I used my freestyle lite. I have a couple of accu-check meters as well. The freestyle lite seems to be the consistent one. But I like Dario because it records all my numbers without me having to manually put it into an app which I was really bad at remembering.

Also the reason I'm running short on test strips is that surprise surprise the pharmacies here who are now responsible for all our supplies keep running out of supplies. I knew this would happen when the new changes came in July here. I go to several pharmacies and they all have supplies missing whether it's test strips or needles, etc. So annoying. So I asked for the Dario tests strips and rather than do a proper order and get several boxes in they only ordered 1 box for me. They didn't even ask how many I wanted. So if they keep this up it is going to really annoy me. You wouldn't want to leave it to your last few test strips as you'd have to wait for them to order it in. They're supposed to have everything available in store apparently.... well that was the theory for the changes here.

 

[Indy51]

Dr Bernstein keeps testing most brands of meters so that he can recommend the most accurate one to his patients. He used to recommend Accu-Chek but a couple of years ago the results he was getting made him change to the Freestyle meters. So, you're probably right to trust your Freestyle most, @Mep

 

[Oldvatr]

When you have your quoted 6 on the SD, do you do anything about it, if you reckon it is beckoning a hypo??

Generally I make my decisions on what my NEO reads, and also how I feel since I get definite signs when I go into hypoland. I am Hypo Aware, thankfully. The SD is backup / confirmation that the NEO has not misread, a rare occurence indeed.
Now that I am 'fat adapted' on LCHF and have relatively stable bgl ranges, then for me a 'low' reading is not something I panic about so I do not always respond by taking extra carbs. I do take action if it is a 4hrPP result, since this is my bedtime status, and I do not want a hidden hypo while I dream. The other time I may take action is if I need to drive.

Since it is only the Gliclazide that could really give me a problem, and I now understand how it affects me over time, then I can be more relaxed about it than if I was on insulin or a more potent cocktail. Thus I raise the warnings about those meter calibration issues and the ISO since it can be more significant a problem for others, especially where using a single meter only which is Plasma Calibrated: these users may well be unaware that their meter is giving higher result than shown in NICE /DVLA or even the Newbie infopak given out by @daisy1. If they are not hypo aware then this could be a dangerous situation for them since they would not react to a 6.0 reading

I have on several threads here published graphs I have taken showing that my SD is always higher than my NEO. The two meters track each other quite closely when averaged over time, but can differ wildly on a moment by moment sample. Personally, if I get more than 3 mmol/l difference then i re-test since that indicates a misread, but if both results are both 8 or more then I have to allow greater leeway due to error being percentage of reading

 

[Mep]

Generally I make my decisions on what my NEO reads, and also how I feel since I get definite signs when I go into hypoland. I am Hypo Aware, thankfully. The SD is backup / confirmation that the NEO has not misread, a rare occurence indeed.
Now that I am 'fat adapted' on LCHF and have relatively stable bgl ranges, then for me a 'low' reading is not something I panic about so I do not always respond by taking extra carbs. I do take action if it is a 4hrPP result, since this is my bedtime status, and I do not want a hidden hypo while I dream. The other time I may take action is if I need to drive.

Since it is only the Gliclazide that could really give me a problem, and I now understand how it affects me over time, then I can be more relaxed about it than if I was on insulin or a more potent cocktail. Thus I raise the warnings about those meter calibration issues and the ISO since it can be more significant a problem for others, especially where using a single meter only which is Plasma Calibrated: these users may well be unaware that their meter is giving higher result than shown in NICE /DVLA or even the Newbie infopak given out by @daisy1. If they are not hypo aware then this could be a dangerous situation for them since they would not react to a 6.0 reading

I have on several threads here published graphs I have taken showing that my SD is always higher than my NEO. The two meters track each other quite closely when averaged over time, but can differ wildly on a moment by moment sample. Personally, if I get more than 3 mmol/l difference then i re-test since that indicates a misread, but if both results are both 8 or more then I have to allow greater leeway due to error being percentage of reading

Yeh I had some hypos when on Gliclazide. But now I'm on MDI of insulin I have definitely had more. The hypo I treated yesterday was probably my own fault because I had a 14 on the meter before dinner so bolused more units with my dinner taking into account the high 14. But obviously the 14 was from my pain levels I'd had during the afternoon so I probably shouldn't have bolused more insulin. It is frustrating. I just automatically try and treat high BGL but I think the cause can make it tricky. I hypo'd as a result of factoring in the 14 BGL. But I must've dropped real quick from that.

 

[Mep]

it happened to me again yesterday.... tested at 3.6 on the Dario and thought geez I don't quite feel like I'm in the 3's.... although it has happened to me a few times before where I'm hypo number and hardly feel it. Although more often than not I feel it. I was only just starting to feel weird yesterday... like when I'm about to drop. So I pop another test strip in to the Dario and it gives me 4.9. So pull out my freestyle and it gives me 4.7. I figure well I'm under 5 at least so better bump up my sugar a bit as not sure which is right. lol. But the Dario recorded I had a hypo anyhow in the stats.