What blood glucose monitor do you use?

kegstore said:

cocacola said:

I looked briefly at the software for the Bayer Contour and it looked like the readings were American.

Click to expand...

Bayer Contour can be set to display either mmol/l or mg/dl, along with other Bayer/Medtronic devices.

Click to expand...

I have downloaded the Glucofacts software, but yet to receive the hook up cable, it is on order from Bayer.
But I can't work out a way of changing to UK settings without plugging in the monitor. I have a Contour monitor I have received from Bayer, but not used it yet, waiting for the cable.

http://www.bayercontourusb.co.uk/pdfs/8 ... G_UK_R9-09

Check out the instructions above. Go to page 12/13 and read the important note there regarding the mg/dl and mmol/l. It appears that the settings are locked depending on where the meter is sourced.
If the meter was sourced from the UK it should have mmol/l by default. If not contact the manufacturers helpline.

Did you download the software from the UK site.


Ken.

Sorry Ken, some confusion. I do not have the Contour USB, I was trying to find out if it was suitable for me before I buy one.
I have the regular contour monitor http://www.bayerdiabetes.co.uk/shop/sho ... aspx?PID=1 which I haven't used yet.
I only started monitoring last week and have been using a Freestyle Freedom Lite.
I suppose I will have to wait till the cable arrives for the Contour monitor I already have.

Accu-Chek compact plus Blood Glucose meter was giving a high BG reading of 18mmol/L, despite my Mother having taken her regular insulin dose. So I decided to use Contour Bayer, and the reading was much lower at 13mmol/L.

Did the BG test again thirty minutes ago, and Accu Chek said 13mmol/L, and Contour Bayer was reading 10mmol/L. I know someone earlier on this thread said not to compare two meters, but I did specifically because I couldn't understand if the meter was wrong, or she had suddenly become Insulin resistant!

Now I am concerned - as to which is the accurate reading, as difference in numbers can have an impact on her Insulin dose and health. (She had a heart bypass recently and is T2)

Any ideas?

Thanks. :?

Do you have control solution for your Mothers monitor? Just a suggestion, cos I have no idea how it works.

cocacola said:

Do you have control solution for your Mothers monitor? Just a suggestion, cos I have no idea how it works.

Click to expand...

Hi, Yes I do. Thank you for reminding me. I will test the Accu-Chek machine. I suppose it didn't occur to me to use the Control solutions because I got this machine about two weeks ago.

I did the Control solution test for both the Accu-Chek and Contour Bayer machines. Both resulted normal readings. I am none the wiser which is providing the best blood glucose reading.

isthatso.
Always use just ONE meter. You will never get the same readings from two meters unless you are very lucky. You will just succeed in getting paranoid about the results.

Meter readings can be plus or minus 20% and still be classed as accurate. There has been much debate on the forum about the subject. Do a search for meter accuracy on here.

Ken

isthatso said:

Accu-Chek compact plus Blood Glucose meter was giving a high BG reading of 18mmol/L, despite my Mother having taken her regular insulin dose. So I decided to use Contour Bayer, and the reading was much lower at 13mmol/L.

Did the BG test again thirty minutes ago, and Accu Chek said 13mmol/L, and Contour Bayer was reading 10mmol/L. I know someone earlier on this thread said not to compare two meters, but I did specifically because I couldn't understand if the meter was wrong, or she had suddenly become Insulin resistant!

Now I am concerned - as to which is the accurate reading, as difference in numbers can have an impact on her Insulin dose and health. (She had a heart bypass recently and is T2)

Any ideas?

Thanks. :?

Click to expand...

I think most of us end up trying to compare two meters at some stage or another. I just think it's one of those things. just stick to one meter, check that with control and stick to it. With me it seems that my Breeze 2 seems to read slightly higher than my accuchek. Mr answer was to get another Breeze 2 for the car and stick to those only!

Isthatso, I've asked the same question as you previously, with the same answers from the forum gurus.
I asked the consultant about this and he said to use the meter that consistently gives the lower readings. Presumably this is to avoid going below 4mmol when your meter says that you're above eg when car driving. Fair enough so it's what I now do.
From the point of view you mentioned ie giving a spot-on dose, a high reading meter could mean giving more insulin than needed if, in reality, the BG is actually lower than the meter is telling you. The low reading meter, on the other hand, has you living with higher BGs than you should. Over time this will show up as a slightly high HbA1c.
Do take the opportunity to do a BG test in the clinic whenever blood is taken for analysis and remember to ask for a random BG reading. Later, compare. I am getting excellent correlation this way with my One Touch Ultra which, by the way, is also the lowest reading meter. Bayer Contour and Optium Xceed I lke very much but both read consistently high - about 10% - which is my correction factor for the Xceed (which I use when out and about as it's less bulky than most). Regards qrp

Optium Xceed.

It's by far the best one I've had so yes, I'd definitely recommend it.

Accuchek Performa. It's small and quick, the Aaron Lennon of meters!!

I've been using the Bayer Ascensia Breeze2 for a few years now and have no complaints.
The disc load system for getting the strips in is useful and means you only ever touch a test strip when you're putting a blood drop on it or throwing it away.
I'm also hooking it up to my laptop with the USB cable so I can track my results in "WinGLUCOFACTS®" and get graphs and charts to easily see how I'm doing.

I use the Accu Chek Aviva Nano.

I use an Accuchek Compact Plus, it's soooo conveinient, test drum codes automatically, finger pricker is fastend to the meter. It's accurate and i'm not too bothered with the other functions ( I just want to know my sugar level when i'm testing ). I cycle a lot and have used this meter during races without needing to stop ! A friend uses an Aviva and it's like watching a little medical procedure, opening the pouch,preparing the pricker,selecting the test strip etc,etc. Would I recommend this meter hmmm YES
Also whilst i'm rabbiting on does anyone know what happend to the watch that constantly monitored your blood sugars through your skin? It was available in the States but seems to have disapeared now, that would be an awesome bit of kit !!!
Ned.

Nexus said:

I use an Accuchek Compact Plus, it's soooo conveinient, test drum codes automatically, finger pricker is fastend to the meter. It's accurate and i'm not too bothered with the other functions ( I just want to know my sugar level when i'm testing ). I cycle a lot and have used this meter during races without needing to stop ! A friend uses an Aviva and it's like watching a little medical procedure, opening the pouch,preparing the pricker,selecting the test strip etc,etc. Would I recommend this meter hmmm YES

Click to expand...

Word. 8)

Also whilst i'm rabbiting on does anyone know what happend to the watch that constantly monitored your blood sugars through your skin? It was available in the States but seems to have disapeared now, that would be an awesome bit of kit !!!
Ned.

Click to expand...

It irritated people's skin and needed constant calibrating if I recall correctly. Thus it failed miserably as a product.

Nexus said:

Also whilst i'm rabbiting on does anyone know what happend to the watch that constantly monitored your blood sugars through your skin? It was available in the States but seems to have disapeared now, that would be an awesome bit of kit !!!
Ned.

Click to expand...

Yep......it had so much trouble with reliability, inaccuracy and other things it was withdrawn from the market some while ago.

There is a UK company called Medpage Ltd which has a low blood sugar alarm designed for nocturnal use. It is designed to wake the user if Bg levelks drop below a certain level. It reacts to the symptoms which should be increased perspiration and drop in body temperature. No idea how good it is. If you wanty to check it out try the website: www.lowbloodsugaralarm.com. It is advertised regularly in the DUK Balance magazine.

As for a continuous monitor like a watch....I don't know of any available now in the UK. If anybody knows different....shout up !

Ken

Have been using a Onetouch Ultraeasy for the last 8 years, but took delivery of a Bayer ContourUSB yesterday, so will play with that for the next few days!!

Hello everyone I used Accu Check compact glucose monitor at the present.

I use a Glucomen LX meter, purely on the basis that you could get a penguin shaped cover for it and I thought it was awesome. So now sitting around my house I have a penguin, which looks a lot better than just on ordinary meter. Plus you also get a 'pen' topper to go on top of the lancing device that is also a penguin. I love penguins by the way which is why I like it so much.

You dont have to take the meter out of the penguin case to use it, as the strip just goes in the top of its head, but if you do want to do something like check previous reading you have to take the meter out the case to access the buttons. You do also have the option for a 7,14 and 30day average reading.

I have previously used onetouch ultra easy(very portable, good for carrying around in a bag), aviva nano (excellent lancing device), bayer contour (never got on with it!) and an accu-chek one which takes 20seconds for a reading. All my other meters have very fast reading times (like 4seconds).

I am abit of a gadget person and changed around because I was given the opportunity. I am happy with the glucomen lx though but if I ever didnt want the penguin anymore I would go back to the aviva nano as its small and got one of the best lancing devices.