Which Meter?

Yes the SD does give higher readings cos its measuring different things in blood levels so im told by DN who give me a Accu-chek mobile well 2 lol n strips etc on script due to starting yet more pills :-(
My SD always give between 1.5 -2.5 differance n i test the same sample of blood
Sue
Xx

I'm cheesed off with the high cost for my Accu Chek so I aim to get an SD for main use. I mostly use a meter to see how various foods affect my BG so an SD, even if reading high, will tell me if a certain food raised my BG by an acceptable or unacceptable amount. If I want an more accurate reading though, I'll still use the accuchek. Switching from one to the other for 80% of readings is quite a saving.

Bayer do good meters contour USB is brill & never paid for mine as given by hospital. You don't have to pay for test strips as will be free on pescription


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The thing with SD is that it can b alot higher than BS is n u could b nearer a hypo than u think. Just taken BS SD 14.9 but accu-chek 11.8 same blood 2 big differance there! Just b careful with it.
Sue

As Yorksman said, if you are using it to test different foods, then the fact that it reads high won't make any difference. It will tell you if a food spikes you too much.

If you are on meds that you could hypo on such as gliclazide then you should get strips prescribed by your GP to make sure you are safe driving.

Your choice is if you don't get strips prescribed is to:
1. Buy your strips for your chosen meter at a chemist and pay what they are asking (if you buy from Boots online, they have a form to fill in as you don't have to pay VAT on them)
2. Some meter manufacturers sell strips directly
3. Get a meter that uses cheaper strips
4. Buy your chosen strips from Ebay - they are usually cheaper from there, but you are likely to get ones that were issued to someone else on prescription (some people aren't very good at taking chemist labels off them). They could be sold by someone (Type 1) who orders more strips than they use because they don't test enough or have changed their meter and still have strips left. They could also be sold by a lady who had Gestational diabetes which has now gone since she had the baby.

Someone mentioned the Supercheck2 meter as a cheaper alternative on here the other day http://www.supercheck2.co.uk/ but I couldn't find the strips for sale easily.

The supercheck2 strips are available either direct from supercheck @ £8-49 for 50 and lancets are £4-50 for 200 + p&p or on perscription.

Supercheck2 test strips PIP code 363-6982 product code AMTL 6200 qty 50

Apollo Lancets 28g PIP code 366-0412 product code AMTL 2800 qty 200

At the moment I am using the abbott xceed meter until I run out of test strips, then depending on what the docs say on getting reapeats, may well switch to the contour next usb, like the PC reports feature of it and its a nice meter. If I need to supplement the test strips will try out the supercheck2 system.

Yorksman said:

I mostly use a meter to see how various foods affect my BG so an SD, even if reading high, will tell me if a certain food raised my BG by an acceptable or unacceptable amount.

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This is a very good point, it really doesnt matter what a particular meter says it is the differential between pre meal and after meal that matters as it indicates how a particular portion of carbohydrate has effected your blood sugar, it matters not if your pre meal level is 5 or 6 as long as the post meal level is coming down towards the pre meal level at the 2 hour mark. :thumbup:

No two meters will read the same so dont compare your readings with other people, just stick to one meter and if you are paying for the strips then the cheapest would seem the best bet, all meters have to work within a + or - 20% tolerance so there is no way of knowing how accurate a particular meter is.