Would you eat this?

Paul_ said:

Thanks for that. My first post-diagnosis blood tests are on Tuesday, so I think I'll use that link after I get the results so I can see any weak areas my fingerprick tests have missed.

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Mine is on Thursday! I too am looking forward to trying a meter. My samsung isn't compatible but santa is going to sort me out with a cheap alternative phone

IanBish said:

I'll also try and figure out what's causing my blood glucose errors. I'm sure it's hydration and temperature,

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What types of errors?
Maybe we can help out.

IanBish said:

Normally E-2 (insufficient blood, I think). I often have to use three strips to get a reading. Tonight it was fine, though.

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Does your lancet have an adjustable depth dial at all, so it can be altered to different depths of skin prick?

Most of my fingers just need setting 1 on mine, but a couple of fingers need number 2 in order to go deep enough to draw a sufficient blood drop without squeezing.

IanBish said:

Normally E-2 (insufficient blood, I think). I often have to use three strips to get a reading. Tonight it was fine, though.

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A very small drop should be enough, are you very sure you hold the teststrip to the right place? It needs to suck the blood up from the top end, no use holding the strip to the blood drop if the drop is too small.

IanBish said:

Sometime a tiny drop is fine, other times a larger, but less held-together drop fails. The strips are quite cheap, so I don't mind wasting a few, especially as I'm not testing at the moment.

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Less held together puddles in my experience are usually caused by the finger not being completely dry.

I don't know if this is relevant, but perhaps. I have two glucometers (a contour plus and an Abbott Freestyle Libre 2 -- glucometer, not GCM, I use Dexcom g6 for my CGM). I think that the Abbott glucometer might be more accurate, but how would I actually determine that? The strips for the Abbot come individually wrapped in foil and the strips for the contour plus come in jars of 50 (100 in a box of two jars). Abbot strips come in a box of 100 as well (edit: and from memory about the same price)

The hospitals around here both public and private, use the Abbott, but a different model to mine, maybe because the strips are individually wrapped in foil.

The technique I have to use for both of the machines is very different. For the contour plus I usually need a much smaller drop of blood and I hold the strip pretty much horizontally into the drop. For the Abbott I normally need a much larger drop of blood and must hold it vertically (it doesn't work at all holding it horizontally it just smears blood all over my finger). The other advantage of the contour is that I can have the lancing device set to 2 or 3 and get enough blood. For the Abbott I need it set to 5 and I usually end up using 2 or 3 strips anyway because the way I have to hold it is so "picky". So when my strips for the Abbott run out (I think they'll expire before I get to use them all anyway haha) I don't think I'll replace them because having my lancet set to 5 and doing 2 or 3 pricks per test is just annoying I'll have to keep the Abbott device because it accepts ketone strips as well as glucose

I’m confused by the using three strips thing to get a reading, I’ve lost count how many different readers and tests strips I’ve used over the years and never had this problem, you guys need to encourage a decent blob out before wasting the strips, it shouldn’t be hard to gauge, just make sure there’s more than you think you need, blood is cheaper than strips.

plantae said:

For the contour plus I usually need a much smaller drop of blood and I hold the strip pretty much horizontally into the drop.

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I have the Contour Plus Blue too. Like you, I don't have any issues and the test strips seem to slurp up even the smallest of drops of blood, from pretty much any angle I seem to use.

For others reading and in the market for a blood glucose meter - It's very easy to use, strips are a reasonable price, plus it stores 800 results and has an app it syncs your results to as well. Not a commonly recommended device around here from what I've seen, but my personal experience of it has been good.

I find I get odd readings when the battery is close to needing changing.

Paul_ said:

I have the Contour Plus Blue too. Like you, I don't have any issues and the test strips seem to slurp up even the smallest of drops of blood, from pretty much any angle I seem to use.

For others reading and in the market for a blood glucose meter - It's very easy to use, strips are a reasonable price, plus it stores 800 results and has an app it syncs your results to as well. Not a commonly recommended device around here from what I've seen, but my personal experience of it has been good.

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I'm using a TEE2+; it does the job and the cost of the strips is reasonable, but the downside is the app won't sync with my smartphone (Apple), and it was only when I read the instruction booklet I realised this is a known problem - not something I can resolve.

Google returns a few different retailers of the Contour Blue and its strips, which vary in price between £8.49 and a whopping £12.99 on Amazon. Could you tell me which supplier you use, please?

plantae said:

The technique I have to use for both of the machines is very different. For the contour plus I usually need a much smaller drop of blood and I hold the strip pretty much horizontally into the drop. For the Abbott I normally need a much larger drop of blood and must hold it vertically

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From memory, those Abbott strips in their pesky wrappers are the only teststrips I've ever seen where the blood needs to be applied to the side of the top instead of the top of the top (if that makes sense).
If your teststrips look like this (Abbott makes different strips) the little black thing the arrows are pointing at is where the blood needs to be sucked up.

IanBish said:

I've had successful tests with just the tiniest drop of blood. And failed tests with a much larger drop!

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Hi,

I use a meter these days (have done for years.) that has a tape cartridge which winds onto the next test when opening the cover.

Regarding my view on some failed tests..

What I noticed when using classic strip meters since the late 1980s. Is if I dinged (knocked too heavy.) the strip end during a test when the blood has “wicked” fully, it can break contact with the end of the strip inside the machine then reconnect with the meter thinking it’s a used strip? Infuriating during a hypo.
A little like if I’m a little clumsy using my bank card for chip & pin transactions, knocking the end of the card whilst inputting my PIN code on some readers. (One in particular at my local garage.) it cancels on me. Needing a reset by the cashier.

I’ve also dropped a mobile phone once & had it ask me to insert the SIM?

Could a brief break & connection in the circuit causing issue on the meter with the strip?