High blood sugar on old Codefree - can it give wrong reading?

[PeppermintT]

Ive been pre - diabetic D2 since 2013 controlled by diet - till the pandemic. Ive had a few health problems during the pandemic and have put on weight during this winter lockdown. . My HbAiC summer 2020 was 6.2. Ive been meaning to get my old test kit out, its Codefree (2013), and this morning it read 8.6 before breakfast and 13.2 hour and a half later. I've never had such a high reading, worst was 7.5 previously. Can such an old machine be giving a wrong reading? I am under the GP for various things and can push for HbAIC & diabetes tests. And I see there is a recommended Gluco Navi testing kit- which I think I will get.

 

[rebrascora]

I would guess that your test strips may be out of date, so that could affect the reading, especially if the pot had been opened and some used previously. Moisture in the atmosphere can cause degradation and I thing you are advised to use up the strips in a pot within a few weeks of breaking the seal, but the test strip pot will also have an expiry date on it. You can get control solutions from the manufacturer to check that the test strips are reading in range but a new meter may not be a bad investment, particularly if your levels are starting to rise into the diabetic range, as more frequent testing will help you to bring them down.

Out of curiosity, what did you have for breakfast?

 

[PeppermintT]

I would guess that your test strips may be out of date, so that could affect the reading, especially if the pot had been opened and some used previously. Moisture in the atmosphere can cause degradation and I thing you are advised to use up the strips in a pot within a few weeks of breaking the seal, but the test strip pot will also have an expiry date on it. You can get control solutions from the manufacturer to check that the test strips are reading in range but a new meter may not be a bad investment, particularly if your levels are starting to rise into the diabetic range, as more frequent testing will help you to bring them down.

Out of curiosity, what did you have for breakfast?

Thanks, Ive ordered a new Gluco Navi testing kit . I shall be going back to a protein breakfast tomorrow & getting off cereal, and testing to see how that goes. However new kit won't arrive till next week and then I can throw the old kit out in case these old strips are no good.

 

[rebrascora]

Cereal is likely the culprit and reading may well be right. Sounds like you have a good plan to get back on track though. Good luck!

 

[Leadinglights]

I have used some out of date strips for my Codefree and the reading was comparable to the new strips so it maybe you had something on your fingers or it was indeed the cereal.

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

It is quite possible for BG meters to give iffy readings for all a
sorts of reasons... strip integrity (it’s important they are in-date, but even fresh strips can have manufacturing errors), and also testing technique, like squeezing the finger too hard or not washing your hands.

Meter instructions generally recommend rechecking any result that doesn’t match your feelings or expectations.

But many of us have had shocking readings that we didn’t expect from our meters which were absolutely right! Sometimes diabetes just throws us curve-balls sometimes

 

[PeppermintT]

It is quite possible for BG meters to give iffy readings for all a
sorts of reasons... strip integrity (it’s important they are in-date, but even fresh strips can have manufacturing errors), and also testing technique, like squeezing the finger too hard or not washing your hands.

Meter instructions generally recommend rechecking any result that doesn’t match your feelings or expectations.

But many of us have had shocking readings that we didn’t expect from our meters which were absolutely right! Sometimes diabetes just throws us curve-balls sometimes

Thanks for the replies, I have ordered a new testing kit, signed up for the low card program, and changed my breakfast. If the readings are still high after all this I shall book my GP and get a proper diagnosis, I used to be under the diabetic GP for pre diabetes and get monitored including retina but most of that has stopped during Covid.