All in one blood glucose finger prick and ketones.

Status
Not open for further replies.
Hobster

Hobster

Active Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 2
Pronouns
She/Her
I've seen several of the above for sale with quite a range in price. Does anyone have a recommendation to a dual monitor please? Thanks in advance.
 
Hobster said:
I've seen several of the above for sale with quite a range in price.
Click to expand...
I haven't! The main cost for blood glucose testing is (long term) the test strips, so check that cost (if the system tests for BG and ketones using the same test strip).

It's not usually necessary (or useful) to test for ketones, so I don't think I'd put too much weigh on that unless you've some specific reason. It's pretty common for BG meters to warn about the possibility of ketones (encouraging you to check) just based on high BG, so make sure the advertising isn't just mentioning that.

A few BG meters can also take strips for ketones, but not that many, I think. (And the test strips tend to be quite expensive.) The two commonly mentioned on the forum (because they have inexpensive test strips) aren't (I think) ones that can test for ketones.
 
My BG meter tests for both BG and ketones but requires different strips.
It is definitely not one of the cheaper meters nor test strips. And I know ketone strips are significantly more costly than BG test strips.
My meter is an Optimum Neo. It's good for me as, luckily, I do not have to fund it but I am not sure I would chose it if I did.
I believe the Libre Reader takes the same strips.
 
Hobster said:
I've seen several of the above for sale with quite a range in price. Does anyone have a recommendation to a dual monitor please? Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...
There are some monitors which do both but they do tend to be the more expensive ones which have expensive glucose test strips and the ketone blood strips are also pricy.
Urine ketone test strips are pretty cheap.
 
My 4 Sure meter, prescribed in Oxford on discharge from Hospital after my total pancreatectomy, has dual BG and Ketone testing capability. It needs different strips and has a fairly simple switch to a different mode. I abandoned using it because the lancet device was awkward ( but that could have been reolaced by another, better, lancet); getting the testing strip to sample a blood droplet was difficult when low and shaking (and many strips wasted); the ketone strips are expensive for the NHS and are shortlived, so I was constantly throwing away unused out of date ketone strips.

Eventually I realised I rarely needed ketone strips and let that requirement slip out of sight. Then I was recommended the Acu-chek mobile meter with its (expensive) user friendly cassettes of BG strips (only). The Nurse at my former GP Surgery added the cassettes to my prescription and I've never looked back.
 
My GP surgery thought during the pandemic that it was important for us Type 1s to be able to test for ketones and sent a code to get a GlucoRX meter for free. They never added the test strips to my prescription though, not surprisingly as I see the cost is upwards of £12 for 10 and they have a very short life
 
I have a Caresens Duo BG meter which also takes ketone blood test strips, but until Feb this year I had been unable to get ketone strips prescribed for it and just had Ketostix to test my urine. That was also a bit of a waste as I so rarely use them that they also go out of date and a pot of 50 is supposed to be used up within something like 60 days of opening them. I have only ever used one or two strips from a pot.... so the blood ketone strips might actually be better value to the NHS as they are individually wrapped.
 
I have a Glucomen meter for blood testing, available on NHS prescription, that also reads ketone sticks.
 
rebrascora said:
I have a Caresens Duo BG meter which also takes ketone blood test strips, but until Feb this year I had been unable to get ketone strips prescribed for it and just had Ketostix to test my urine. That was also a bit of a waste as I so rarely use them that they also go out of date and a pot of 50 is supposed to be used up within something like 60 days of opening them. I have only ever used one or two strips from a pot.... so the blood ketone strips might actually be better value to the NHS as they are individually wrapped.
Click to expand...
Unfortunately being individually wrapped doesn't extend their life much. As I had the meter, I bought some last July when I had an awful bug that was raising my levels sky high. I only needed to use 2 out of the 10 (and the results were OK anyway) They expired in November and the remaining 8 were wasted.
 
JJay said:
Unfortunately being individually wrapped doesn't extend their life much. As I had the meter, I bought some last July when I had an awful bug that was raising my levels sky high. I only needed to use 2 out of the 10 (and the results were OK anyway) They expired in November and the remaining 8 were wasted.
Click to expand...
Yes, I would prefer packs of 5 rather than packs of 10 to reduce the risk of waste.
 
Bruce Stephens said:
A few BG meters can also take strips for ketones, but not that many, I think. (And the test strips tend to be quite expensive.) The two commonly mentioned on the forum (because they have inexpensive test strips) aren't (I think) ones that can test for ketones.
Click to expand...
When just last Monday I had a problem with the 780G pump infusion set blocked to insulin and had very high Bg for 3 hours overnight, as the Guardian4 sensor only reads Bg up to "above" 22.2. So I had to used finger-sticks to find I was Bg 27.4, and clearly at risk of ketone acidosis. I had previously been using Libre2 sensor with the Libre2 meter with test strips for both Bg and for beta ketones. My b ketone strips previously out of date and binned, so my partner fetched more (out of date strips) from a neighbour who should also have kept them in date. I tested 1.9 for ketones and was feeling sick and trying to throw-up and as expected was tired and very lethargic and well stayed in bed on and off all day. The culprit was the infusion catheter, and it was noon till we realised its not just the tube and got the pump working. Had to inject novorapid insulin to bring down bg, and because of manual bolus I knocked off the smartguard for more than 24 hours while bg returned below 10.

Anyway realised the need to keep b ketone strips for whatever meter Libre1 or Libre2 does this. Pity the Accu-check guard (which talks to the pump) fails to do bKetone strips.

You can use the Ketosticks urine test but that isn't directly testing blood.
Just awaiting delivery of new bKetone strips for Libre.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top