Can I use any calibration fluids for my glucose monitor

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Derby Simon

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Relationship to Diabetes
Type 2
No doubt this has been asked a number of times but a quick search didnt turn anything up.
I got a glucose meter after being newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes but it was only when I read the instructions on the product that it talked about calibrating the machine to make sure it was working correctly - but the meter did not come with a test solution to do this. I asked at local pharmacies and none appeared to really understand what I was asking for - one said you use saline solution for example.
I am disappointed that you had to buy the product before you learnt you actually did not have all you needed. Looking online most test solutions appear to be marketed for specific company monitors which leads to the question - can they actually be used to calibrate any companies machines?
 
If you contact the manufacturer they may well send you some test solution free of charge, but since there is no way to actually calibrate a BG meter then all you are doing is testing that the test strips are reading within a set range.... displayed on the test strip pot. Most of us have never checked in many years of use, or perhaps checked once or twice if we thought there might be a problem with the meter. It certainly isn't essential although it may suggest that you test a test strip from each new pot you use.
 
rebrascora said:
If you contact the manufacturer they may well send you some test solution free of charge, but since there is no way to actually calibrate a BG meter then all you are doing is testing that the test strips are reading within a set range.... displayed on the test strip pot. Most of us have never checked in many years of use, or perhaps checked once or twice if we thought there might be a problem with the meter. It certainly isn't essential although it may suggest that you test a test strip from each new pot you use.
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Thanks, just wanted to check the meter and test strips I was starting out with are in the zone so to speak. I realise you cannot actually calibrate the machine - although why I dont know but it was more for peace of mind.
 
Which meter did you buy?

I see in some of your other posts you talk about testing 2 hours after food, but unless you also test immediately before that meal, it will be difficult to infer anything much from the reading post meal because BG levels constantly fluctuate throughout the day and night in response to something like 42 known factors. The 3 main players are food, exercise and medication but there are lots more, some of which you have little or no control over. Testing immediately before eating the meal will help to isolate the effect of that meal on your BG so that you can sort of quantify how much that meal impacted your levels. If you tested when you got up in the morning and then 2 hours after lunch, you have no way of knowing what other things have also affected your levels in the interim period and believe me..... lots can happen in that time!

Also you might find it helpful to do your first test of the day before you get out of bed on a morning because many of us find that our levels start to rise the moment we set foot on the floor and start our day. This is because the liver starts to pump out glucose to give us energy for the day ahead until we get some food into us. It is believed to be a throwback to prehistoric times when we had to hunt or gather our first meal of the day and obviously our muscles needed fuel to help us do that..... It really doesn't take much energy at all to walk into the kitchen and open the fridge but our bodies still haven't cottoned on to that. Sometimes this glucose dump by the liver will start in the early hours of the morning particularly at this time of year when Dawn is early. This is known as Dawn Phenomenon or DP. Some of us have a slightly more sociable liver which thankfully waits until we get up before it starts this function (referred to here on the forum as Foot on the Floor or FOTF, so if we test before we get out of bed we will get a better and more accurate fasting reading. It can make a surprisingly significant difference if you test before you get out of bed compared to say an hour or even half an hour later when you have got up and been to the bathroom and perhaps sat down at the kitchen table with a coffee. Mine used to rise by 4-6mmols when I was first diagnosed.

Anyway, I hope some of that information will be helpful and I would hope that the meter manufacturer will send you some test solution if you contact them and ask.
 
rebrascora said:
Which meter did you buy?

I see in some of your other posts you talk about testing 2 hours after food, but unless you also test immediately before that meal, it will be difficult to infer anything much from the reading post meal because BG levels constantly fluctuate throughout the day and night in response to something like 42 known factors. The 3 main players are food, exercise and medication but there are lots more, some of which you have little or no control over. Testing immediately before eating the meal will help to isolate the effect of that meal on your BG so that you can sort of quantify how much that meal impacted your levels. If you tested when you got up in the morning and then 2 hours after lunch, you have no way of knowing what other things have also affected your levels in the interim period and believe me..... lots can happen in that time!

Also you might find it helpful to do your first test of the day before you get out of bed on a morning because many of us find that our levels start to rise the moment we set foot on the floor and start our day. This is because the liver starts to pump out glucose to give us energy for the day ahead until we get some food into us. It is believed to be a throwback to prehistoric times when we had to hunt or gather our first meal of the day and obviously our muscles needed fuel to help us do that..... It really doesn't take much energy at all to walk into the kitchen and open the fridge but our bodies still haven't cottoned on to that. Sometimes this glucose dump by the liver will start in the early hours of the morning particularly at this time of year when Dawn is early. This is known as Dawn Phenomenon or DP. Some of us have a slightly more sociable liver which thankfully waits until we get up before it starts this function (referred to here on the forum as Foot on the Floor or FOTF, so if we test before we get out of bed we will get a better and more accurate fasting reading. It can make a surprisingly significant difference if you test before you get out of bed compared to say an hour or even half an hour later when you have got up and been to the bathroom and perhaps sat down at the kitchen table with a coffee. Mine used to rise by 4-6mmols when I was first diagnosed.

Anyway, I hope some of that information will be helpful and I would hope that the meter manufacturer will send you some test solution if you contact them and ask.
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The machine is made by Kinetik - didnt come with a test solution, they have not replied to an email and their website says they dont have the solution in stock - I guess because they dont give any out to start with!
Testing wise I realise the levels will go up and down and the tests I am doing are more about identifying some rough figures to start with such as a morning figure and a couple of hours after meals to see what those figures are so moving forward I know where I have come from.
 
What are you actually wanting the calibration fluid for?

I’ve never used it when getting a new meter. It doesn’t actually do anything to change the accuracy of the meter and the ranges of acceptable bgs on the fluid are so wide that it doesn’t tell you how accurate your meter is, just that it’s vaguely in the right area. In 14 years of diabetes and many many new meters, I can’t say I’ve ever used it.
 
You are really interested in the difference between before meal and after meal readings so assuming if and that is a big if it were out of precise calibration then it would be the same 'outness' for both.
Most monitors would be calibrated initially and be within the permitted accuracy. Home test monitors are not expensive instruments so have limitations on their accuracy.
Instruments costing thousands do generally require a calibration standard to be included in any test run but not a £10 home monitor which is what many are using.
 
I am with @Lucyr - why do you need to test the calibration of your new meter.
My understanding is that they are calibrated in the factory and the test solution is required to check to see if the calibration has drifted.

I may understand your need for more confidence if you are treating your diabetes with insulin and need to know your levels more accurately to calculate your insulin dose. But, if you are not taking any medication and using your meter to record the affect of different foods, you can see the impact regardless whether your levels are 5.5 or 5.9.
 
helli said:
I am with @Lucyr - why do you need to test the calibration of your new meter.
My understanding is that they are calibrated in the factory and the test solution is required to check to see if the calibration has drifted.

I may understand your need for more confidence if you are treating your diabetes with insulin and need to know your levels more accurately to calculate your insulin dose. But, if you are not taking any medication and using your meter to record the affect of different foods, you can see the impact regardless whether your levels are 5.5 or 5.9.
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Hello, the instruction leaflet states to do so weekly and when changing to a new pack of test strips. I am just trying to do what I am told to do to make sure my meter is giving reliable results.
 
Derby Simon said:
Hello, the instruction leaflet states to do so weekly and when changing to a new pack of test strips. I am just trying to do what I am told to do to make sure my meter is giving reliable results.
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If they cannot supply you with a test solution I would send it back as it is clearly not reliably operable according to their instruction leaflet and demand a refund and then get a Gluco Navii or a Spirit Healthcare Tee2. They are reputable companies with reliable and well regarded, affordable meters and test strips. Most people who self fund here on the forum use one of these two meters. We have had one or two disgruntled members who got Sinocare or Kinetik in the past, so we don't recommend them.
 
It is a monitor that is twice the price of the GlucoNavil and the test strips are also twice the price, and if you also have to buy control solution which will probably only have a short shelf life that makes it even more expensive.
 
Leadinglights said:
It is a monitor that is twice the price of the GlucoNavil and the test strips are also twice the price, and if you also have to buy control solution which will probably only have a short shelf life that makes it even more expensive.
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When you are just buying a meter for the first time you go with what you see. The product I purchased said it supported St Johns Ambulance so you trust them to supply a quality product. I didnt know the product needed a test solution until I got the product and read the instructions.
 
Derby Simon said:
When you are just buying a meter for the first time you go with what you see. The product I purchased said it supported St Johns Ambulance so you trust them to supply a quality product. I didnt know the product needed a test solution until I got the product and read the instructions.
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What a shame @Derby Simon :(

Yes you are quite right, all the indicators were positive and trustworthy.

Asking for routine control-solution checks is quite unusual in my experience of BG meters over the years. I can’t think of another one which suggests this.

I’ve only ever been directed to use control solution if I happened to have reason to doubt the results my meter was giving. Which has only happened once or twice in 30 years!
 
The manufacturer has now provided a bottle of test solution FOC after I emailed them. Interestingly I presumed that all test solutions would be the same so had ordered a bottle from elsewhere only to find that it seems such fluids are specific to manufacturers. When I used the purchased bottle my meter was displaying incorrectly but now I have the bottle the maker sent the meter tests correctly - so at least I know the machine is correct.
 
Pleased to hear they eventually supplied you with some test solution and it is working satisfactorily.
 
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