False B S readings?

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lynwill53

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Relationship to Diabetes
Type 2
Hi, I am T2, diagnosed 5 weeks ago, and on Metformin (up to 3 a day now for last 2 weeks). I'm fairly pleased with myself, having lost about 6 lbs in weight, and got my blood-sugar levels down from 14-18 to 10-13, and just had my first reading below 9 which pleased me no end.

But on a couple of occasions recently have had high readings which I wasn't expecting going by what I had eaten. By high I mean 15/16. On retesting immediately on a different finger the reading came out 1 or 2 lower.

How accurate are these meters? Mine is Freestyle Lite. Now I'm wondering if the 8.2 I celebrated was a false one too! It's been firmly in the region of 10-11 since then so maybe it was....:(
 
meters are allowed to have a 20% accuracy. So the results may be slightly different on a different finger or different meter. I wouldn't worry really about 1 or 2 difference if it's for a highish reading.

Sounds like you are making progress you should be pleased with yourself. I think there is alot on bringing the levels down slowly so your body can adjust.

Are you looking at the amount of carbs that you are eating? sometimes there is more than you would think in a meal and that could cause the blood sugar rises.

have you got control solution to test your meter? If not ring the manufacturer and they should send some out for you. that will let you know if your meter is within accuarcy limits.

keep it up you will get there
 
sofaraway said:
meters are allowed to have a 20% accuracy. So the results may be slightly different on a different finger or different meter. I wouldn't worry really about 1 or 2 difference if it's for a highish reading.

have you got control solution to test your meter? If not ring the manufacturer and they should send some out for you. that will let you know if your meter is within accuarcy limits.
Click to expand...

I felt hypo recently so I took a reading. It said 4.1, and I thought 'No way!' I was sweating and starting to tremble. I tested the meter using the control solution (after spending several minutes trying to find the instructions in English!) and it came up ok, so I tested my blood again. This time it was 2.7. I'm guessing the first reading was a blip!
 
One thing you need to be careful about is making sure your fingers are VERY clean. If you have, for example, a trace amount of suger on your finger it will upset the reading!
 
Clean hands & BG tests

Hi I always thought you could get away with having fairly clean hands but I have checked this and found you can have two entirely different results one prior to washing your hands and immediately afterwards...
I even keep a hygienic waterless hand wash in the car which i use regularly whilst out and about. Ive had occasions where out walking you may have handled something without realising it and caused the meter to misreport.
:D
 
what you have got to remember is that there is a slight time lag between what your blood is actually doing and the sample you've taken, it can be anything up to half hour, what you could be feeling is a sharp crash before the blood in your fingers has caught up
 
This was happening to me and I contacted the Meter Manufacturer about the reading fluctuation. I was told readings can be up to 10% different one after another! I did not think much of their answer because this could mean up to a difference of 2 or more. Just how accurate should these meters be? Anyone know if there is a BSS guide for accuracy?
 
variance in meters

I had a long chat with the helpline for my meter recently and was told 30% variance between meters is considered acceptable. Older style meters will read about 10% lower than the newer ones as well, as they measure something slightly different (plasma I think). I found that quite worrying as 30% makes a big difference!
 
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kitemaster said:
Hi I always thought you could get away with having fairly clean hands but I have checked this and found you can have two entirely different results one prior to washing your hands and immediately afterwards...
I even keep a hygienic waterless hand wash in the car which i use regularly whilst out and about. Ive had occasions where out walking you may have handled something without realising it and caused the meter to misreport.
:D
Click to expand...

I was told by my dns never to use handwash without water (alcohol based) only soap and water as they can give inaccurate readings?
 
but you've got to remember that 10% of 5 is 0.5 where as 10% of 15 is 1.5, that is why high readings are more likely to be innacurate than lower readings, and the exact result of a high reading will probably make no difference to you as you will treat in a similar way whether the meter said 15 or 17
 
kincaidston said:
but you've got to remember that 10% of 5 is 0.5 where as 10% of 15 is 1.5, that is why high readings are more likely to be innacurate than lower readings, and the exact result of a high reading will probably make no difference to you as you will treat in a similar way whether the meter said 15 or 17
Click to expand...

thank you for pointing this out, worth remembering
 
C*5_Dodger said:
One thing you need to be careful about is making sure your fingers are VERY clean. If you have, for example, a trace amount of suger on your finger it will upset the reading!
Click to expand...

If you've just been reading the paper (or some books) there can be enough ink on your hand to mess up the reading.
 
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