How Accurate - Test Meters

[Sebstar]

How accurate are test meters at showing your average over 2 months do they give a good indication of what it will be when you go for a diabetic review. Get my results a week on Monday and am feeling very nervous about it. Does anyone else get in a state about it I always feel it's like getting a school report

 

[novorapidboi26]

The meters are accurate enough, however predicting your HbA1c IS harder as it involves your average blood glucose over 90 days, and unless you are constantly monitoring and recording your levels every minute of the day, the average will never be spot on..........

But it can give you a rough indication, which is all we need really..

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

I guess it depends entirely on when you were testing Sebstar.

If you avoid testing when you think you might be high/low then the results will be skewed. If your results are a good spread of pre and post-meal numbers then they are likely to give a pretty good picture.

Annual Reviews always do feel a bit like sitting an exam don't they!

 

[trophywench]

If it's any help mine have always usually been a tad lower than my meter average - and I hope to hell that holds true for mine this time (vampire tomorrow LOL) - otherwise I'll be very disappointed !

 

[vince13]

If it's any help mine have always usually been a tad lower than my meter average - and I hope to hell that holds true for mine this time (vampire tomorrow LOL) - otherwise I'll be very disappointed !

Good luck with your blood test tomorrow TW.

 

[Vicsetter]

I am not sure why you ask. I do not even look at the average on my meters. I regard the meter as a tool to help me judge what effect what I am eating has and try and eat to be within my targets. The 6 month Hba1c test tells how well you are doing over the last 3 months.
Also I find I sometimes do tests that are giving the wrong result (sticky fingers, residue, water dilution etc) and this would skew the meter average. I also have 2 meters (1 for bedside and driving) so the meter results are skewed anyway.

 

[RissyKay]

See this is interesting, While I was in hospital I had a HYPO and I used my test meter throughout the day after that happened.

I tested myself at 1 point and it said 18.4, about 2 seconds after I put my test kit away a nurse came over and tested me and hers said 20.6???

Anyways I know they are not EXACT but I found this interesting and everytime they tested me mne and theirs were about 2 points apart!

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

That's not uncommon RissyKay. I was speaking to someone from one of the big Pharma companies about this only last week.

All meters have an allowance of 20% variation from lab results (so a lab reading of 10 could read either 8 or 12 on your meter and still comply with regs).

As different meters use different chemistry in the strips each will have its own general trend (some makes might tend to read a bit higher or lower than others), this makes mixed-meter testing more problematic than sticking to the same meter for every test.

Additionally of course, there is no guarantee that each strip will have exactly the same quantity of enzymes etc sprayed on it so there can be accuracy variations within the same pot/batch.

They are far from perfect, but they arethe best we have at the moment and they are a *lot* better than the 2 minute tests read off a colour chart on the side of the pot and/or weeing into test tubes that came before 🙂

 

[RissyKay]

HaHa Yeah I wouldn't like to have to match a colour to a stick - I have enough issues with doing my Ketones!!! I find that blurring my eyes helps as if I can't see the stick it is the same colour but sometimes I have to get my OH opinion! hahaha.. but yes, what you say makes sense =D