Looking for a replacement blood test gadget. Presently have the old Codefree monitor.

[Leaderofthecats]

Hello everyone.

I have a blood testing gadget but it's ancient (got it in 2016), it's not the fanciest one, and a lot of reviews reckon it's not the most accurate/precise thing ever. Which is literally its one job.

It seems to be a low cost option, but I'd really like something a bit better.

So, just now I'm using the SD Codefree tester.

Codefree Blood Glucose Monitor | Diabetes Monitoring Meter Tester | Blood Sugar Testing Kit with Strips, Lancets, Case - in mmol/L : Amazon.co.uk: Health & Personal Care

Codefree Blood Glucose Monitor | Diabetes Monitoring Meter Tester | Blood Sugar Testing Kit with Strips, Lancets, Case - in mmol/L : Amazon.co.uk: Health & Personal Care

www.amazon.co.uk

Cost isn't a huge issue, especially if paying more is worth it for a guarantee of both precision and accuracy.

Which on would you recommend, please?

 

[trophywench]

It isn't the cost of the meter that matters. How much do you want to pay for the test strips is the real question - cos all meters cheap or dear, are allowed to report with a variance of 10-15% either way. Last lot I bought myself were about 2 years ago (gone up to near Doncaster in our motorhome for about 5 days and discovered I hadn't packed another box of strips - got about 200 at home ....... Saturday so couldn't get an emergency scrip pdq. Over £26 - exc VAT.

 

[Ljc]

If you are not on meds that can cause hypo’s then imo a meter that uses expensive strips , (which is where these companies make a huge profit from) is not required .
The codefree has been updated to The Gluco Navii which you might want to have a look at .
Then their us the Tee two, sorry I don’t have a link for that.
But if you do want to pay:more for your test strips and get vat relief, head on to our main site (click on Diabetes UK on the top left of each page and go to their shop. There you will find a few meters to choose from

 

[Leaderofthecats]

Thankyou both for your helpful and informative replies.

Do testing strips vary wildly in price? I hadn't realised this. I'm presently using quite a lot, so it is a relevant factor.

I have pretty much zero concern about a hypo.
I have type 2 diabetes, so my BS is constantly too high.

Have you tried the gluco Navii?
Is it a good product?

There are lots of different meters, but I was wondering how people here are getting on with them?

 

[Leaderofthecats]

200 strips for £26 exc VAT sounds about the same as the SD Codefree ones.

They were 100 for £14 exc VAT, and I've just used the first of 50 up after about 12 days.

 

[Leaderofthecats]

10-15% inaccuracy is allowed? Huh. Didn't know that. That's.... surprisingly shonky.
So if someone has say BS of say10mmol/L it could report it as anything from 8.5mmol/L to 11.5 mmol/L?
Like... that's really c**p, especially given how expensive all this stuff is. And even the fancy kind can be this ropey?

Dang. Maybe I should just stick with this cheap monitor, as it certainly seems to be doing better than that from what I can tell.

 

[Ljc]

200 strips for £26 exc VAT sounds about the same as the SD Codefree ones.

They were 100 for £14 exc VAT, and I've just used the first of 50 up after about 12 days.

I think you’ll find that was for a pot of 50. , Jenny had 200 at home.

Yes strips for meters sold in chemists vary from £15 to £30 for a pot of 50.

 

[Leaderofthecats]

Wait hold up hold up ... That's for a little tub of 50!? Well that seems just completely unreasonable, to me. I'm sorry to hear that anyone is having to buy them at that price!!

So this must be why the NHS is just trying to chuck everyone on Metaformin while poo pooing the idea of regular blood testing throughout the day? Well. I still think that's a bit stingy, but I maybe appreciate the reason for it better now.

 

[Ljc]

Wait hold up hold up ... That's for a little tub of 50!? Well that seems just completely unreasonable, to me. I'm sorry to hear that anyone is having to buy them at that price!!

So this must be why the NHS is just trying to chuck everyone on Metaformin while poo pooing the idea of regular blood testing throughout the day? Well. I still think that's a bit stingy, but I maybe appreciate the reason for it better now.

You’ve got it in one.

Ah yes but we believe that though they are cutting down in costs in one way , they are causing a much higher cost in the future for the patient and the nhs due to possibly unnecessary diabetes complications if the person who wanted to self test hadn’t been discouraged and or not provided the equipment.
You see sadly the majority of folks with diabetes don’t come to sites like this one so they follow the nhs advise believing that they are being given the best advise which is not alway the case . I know our way may not suit or even work for everyone but we are now seeing more and more people on here who are now in remission until recently that was believed to be impossible.
Apologies I do seem to have got on my hobby horse again.

 

[Leaderofthecats]

Not at all 🙂 hehe I hadn't heard that idiom before, I'll need to remember that. It's a good one.
I pretty much just ride one everywhere I go, lol.

I have the huge advantage of being given some unbelievably ridiculous advice and truly awful treatment by NHS doctors for actual decades, so am incredibly unlikely to just believe whatever guff they come out with nowadays.

You know, they tried to pester me to knock out a baby with my (actually really abusive) first boyfriend when i was just 17, claiming that it would cure me of all of my symptoms (symptoms which later were diagnosed with much difficulty, as chronic ME , chronic gastritis, depression, and IBS) ... Then proceeded to behave like I was deliberately perpetuating my condition with my stubborn refusal to just get on with it!?

Can't even parody those loonies, I swear.

Ahem. *packs soapbox neatly away into a suitcase and rides off into the distance*
Giddyap , yeehaw! :-D

 

[Leaderofthecats]

*Rides back again*
Whooooah there Nelly

I just saw this and found it quite interesting.

SD Codefree meter- accurate or not

Since I was diagnosed with T2 last November I've tested my BG with the SD Codefree meter. The test strips are £7.25 for 50; far less than any other make I have seen advertised, but a lot of users complain that the SD is inaccurate and reads up to 1 mmol higher than it should. I have read on...

www.diabetes.co.uk

Maybe the people giving it bad reviews on Amazon and such are just numpties, lol?

It sounds like a perfectly good cheap bit of kit, to me. Since I don't have a house that I can sell to pay for them, I probably couldn't afford those other test strips anyway. (';');

 

[Docb]

Hi @Leaderofthecats, I spent most of my working life either measuring things or trying to figure out what the measurements you got from measuring things actually meant. The reproducibility you get from any measurement is what it is and you can be certain that what you will get from your glucose meter is as good as anybody can get from a meter. A +/- 15% reproducibility is not shonky, its what is possible.

A couple of weeks ago I jabbed and tested all 10 fingers and thumbs in quick succession and reported the results on here. From the results I came to the conclusion that you could forget the decimal point and that you could quite easily get a reading one above and one below the number before the decimal point. So this morning I got a 5 and could just as easily got 4 or a 6 had I jabbed a different finger with a different test strip.

This leads to a few thoughts when it comes to testing and interpreting results.

First is look for patterns and recognise and only consider acting on changes of 2mmol/l or more. Perfect for establishing tolerance to food stuffs whilst working out a new diet where rises are much higher. Trying to micromanage blood glucose just is not possible.

Keep good records so that you have a really good idea of the sort of blood glucose you might expect under any given circumstances. So for me, I measure my waking blood glucose and expect it to be 4, 5 or 6. On the odd occasion lately that it has been a 7, I have not panicked, just checked over the next few days to make sure it came back to the regular pattern, which it has.

There is one big caveat on these ideas. T1's, or anybody on insulin, trying to control BG to prevent hypos are in a different game to the T2 trying to keep blood glucose in a sensible range by not going too high. They use their experience, how they feel and the results of the meter to make decisions and seem to me to be generally very good at it. I take my hat off to them.

 

[Kaylz]

Saturday so couldn't get an emergency scrip

You could have, emergency prescriptions are available 7 days a week, just call 111 and you get it the same day

 

[DaveB]

Hi. My surgery now uses the GlucoRX Nexus meters. The strips are low cost. The standard Nexus meter is very large. The Nexus Mini, however, is nice and small and does the job. I bought my Mini on ebay (new). My surgery gave me the standard one for free but I don't use it. Yes, all meters meet the +/- 15% standard.

 

[Leadinglights]

Hello everyone.

I have a blood testing gadget but it's ancient (got it in 2016), it's not the fanciest one, and a lot of reviews reckon it's not the most accurate/precise thing ever. Which is literally its one job.

It seems to be a low cost option, but I'd really like something a bit better.

So, just now I'm using the SD Codefree tester.

Codefree Blood Glucose Monitor | Diabetes Monitoring Meter Tester | Blood Sugar Testing Kit with Strips, Lancets, Case - in mmol/L : Amazon.co.uk: Health & Personal Care

Codefree Blood Glucose Monitor | Diabetes Monitoring Meter Tester | Blood Sugar Testing Kit with Strips, Lancets, Case - in mmol/L : Amazon.co.uk: Health & Personal Care

www.amazon.co.uk

Cost isn't a huge issue, especially if paying more is worth it for a guarantee of both precision and accuracy.

Which on would you recommend, please?

I am using a Codefree which is 6 years old and I have no reason to suppose it is not as accurate as expected.

 

[trophywench]

You could have, emergency prescriptions are available 7 days a week, just call 111 and you get it the same day

2 years ago the joys of 111 were unknown to both of us, though I probably had heard of 111 - we had no idea whatsoever where anything was in that very rural area we'd never ever visited before (good old satnav, couldn't find it again without looking it up again, only know people say it's near Donny) - and we came across a pharmacy in a tiny village approx 5 miles away, cos Pete decided to turn left out of the lane to the farm. E Mids airport is also 'near Doncaster' but no evidence of planes in the sky near the farm while we were there They said in the pharmacy, shame it wasn't a weekday cos no local GP surgeries were open again until Monday to get a scrip ..... it's only money Kaylz, and we aren't actually short of that - horses for courses. I was ONLY briefly illustrating the difference in prices of strips for self funders - and that is ALL. Also heard the bells and got to see the bride arrive at the picturesque old church just up the road, groom was there when we went past the first time, with all his mates and their ladies - some nice outfits and hats - so that was lovely to see and she had a smashing sunny day so their wedding photos would have been great I should think.