Monitor accuracy

[Lil3823]

So ive been given a new monitor by the Diabetes nurse. Just done a finger prick test and as the blood drop was quite large i decided to compare results to my old monitor. Esure on right is new one. Which one do i trust?

 

[helli]

Either.
Glucose meters sold in the UK must comply with a standard to be within 15% of the “true” (if it was tested in a lab) BG, 95% of the time.
This is good enough for people who inject insulin (a potentially dangerous drug) to use to calculate their dose.
These readings are very close to each so I would be happy to use either.
If I had to chose one of these to fund to use regularly, I would chose the one with the cheapest test strips.

 

[Bruce Stephens]

Which one do i trust?

Honestly, they're both giving the same result.

 

[Inka]

They’re both the same! You could test two times in a row with the same meter and get two results that were further apart than those!

Do you take any medication for your diabetes? And, looking at your older posts, have you had the MODY testing?

 

[Docb]

H @Lil3823 - if you look around the forum you will find quite a lot of threads talking about how to interpret meter readings and the common theme is that the meters are nowhere near as precise as suggested by their showing a result with a decimal place and as @Inka says, you can do lots of tests in a row with the same meter and get quite big differences. It has nothing to do with the "accuracy* of the meter, it is more to do with just how hard it is to measure blood glucose.

My guide line is that when looking at two meter readings you can round them to the nearest whole number and then only begin to think there might be a problem if the meters were three units or more in difference.

So take your meter readings. 9.8 rounds up to 10 and 10.3 rounds down to 10 - so they are the same. If the second meter read 6.8 (rounding to 7) or 13.5 (rounding to 13) then you might begin to think there was something odd going on.

Meters are brilliant bits of kit and the readings they give can be used to great advantage when monitoring your diabetes but they do have limitations and you have to work within them.

 

[Lil3823]

They’re both the same! You could test two times in a row with the same meter and get two results that were further apart than those!

Do you take any medication for your diabetes? And, looking at your older posts, have you had the MODY testing?

Consultant i saw has told me to stop taking my Metformin. Was on 500mg onne a day. My HBA1C level was 43 she said i dont have diabetes. Then she said i could have MODY or a different diabetes as i have a genetic fault and atrophy of the pancreas. Its all very confusing. I then got given a new monitor and a prescription for all the test strips, lancets etc.
Since coming off the metformin i havnt felt well. Had my highest blood sugar reading of 16.8 last night. Although keytones were 0.2.
Got to go back in 3 months for another HBA1C test.
I dont think they know what they are doing with me. How can i not have diabetes when i get high sugar levels and all the typical diabetes symptoms.
Hopefully that all makes sense.

 

[Inka]

It does make sense @Lil3823 I’m sorry you’re not feeling well. Is there any way you could go back on the Metformin? Was it something you ate that shot you up to 16.8 or are you going high a lot of the time?

If your pancreas is a bit atrophied, could that be affecting your blood sugar in an erratic way?

Have you yourself looked at the MODY information to see if your genetic fault is mentioned anywhere?

 

[Lil3823]

It does make sense @Lil3823 I’m sorry you’re not feeling well. Is there any way you could go back on the Metformin? Was it something you ate that shot you up to 16.8 or are you going high a lot of the time?

If your pancreas is a bit atrophied, could that be affecting your blood sugar in an erratic way?

Have you yourself looked at the MODY information to see if your genetic fault is mentioned anywhere?

Im getting higher readings since being off the metformin. Especially before bedtime. My genetic fault can cause MODY this has been mentioned to consultant but she didnt take this seriously. I think she wants me off the metformin for 3 months to see if it has a effect on my next HBA1C test.
My gp surgery have been no help so it was them who reffered me to the hospital.
I feel very frustrated.

 

[Inka]

That sounds like madness if your genetic fault can cause MODY. They don’t like doing the MODY tests because they’re expensive. Could you get a second opinion? Have you done the initial MODY screening questions?:

https://www.diabetesgenes.org/exeter-diabetes-app/ModyCalculator

.

 

[Lucyr]

Im getting higher readings since being off the metformin. Especially before bedtime. My genetic fault can cause MODY this has been mentioned to consultant but she didnt take this seriously. I think she wants me off the metformin for 3 months to see if it has a effect on my next HBA1C test.
My gp surgery have been no help so it was them who reffered me to the hospital.
I feel very frustrated.

Do you think anything of this feeling worse since being off the metformin could be psychological? You were only on 500mg of metformin, and sounds like you haven’t been off it that long. That low dose of metformin simply doesn’t do much, you have to get to 1500mg before metformin starts to have a therapeutic affect and even then it doesn’t do much. It doesn’t drop bgs from 17 to normal.

Perhaps it’s your stress about dropping it that’s making you high and you should follow the professionals advice of managing without the metformin. It won’t have been doing anything significant and with an a1c of 43 that’s only just in the prediabetic range which wouldn’t usually need medication

Appreciate you have concerns about MODY but you’d have to have an a1c in the diabetic range again before that would be investigated