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Posted 11/1/2006 6:35 PM (GMT 0)
I tested my blood before eating lunch and it was slightly high than the norm, so I tested it about 1.5 seconds later to double check using a different finger and it went up higher by 18 points.  Has this happened to anyone else?  I use the Onetouch Ultra Meter, this concerns me.  Anyone else ever experience this, please let me know.

Thanks.

Posted 11/2/2006 10:25 AM (GMT 0)

Hi there,

Yes, definitely - my middle finger and my ring finger differ when I test them within seconds of each other.  No idea why!!  And it's with different meteres too.  Interesting to know if other people have found that...

Claire x

Posted 11/2/2006 1:52 PM (GMT 0)
Those are the two fingers I pricked as well.  It's good to know that there are others out there that are experiencing some of the things I am.  If you don't mind me asking, are you type 1 or 2?

Posted 11/2/2006 5:24 PM (GMT 0)

I can test the same drop of blood with 3 different meters and get 3 different readings within 30 points of each other. Meters (in the US- not sure about the UK, Canada etc)  only have to be 20% accurate by law- so if you get a reading of 100 it can really be as low as 80 or as high as 120. And that range gets numerically larger as the readings go up. The control solutions typically give a 40 point range (so much for control!). And many meters, like scales, lose precision at very high and very low numbers.

 I used to drive myself crazy testing different fingers, different meters, different blood drops until I started to read about meters, how they determine your numbers, things that affect the test strips and so forth-

I would only worry if you got one reading of 100 and 1 reading of 250 from the same stab- I find that my One Touch Ultra 2, One Touch Smart, and Bayer Ascensia all read about the same; my Freestyle Flash is always 15-30 points higher than the One Touches, and my Precision Extra is totally variable - my One Touch averages have been closest to my A1c for the last two test periods. I am trying to score a free Ultra Mini and then I am going to retire the FLash and Precision Extra. The software for those two kills my computer too.

I love gadgets- can you tell? yeah sandy

Posted 11/3/2006 7:36 PM (GMT 0)

Hi Gelchick,

I also use the one touch ultra2 just because of its ability to dump a ton of info onto my computer and I find when I test the same blood at the Endo's office, my results are pretty close to the lab results so I'm confident in the meter. 

That being said, there is a study done by the American Association for Clinical Chemistry that indicates that there IS a variablility of blood sugar results BETWEEN fingers.  Typically, as you pointed out, it is not enough to be significant, (which is also what their conclusions were) but it is enough to make us scratch our head and go "whats wrong with my meter"????

So take heart, looks like there is probably always going to be a difference between fingers in your blood glucose readings.  Just don't get fixated on one individual reading but look for the trends or the unexpected spikes.  For you type one's that are dosing from a finger stick, if you are going to retest to verify a high number before dosing??..... use the same finger!!!

scool Warren
Posted 11/3/2006 9:24 PM (GMT 0)

 Thanks Warren,

I didn't know about that study- I will have to search it out. I usually restab the same finger if I need to because I rotate fingers each day. I always draw more blood than I need, just in case I need a second 'opinion'.  :-)  I usually test between 4 and 6 times depending on whether I'm testing out a new food or meal or exercise, AM and pre-bed.

I love the ease of using the OneTouch software so I am glad to hear that you find the meter correlates well to your lab results too. sandy

Posted 11/7/2006 9:12 AM (GMT 0)

I didn't realise about the study either, quite interesting to know there has been one.

Hi Type II diabetic, I'm actually a type 1 myself and was diagnosed almost 15 years ago.

Claire x

Posted 11/7/2006 1:37 PM (GMT 0)
Hi Claire how are you!  It's good to be able to come and talk to people that can relate/understand how you feel about Diabetes!  I hope we can all remain friends and share our experiences with one another!
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