Blood Glucose Meters

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Permalink Reply by Chris Bishop on August 13, 2007 at 3:19pm

I have used the one touch Ultra 2 for a while now but I have not tried another meter to test against so I can't say if I have run into the issue you are.

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Permalink Reply by Halle on August 14, 2007 at 9:23am

I bought a One Touch Ultra MIni to check my own bg, and then the dr gave me an Accucheck Aviva. The Aviva was clearly higher than the OTUM. I fussed about that, did some research and picked up another meter that is supposed to be highly accurate: the AgaMatrix Keynote. http://www.agamatrix.com/product_wave_1.shtml, if you look there is a chart comparing several meters. According to literature I found online, both the Keynote and the Aviva can parse thru some factors in your blood sample to give what is supposed to be a more accurate reading, and the Aviva and Keynote do tend to agree. I also have a Freestyle Flash ---yes, I got a little OCD carried away with meters when I first realized I had a blood glucose problem...;) --- the OTUM and the Flash do seem to go low, and the Aviva and Keynote seem higher compared to that. No comparison with a lab sample yet, so no comment on that.

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Permalink Reply by Ken Winters on August 14, 2007 at 11:14am

The AgaMatrix is pretty new. I've been interested in getting that one myself. Is it readily available and are the strips readily available in most pharmacies now?

If you could post some links to the online literature you found explaining the AgaMatrix accuracy, that would be great. I've found a lot of articles that explain why home glucose monitors aren't as accurate as we might like, but i haven't found much which says which meters are better than others.

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Permalink Reply by Halle on August 14, 2007 at 2:44pm

I called the customer service and they told me they have an agreement with Walgreens, so I may need to call ahead and "order" the keynote strips, but I can get them there. For now, I just order them online. You can also order direct from the company. They'd prefer you call a distributor, but they will sell them direct to you.

http://www.agamatrix.com/wavesense_accuracy.shtml
http://www.wavesense.info/how-it-works
http://www.wavesense.info/data

Yeah the meter accuracy thing is a huge PITA. How teh heck can I do "tight control" with an error margin of +/- 20 pts? That SUX! When I worked in a bank, an error of +/- 20 cents was a firable offense!

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Permalink Reply by Chloe on August 15, 2007 at 10:15am

Most are not even 20 points difference, technically meters are only required to be accurate by 20% from actual lab draw. THAT's A HUGE DIFFERENCE! So if your BG at the lab is 240, your meter could range from 192-288, and be within acceptable limits.

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Permalink Reply by Halle on August 15, 2007 at 11:48am

Actually a discussion of the accuracy issue, as I understand it is this: The error is closer to +/- 20 points up to 120 and above that it's 20%. I'll try to find a link that explains it better.

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Permalink Reply by Thomas Moreno on August 15, 2007 at 8:54am

Thanx Halle i'll have to give this agamatrix some thought. I already get me supplies from walgreens so that would be a bonus.

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Permalink Reply by David Lamb on September 9, 2007 at 10:51am

I had similar problems with 3 different Accucheck Avivas reading high. The first 2 were at my doctor's office. I had 5 different meters at home that were all calibrated against lab blood tests and they consistently disagreed with my doctor's 2 Avivas (the second one was obtained because I raised such a stink about the first one not being accurate). I eventually obtained an Aviva of my own and found that it too was consistently much higher than my other meters. When I had my brand new Aviva calibrated against a lab blood test it was 19% too high. I don't use Avivas any more, and I don't recommend them to anyone else.

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Permalink Reply by Donna Heun on September 7, 2008 at 5:29pm

I wish I could find it online but at our last pump support group we were discussing meters and in the Consumer Reports magazine they had an article comparing meters and the Aviva rated ninth in acuracy. One member had gone low during the night testing with the Aviva because it said he was safe but wasn't as high as he thought. I use the Freestyle and it seems extremely accurate and even weeds out certain medications that can cause false readings. I also love that I don't waste any strips because it won't start reading a result until there is sufficient blood on the strip.

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Permalink Reply by Travis Grubbs on August 14, 2007 at 10:15am

I learned this past Saturday morning, while at my Diabetes support group, that the various meters can differ by as much as 20 points. Our speaker, the owner of a diabetes supply business, indicated that the Free Style meters were considered to be the most accurate.

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Permalink Reply by Michael on August 14, 2007 at 11:01am

I've also read that the FreeStyle meters are considered the most accurate meters on the market. I don't remember their names but some of the most noted MD's in the field say the same thing.

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Permalink Reply by Sherrie E on August 14, 2007 at 4:03pm

My One Touch Ultra 2 runs about 15 mg/dl lower than my One Touch Mini. I decided to stick with one meter because of that problem.

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