Blood Glucose Meters

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Permalink Reply by Everett Kim Thompson on September 21, 2009 at 3:07pm

I'm thinking with the present day push for getting the lowest cost providers, that the company that provides those meters, AND test strips, are presenting the Air Force a 'bargain' they cannot refuse! They haven't changed meters in several years, despite what is recommended. Any Air Force medical persons on line that can take up this string?

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Permalink Reply by jeffery morris on August 17, 2009 at 10:04pm

hi,all just wondering if anyone has used or know of antone using The Guardian® REAL-Time Continuous Glucose Monitoring System its worth about $2500 for the set up and about$750 a month to use but you dont have to prick your fingers and it dose 233 real time reading a day,tells you what you bsl is and wether it is on the way up or down and beeps to lett you know if its to high or low!!!well worth it in my books

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Permalink Reply by Jan on September 12, 2009 at 6:28am

Don't waste your time with this one. it is inaccurate when you need it the most with highs and lows. It even says its not as accurate with out of range numbers in the booklet that comes with it - I should say buried in the booklet is this statement. I learned the hard way. I was desperate for help and cried on the phone to be one of the first ones to get it. Yeah, it beeps. Screams at you in the middle of the night that you are in a crisis. Then you wake up and test and you are just fine except for the fact that now you can't go back to sleep. Then you fall unconsious in your chair and have a fight for your life. It never made a sound, thought you were just fine through the whole thing. What was the point of doing all those readings if they are inaccurate?? I tried to get my money back but I went slightly over the 30 days and it was too bad for you from Minimed.

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Permalink Reply by Glen on August 17, 2009 at 10:51pm

Hi Jeffrey, I wish I was using one, well not the Guardian specifically but because I am already using a Paradigm pump I'd go for its compatible Minilink CGMS(Continuous Glucose Monitoring System) both from Medtronic as well. The pump cost itself is covered by private health insurance but the CGMS is not and the last price was around the $1250 mark. Sensors were abount the same price. Both the Guardian and Minilink work in the same way but keep in mind that there is still a 15-20 minute lag in the actual blood sugars so the numbers reported are from 15-20 minutes ago, you can't go acting /adjusting anything based on them. The trend (indicating what direction your sugars are going and how fast) is more useful.

I'd get one at the drop of a hat if the pricing was a little more reasonable. Guess we'll have to get onto the Australian Government to get these funded as well.

Cheers
Glen

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Permalink Reply by jeffery morris on August 17, 2009 at 11:27pm

hi glen,i was talking to a bloke at medtronic,and apparentley you can claim one on privet health,but you need to have the $2500 of insurence cover,iv looked on the net and it would cost about $150/$200 a month and you would have to wait the 12 month period befor you can make a claim for one,buy then you'v pritty much paid for one your self,not good,i think ALL diabetic supplys should be substidised buy the government so that every one can have the same treatments and not just the rich government funding sounds like the go,how good dose a pump work?is it just as ezy as injections?do you wory about hypos or dose that take the fear away??have been thinking about trying one ,you can get a 30 day trial through medtronic.

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Permalink Reply by Glen on August 18, 2009 at 12:44am

Hey Jeffrey, I am a little confused about the chat you had with the guy from Medtronic but since we seem to be going off on a tangent to the original topis I am happy to chat some more with you if you wanted to contact me directly. Please do because I want to ask you some more about the '30 day trial' As far as how good does the pump work...I wouldn't give it up, still a lot of work but life is so much easier at the same time.

Let me know if you can't email me direct and we can sort something else out.

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Permalink Reply by Mike on August 18, 2009 at 10:56am

When I tried the Freestyle, I was like 40 points higher. At my last A1C draw, sugar result with the plasma reading was 22 points under what I had tested on my One Touch Mini (taken 2 minutes before the test). Oddly, I think that has helped me sustain my 6.1-6.4 A1C averages. Yet, I've been curious to see if the Agamatrix meters more accurately indicate actual glucose levels. There's a lot of marketing about it but, but marketing usually isn't fact. Curious to see if real world results prove or disprove the claims.

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Permalink Reply by Albert Chen on August 18, 2009 at 11:23am

It's one thing to claim accuracy (which everyone does), but it's another to actually prove you're accurate, which should be done solely through clinical trials that have been conducted and verified by a 3rd party. Also, it's important to consider the scope of the a study, the larger number of diverse data points (people and tests), the better... not just a handful.

I encourage you to search of clinical white papers on accuracy data for all of them. If you're good at navigated the internet, you might be able to dig some up, but most companies make it difficult for you to find, while others are more open with their findings. I'd be curious to see what you discover. Let me know if you want any help. =P

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Permalink Reply by Jan on September 12, 2009 at 6:12am

I want to thank tmana for all her work sorting out the accuracy of the various meters for normal readings. For me, the question still remains unanwered. I need to know which meters are accurate in the high and low ranges to assist with my brittle diabetes. The One Touch Ultra is very disappointing. If I get a very out of range reading, I usually test again immediately. The result only rarely is similar and almost always about 40 or so points difference from the first reading. I then usually average the two numbers to decide what to do or take even a third reading. So I am still looking for an accurate meter. Its definitely not the One Touch Ultra.

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Permalink Reply by Jan on September 13, 2009 at 6:30am

Today's update. Last night I did the usual bedtime glucose check. I felt just fine at the time. Result: a 37. I tested again: 38. So now I figure even though I am completely clear in my thinking and feel fine, the One Touch UltraLink must be accurate so I chew up 5 glucose tablets to get to about 140 and a cup of soy milk since its bedtime and I might have been heading even lower. The worst scenario would be a 160. This morning at 5:45 a.m. however I test at 304. That could only mean a few things. The Ultra was extremely inaccurate, my liver went crazy in my sleep and gifted me with a load of glucose or the pump site (started yesterday) didn't work even though it is working just fine now. Hoping for replies, Jan

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Permalink Reply by Cecilia Faringer-Perez on October 11, 2009 at 7:09pm

Yeah, that has happened to me too. I used to use a contour meter but switched to one touch when I went on the minimed. I find that the one touch says that I am lower then the contour dose. But it only seems to be a problem when I am under 100. Otherwise, It seems to say that I am higher then the contour meter dose. Strange.

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Permalink Reply by Pat on October 16, 2009 at 6:59am

I have a one Touch mini and when I get a new box of strips and change the coding to match, it changes my readings. I used the solution to make sure that it was within their guidelines. I have been running consistently over 100 for my fasting even though my control is very tight, and now my morning BG is running at 85, and I have not done anything differently, except to change to a new batch of strips. I have to assume that some strips are more accurate than others. My A1c in my MD's office runs always at 5.6 so I know it has to be the strips that are off.

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