Being in my forties and having parents that had/have diabetes and being a little overweight, I decided it would be wise to start doing regular check ups.
Before I invest, can I count on the meters to be accurate?
You mean home blood glucose meters?
They’re generally considered to be accurate enough for home use. Most I’ve seen have an accuracy to within 10-15%. This isn’t laboratory perfect, but should be good enough for you to get an idea of what your blood sugar is doing, i.e. whether it’s sky-high or basically normal.
If you’re not covered by insurance or have a high prescription co-pay, I’d go with the Walgreen’s brand of meter. I believe it’s the least expensive.
If you mean cheapish blood pressure monitors, all of the doctors I have talked to consider them great for home use. Blood pressure fluctuates a lot over time so there is no single instrument that can pinpoint your average in one reading. I have one and it doesn’t seem to skip around randomly any more than any other device and I have checked them against the doctor’s readings many times as soon as I got back in the car and they they always came back as accurate readings.
If you really think you’re in danger of diabetes or high blood pressure, talk to your doctor. Ask him/her what to do.
My non-doctor guess is getting checked for both of these every six months would be sufficient and there’s no reason to buy equipment if you don’t have an established need. But your doctor has the final word, so, again, check with him/her.
I’m seeing a doctor who has done blood tests. I’m not asking for medical advice, I’m asking about the accuracy of the store-bought meters.
Please don’t change the subject to medical advice, it tends to get the thread shut down.
The meters are either reasonably accurate or they are not, that is a factual question that can be answered.
Mine seems to be fairly accurate, but the main reason for using it, of course, is to track any trends in glucose, not to pinpoint the exact number. If the rate starts trending higher, then one needs to find out why. As long as the meter is in the ballpark, that’s good enough for most people. I don’t know how you would find out if it’s spot-on accurate, since you don’t have a control to measure against like you can with a blood pressure cuff.
Both blood pressure measurement devices (sphygmomanometers) and blood glucose measurement devices sold for the home market in the US are regulated by the government.
They are very accurate when used properly.
I wouldn’t worry about a thread being shut down for containing medical advice you did not solicit.
I’m not changing the subject. You wrote, “I decided it would be wise to start doing regular check ups.” Part of that wisdom would be if buying monitoring equipment would actually be of benefit. That, as I said, is best answered by your doctor.