Last night at 6 it read 130, this morning 68 (!). I’ve been getting funky readings for a while now so I think it’s time for a new one.
I’ve no experience buying glucose monitors. The one I had was given to me by my Dad, who got a new one and gave me his old one. What’s a good one? I’m looking for ease of use and a low supply cost.
Any help and all comments welcome.
Do you have insurance? My insurance company is in on some kind of Devil’s pact with Accu-Check. They sent me a free one. I got to choose from 4 models. It was just like shopping :).
Also - try to contact local hospitals to talk to Diabetes Education Councilors. The one that I saw also had a Devil’s pact going on - this one with the Bayer company - and set me up with a Bayer Dex II for free.
The dex strips come in little 10-shot wheels, and are $68 for 100, but my insurance pays 80%. The Accu-Check Compact strips come in little barrels, and are about $80 for 102 strips, but I like them a LOT better. Also, the Accu-Check lancets are TINY, and the lancet device is adjustable to 11 different poker settings. It hurts a lot less than the one I got with my dex. A lot less.
Also - I know that Accu-Check often has promotions where you get the glucometer free if you buy 2 packages of strips (that’d be 102 - they come in packs of 52).
They want you to use their glucometer - it’s the disposables like the strips and the lancets where the cash builds up.
Your range of glucose readings is actually pretty good, so I wouldn’t necessarily conclude that your meter is broken. As a Type 1 diabetic, I’d be very pleased if I could keep my day-to-day glucose readings within a range that narrow. But if you want a new meter, it’s not that difficult to get one for free. The manufacturers routinely distribute meters to endocrinologists/diabetologists/CDE’s to give to their patients, because they know that the test strips have a higher profit margin than the meters themselves.
There’s a very comprehensive comparison of blood glucose meters at childrenwithdiabetes.com that includes the prices of the test strips. You can also check your library for the October 2001 edition of Consumer Reports for their ratings.
Also check with your local pharmacist and see what rebates they have. A lot of companies will give tremendous rebates if you buy strips, etc.
IIRC, September was a big month for glucose machines at Wal-Mart when I was there. Ask your pharmacist if there are any “demo days” going on soon. Usually if there’s one coming, a few more will follow, and you can check them all out. When we had a demo day, most of the companies gave their machines out for free. (Well, the cost of the machine was dropped to around $50 and there was a $50 rebate.)
Keep your receipt. Most companies that make these machines bring out rebates every couple of months or so, and sometimes you can use it, even if you bought your machine 2 months ago.
I’ve never, ever had a reading below 100, maybe I’m getting cured! (except for the time it said 40-- another funky reading-- and I retook it an hour later and it was 132.)
I bought the one with the cheapest supplies, although I was soooo tempted to get that wheelie deal.
Thanks all.
Does your meter come with a control strip for testing? I’d check that before I get a new one. If your blood sugar isn’t going much higher than 132, you’re doing well. Good luck.
It’s funny. My readings are much, much higher in the mornings before my meals (today it was 195 when I woke up) and gets lower as the day wears on.
I always check before meals because I figure those readings show a “real” reading and are not influenced by food. If I can stay between 170 and 100 I’m happy.
Let’s tell diabetes stories. Please? My doctor decreed that I am diabetic after an in office reading of 240 and a fasting reading of 124. So I consider myself borderline. She advised me to lay off of the soda and the sugar water that passes for juice drinks that I was drinking litres and liters of because I was so thirsty all the time. Once I did this I’ve stayed in the hundreds. No meds or special diets. Except for WW, which is for weight loss – no special low carb or sugar thing going on there.
I’m relatively new at this diabetes thing, so if anything I say goes against conventional wisdom please correct me.
So people – please, please share your experiences. Any and all. Inquiring Biggirls want to know.
There are great differences between Type I: poor to non-existent ability of the body to produce insulin; and Type II: poor ability of the body to make use of the insulin that it produces. Anecdotes are not interchangeable between the two types, and usually not among the same type. You need to talk to an endocrinologist and see one regularly if you have diabetes. IANAD, so don’t ask me. But when choosing a doctor, don’t pick an old one ready to retire who doesn’t bother to keep up on the latest information. Yes, they are out there.
I warn again, IANAD, but I don’t think that 68 is a good reading at all, that seems to indicate that your blood sugar may be low and you may be close to a diabetic coma, particularly for a Type I. But more than 90% of diabetics are Type II. 130 sounds more normal for blood sugar.
biggirl, as a doc who takes care of hundreds of diabetics and a diabetic myself, I would think you’re due for more education about DM from your doc or related sources. What’s your hemoglobin A[sub]1[/sub]C, have you been tested for micro-albuminuria, have you had a dilated eye exam, etc. One could ask for a session with a diabetic teaching nurse, to get the info on all this stuff. And my office is loaded with patient education handouts chock-full of clear information for the layperson. So come to my prison and I’ll give you some. :eek: Unless you want to get it from your own doc.
Best time to check sugars is after fasting at least 8 hours, then two hours after eating (counting your carb consumption, 15 gm = 1 carb unit), and whenever you feel poorly.
And have you calibrated your meter recently? Easy directions for that procedure should be included with the meter.
Meters are cheap, if not free, these days. We use the one-touch ultra, but most others are quite good too. But they do take proper care and feeding. And blood sugar can swing quite a bit in less than an hour. If you’re uncertain if a reading is correct, recheck it in a minute or two, not an hour.
Bottom line: Get info from your doc and related sources, like the American Diabetes Association. You’ll get some good info here on the boards, but you will also run the risk of getting a lot of anecdotal data which doesn’t apply to you.
QtM, MD
Well, let’s see…
I was first diagnosed in March, and for about a month or so, I had the same problem with my glucometer reading much higher when I got up then it on the after supper reading. I tried everything that I could think of the figure out what the problem was.
Turns out, it was my hand lotion. I always put it on before bed, after taking my after-supper reading. In the morning, I just washed my hands, I didn’t scrub to get all of the lotion off.
…and that’s the story of why my readings were higher. Thank you.
bows