ran out of BG strips, had to change meters.

Hi Folks,
I ran out of strips for the alpha trak meter today. I have some on order but they won't arrive until next week, so I decided to buy a human meter from the pharmacy. The price difference was pretty drastic, the meter was 20$ and I got 50 strips for 15$ instead of 50$. I probably should have just bought that one first instead but I wanted my readings to match my vet who uses the alpha trak.

So I'm wondering how much difference in the BG numbers will there be between the human meter and the cat meter? Kali's AMPS test this morning was 100 so I fed her and waited one hour until it was up to 160. I gave her a half dose since it seems like she's been bouncing quite a bit and I didn't want to cause another bounce.

I used my last Alpha Trak strip at +1. Her +6 test was 99 with the human meter. What would that translate to if I were using the cat meter? If she's still in that neighborhood at PMPS time should I skip the shot or perhaps give another half dose?

Also, should I start a different spreadsheet for the new meter? I will probably switch back to the alpha trak next week when the strips arrive in the mail.

I'm hoping this is the beginning of her staying in the blue a little bit more.
Thanks in advance for your help and advice.

 

Running out of expensive strips is one of the reasons people switch to human meters. Plus our dosing method refer to human meter numbers, so it's just easier to use those numbers. There is no formula or conversion from AT numbers to human meter numbers. We do use 68 as our take action time to give high carb number if using the AT, and 50 on the human meter. Lots of people have done comparisons and not found a consistent conversion.

Don't start a new spreadsheet. Just put a blank line in saying something like using whatever brand meter you are using. Then record the human meter data after that.

Generally the human meter has a bit lower numbers, but not all. You will have to decide your comfort level on shooting low numbers and ability to monitor tonight. Another option is to get a +11 test and post for advice. Hard to say what to do if we don't know where she'll be. She could zoom uonwith the reduced dose, or not.

 

Oh if I had a dollar for every caregiver over the last 10 years here that realized the same thing...

I would stick with the human meter, for the reasons Wendy stated.
Your wallet will thank you.

 

Same thing for me - Relion Prime meter $9 at Walmart - 50 test strips also $9, straight off the shelf. Still have about 4 AlphaTrack strips, waiting for Freestyle Lite/Insulinx strips on order which can be used for AlphaTrak.
Comparison reading with same drop of blood (big ear poke)for PMPS AT=111 RelionP=62 -- almost 50 points!

 

I did one test with both meters when I still had one AT strip left. I got 99 with the easy touch and 143 with the alpha trak. About the same difference.

 

Hi! Do you know that you can use FreeStyle Lite test strips on AT mater? (Don't change the code) That's I am doing.