Wonky meter or something else?

Hi...I've been doing Tableau's test with a contour meter (about 4 years old - new strips, though, that aren't expired.)

Tonight I got preshot of 522 (which I thought was crazy high, because 1 1/2 hours ago he was at 150). So I immediately tested again and got 481. THis is concerning. Is my meter inconsistent and should I get a new one? Or is this possible.

A couple of nights ago I got a reading of 24 and so I fed him some Karo and tested 30 minutes later and got a 297. Seem like this meter might be broken.

Any thoughts?

Thanks.

 

If you are at all in doubt, get another meter. When you start to doubt the numbers you are getting, you'll lose a lot of the self-confidence you've gained since starting this journey. Get a relion micro or confirm for like 9 bucks and the strips are $20 for 50 of them. Your peace of mind is worth a lot more than 30 dollars.

Danger is you get a really high number a couple times, you up the insulin. You get a low, and you're freaked about hypo. You start to doubt it, you'll either not adjust when you need to, or adjust when you shouldn't.

Get a new one, for you and for Tableau.

Carl

edit - until you have confidence in what your meter says, I wouldn't adjust anything. I'd also get the meter as soon as I could, just in case you really do need to adjust something.

 

The FDA allows meter variance to be up to 20%, so your meter could be working fine. The difference in the first two readings is less than 20%, and it's possible the karo could have raised his BG. However, I agree that you should grab a second meter. It's always good to have a back up, and if you can easily figure out if somethings wonky with one of them by testing with the other. I have both an Aviva Accuchek and a Relion Micro. The Accuchek is my main meter, but there have been times when I've run out of strips (and they are expensive for that one if you don't get them online), or it acted wonky so I pulled out the Relion. Peace of mind is worth the $29!

 

Well it turns out I have a second meter that I've never used - the Ascensia contour. But I just tested it and got 365 on my regular contour and 467 on this ascensia contour. Argh. So now I'm really questioning things because if we are relying on these meters for indicating dosing, that's a huge variance. I think I will buy the relion and see what it tells me. I can't tell if the ascensia contour and my regular contour use the same strips, so that could be the reason for the variance.

Thanks for the info and advice, Carl and Julia. I appreciate it!

 

That is a rather large difference, so something must be off with one of them. Did you try testing yourself (or you can use control solution if you have it)? That should tell you which one is being wonky.

 

the two meters are well within +/- 20%
365+20%=438
467-20%=373

Use one meter (except for emergencies) and stick with it.

 

You're absolutely right. I was doing tired person math in my head, and obviously not very well.

 

Thanks everyone for the answers. I will stick with my contour for now, although I may go ahead and get the relion for another backup.

Thank you!