Which Blood Meter

How Do

I was wondering if anybody had a any recommendations on a good blood meter. I have been using a Freestyle Mini for tha last 5 years since doing my DAFNE course but have been asked by my GP practice to go and get a new one. I'm sure that the 1 I use is now a bit dated and was just looking to see if there was any advice on a newer one that anybody might suggest because I will probably be updating it.

Cheers

Hello,

I posted a link to lots of different blood glucose meters here:

http://www.diabetessupport.co.uk/boards/showpost.php?p=76872&postcount=13

Just click on the meter name to see the manufacurers web pages to see which ones you fancy.

Personally, I use OneTouch UltraSMART and UltraEASY as my main meters and I also liked the Bayer Contour USB. Of all the meters, the UltraSMART is the one I feel fits DAFNE best as you can record insulin and carbs on it, but it is a bit bigger to carry around.

NiVZ

Cheers man

I will have a wee looky looky at them and see whats what

I have used an Abbot Medisense Optium Xceed for the last few years. Their support for me personally has been exceptional.
If you are handy on the confuser....sorry COMPUTER....their latest software, called Co-Pilot, allows you to download all info from the meter to computer via a specific USB lead, both available free to Abbot meter users, to produce graphs for information in many different formats to HCPs.
This software also supports pump users too.

Have a look at: -

www.abbottdiabetescare.co.uk/inspired.../copilot-software

for further info to see if it matches your personal needs.

Regards Garry

Has anyone had a problem with meters giving significantly different results? Being a gadget freak I'm a sucker for opportunities to try a new meter, but on two occasions now I've changed only to find that the readings I get often don't reflect how I feel. Most recently I changed my meter for a new gizmo-filled one, but pretty much immediately didn't feel comfortable so started double-testing using my old "One Touch". I discovered that the new meter was fairly consistently giving readings up to 1.2 higher than my old one, which explained why I was getting early hypo symptoms at a reading of 5.3 with the new meter. Unfortunately this has shaken my confidence with the new meter..

Stew

That is unfortunate stew...........

Everyone should be trying to update there meters to the most up to date versions, obviously some people might struggle as they might not be availabe in there area or GPs are not willing to supply the sticks.......

At the very least get ones that dont need calibibrated with codes each time you get sticks.......

I have experienced different readings with different meters as well........but if you use the one meter its all relative anyway..........

Hope you can find one that suits ure needs..............

I've heard that meters have as much as a 20% margin of error (plus or minus) - and aparantely thats an acceptable level for home testing.

NiVZ

I recently changed to the Bayer USB Contour meter. Previously used the Lifescan Accutrend One Touch Ultra 2 and the One touch Ultraeasy.
Lifescan were good with obtaining spare parts, batteries, Lancing devices etc, and so far I have not been impressed with Bayer, as the full software was not available to download despite their promises and their helpline was useless, and though it is available now, I never received an email advising that it was available despite signing up for email advice.

The main advantage to the Bayer device is that you can plug the device into the computer (Mac or Windows) and it downloads the readings.

There is a difference, but after discussing the differences, was advised that you may get different readings from two separate identical machines and different manufacturers will give different readings. Which one is correct though?
The Bayer device provided some higher readings when they are low, but lower reading when my Blood Sugars were high.

I am thinking about getting the USB blood meter, would you reccomend against it?

No I would not recommend against it, but I am just unhappy with the Bayer company.
So far the device works well, and once you get the software downloaded it is easy to update the diary, though I think I will stick to a manual diary.