Is there anything wrong with my blood glucose monitor?

Question : Is there anything wrong with my blood glucose monitor?
I took my blood glucose three times in the span of five minutes and got the following readings: 78, 83, 78. These were taken out of three different fingers but with blood samples that were all comparably robuts. Is it normal for monitors to show this kind of vacillation, or is there something wrong with mine? (It’s a ReliOn ULTIMA, by the way.)
The word “robuts” above should be “robust”
blood glucose monitor

Best answer:

Answer by just one more thing…….
that’s close enough for me….

This entry was posted by admin on January 14, 2011 at 10:46 am, and is filed under Health Equipment & Supplies. Follow any responses to this post through RSS 2.0.You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.

Comments (3)
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#1 written by john e russo md facm faafp 1 year ago

I would like to compliment micksmixxx again for an excellent answer. I would only make one correction. Your glucometer is referred to as a 4th generation glucometer. 1st and 2nd generation glucometers did not match blood glucose levels. Indeed there was a 10 to 15% difference as micksmixxx has suggested. With the 3rd and 4th generation glucometers if you measure capillary (finger-stick) glucose at the same time that you blood is drawn from a vein to measure blood glucose the results will be the same. Both glucometer and blood glucose will have some minor degree of variation as no machine – whether yours or the laboratory’s – is ‘perfect’. The variation in your readings is consistent with the normal variance of glucometers. It is never recommended to take multiple readings close together as this causes confusion as it has in your case. If I may be of further assistance please let me know. I wish you the very best of health and in all things may God bless.

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#2 written by micksmixxx 1 year ago

Those results indicate that your glucose monitor is well within the “accepted range”, my friend.

Home glucose monitors are not precise enough to be able to give a diagnosis, but simply to give you some sort of indication as to whether you’re blood glucose (sugar) level is within an acceptable range.

What’s deemed acceptable is that they offer a figure within 10-15% of a that offered by a laboratory glucose meter, but many are almost as accurate. To be truly as accurate as a laboratory machine would raise the cost quite significantly.

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#3 written by crosstwntraffic 1 year ago

Taking it from 3 different fingers is the problem. Anything on the skin can affect the reading. If all 3 fingers weren’t washed or scrubbed with alcohol wipes exactly the same, the reading will be different.

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