meter questions

[rachel2001982]

I use the one touch meter and when i got my pump the sent me a bd one that links with my pump. but when i test with the onetouch and then with the BD tester they are off anywhere from 20 to 60+ points and i also had that same problem with a reli on meter to but it was worse.  I know that their is a margen that the goverment requiers for it to be ok.  But i still wonder how it can be so far off

And as a type 1 and when having to do corrections and stuff it can make a huge diffrence on the amount i take.

Any ideas.

[Larry68]

Here is too much information
http://www.fda.gov/diabetes/glucose.html
but look at the sections on accuracy. Meters today are targeting +- 20 mg/dl below 100, and +-20% above that, though there is wide variation between manufacturers.
20% means that a 300 reading may be off by +- 60 mg/dl, but at 150 the error should  be no more than +-30.

The One Touch
http://www.lifescan.com/pdf/clinicals/clin_acc.pdf
claims 20% accuracy 95% of the time.
5% of the time it can be way off (the B range of their chart), but they say that range will not cause treatment issues. As a T1 that corrects regularly, I stongly disagree with this statement.

If the reading looks wrong, retest. I have measured at 400, only ot retest and actually be at 150! A potential disaster.

BD is out of the business, so MiniMed will use the OneTouch Lifescan in the future (next year). Hopefully the accuracy wewill be at least 20%.

A CGM is probably the best solution, as it shows trends and single measurement errors are obvious. I hope insurance covers these soon.

[Forum-Volunteer-CDB]

Are they off in the same proportions? i.e. is the OneTouch consistently higher (or lower) than the BD? If so, you can try rounding up or down, figuring that the actual number is somewhere in between the two.

If they're inconsistent, you should talk to your doctor about how to handle this. You're right, it can make a huge difference if your meter is wrong by 60 points or so. You could ask your doc if you can do a controlled test next time you're in the office. Test with the BD, test with the OneTouch, then have the doc test you with something else, and see what's up.

Those are my thoughts. Good luck with it.