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  • #1

    Trouble monitoring blood glucose

    My 10 year old chocolate lab was just diagnosed with diabetes. We are using a ONe Touch Ultra blood glucose monitoring system with her. Yesterday I had her at the vet to check our blood glucose readings against theirs since we didn't seem to be having much luck at getting her readings under 400 even raising her insulin. The vet's reading was 80, my meter's reading was 456! Can anyone help me with this kind of discrepancy? Should I use another meter? I don't want to her my baby with a faulty meter reading!!!
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  • #2
    Re: Trouble monitoring blood glucose

    I have never experienced this wide of a discrepency with the ultra. Do you have some control solution where you could test the meter to make sure its acting appropriately? There shouldn't be more than about 20 points difference.
    Forbin, miss you every day. See you at the bridge Buddy.

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    • #3
      Re: Trouble monitoring blood glucose

      I don't use that brand of meter (yet), but the big difference you report makes me wonder if you calibrated the unit correctly. Ours had instructions with it about how to set it properly. It's possible that with that brand, you don't have to calibrate anything; just what popped into my mind when I read your post.

      Whatever the situation, pursue until you get it right. You've certainly found a good site for information and encouragement! I'm still fairly new to the process, and the people here have been very supportive.
      Ruffles May 1997~~12/6/2010~~She was "a heartbeat at our feet"~~
      Izzy--BD unknown;~~ RIP 7/13/2013 ~~; she was a sweet Yorkie spirit and we miss her
      Bella--Yorkie rescue; BD 9/2013 +/-; RIP 5/2015
      Ruby--senior Yorkiepoo foster

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      • #4
        Re: Trouble monitoring blood glucose

        Did your vet check with his hand held or lab?.....it's always a possibility that if he checked by a hand held meter his was off. I've seen some vets use bad choices in meters.

        I don't like comparing meter to meter which is why any comparisons I do with my Alpha Trak are done with vet's lab results.

        Check your own glucose level, see if it falls into an acceptable range. Is your meter new, if not has it been cleaned lately.

        This is not acceptable and until you figure out where the problem lies you obviously can not rely on these readings to make any sort of decisions.

        Eileen and Mildred, 12 yo Border Collie Mx, 24.6 pounds, dx diabetic/hypothyroid 2004, gallbladder removed 2005, cataract surgery 2005, spindle cell sarcoma removed 2009, stroke 2009, tail removed 2011, dx with bladder cancer 2011, CDS, Organix~chicken / NPH,Humalog

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        • #5
          Re: Trouble monitoring blood glucose

          Yes, I would say there's a problem with one of the pieces of equipment used to measure the blood sugar OR one was just a bad test - maybe the strip didn't fill properly or had a lot of saliva in it if it was taken from the lip. With that large variation, I would have repeated it to see if things came back into line.

          From your description of her blood sugar at home, your reading was consistent with previous ones so it's going to be really important to find out if your meter is working properly.

          Testing yourself would be the quickest way to do it. And possibly buy a new bottle of test strips in case there is a problem with the ones you are using now.

          Make sure the code is set properly if you have to code it.

          There was a time a few years ago when OneTouch strips were being counterfeited - cheap lousy ones were being made and sold as the real thing. If you bought the strips off the internet, maybe get a new bottle from a pharmacy.

          You also could use a urine test to help verify the meter results. If her blood sugar is constantly in the 400s, a urine test will show very very high levels of glucose.

          Let us know what you find out, okay?

          Natalie

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          • #6
            Re: Trouble monitoring blood glucose

            Originally posted by k9diabetes View Post

            - or had a lot of saliva in it if it was taken from the lip.

            Natalie


            I know from personal learning experiences, this is one big bugaboo!! You must pat the area dry so the blood will form like a half bubble and then lower the strip to the top of the drop and let the capillarity take place.

            I used to get all kind of readings by letting or passing the strip onto the lip surface at the blood site. Sometimes I couldn't get enough blood to form a drop and the time runs out on the monitor. I've wasted many a strip.


            Cheers

            Harry

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            • #7
              Re: Trouble monitoring blood glucose

              I've always used the One Touch Ultra and when I took her to the vet for a check with their Alpha Trac and mine too, there was an 8 point difference...

              Good idea to check your own glucose. I did that last week hoping it would be the meter...Mine was fine so we moved on to other ideas!
              Sande

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