Tweet
Comparison of some meters over many tests
That's the ultimate problem with the substitution. This has worked essentially because they have not varied the canine code in a long time. I think it will be difficult to rely on for cats if the code is constantly changing.
I can say that I heard a lot of complaints at the feline diabetes forum when the AlphaTrak came out that it was reading their cat's blood sugar too low.
The other thing is that no meter is precisely accurate. There are tolerances built into the human meters that require them to read within something like 15% of the actual reading. The glucose level is determined by that computer algorithm so not truly a direct count of glucose molecules.
It might be necessary to periodically buy a bottle of AlphaTrak strips to see whether the code has changed on the most current lots and to do a side by side comparison of the Freestyle Lite strips and the AlphaTrak strips.
At which point it might be just as easy to just use a Freestyle Lite meter, make the comparisons between AlphaTrak with AlphaTrak strips and Freestyle Lite meter with Freestyle Lite strips and develop, essentially, your own algorithm, on which you can adjust the Freestyle Lite meter readings.
I compared our OneTouch Ultra and an AlphaTrak and found a very consistent 20-40 point variance through a wide range of blood sugars. So I just added 30 points to my OneTouch reading. Because whether the blood sugar is 220 or 240 is irrelevent. Especially when no meter can guarantee you that much accuracy in any reading.
(The Freestyle AV mentioned in this graph is an animal validated meter that is no longer available.)
I can say that I heard a lot of complaints at the feline diabetes forum when the AlphaTrak came out that it was reading their cat's blood sugar too low.
The other thing is that no meter is precisely accurate. There are tolerances built into the human meters that require them to read within something like 15% of the actual reading. The glucose level is determined by that computer algorithm so not truly a direct count of glucose molecules.
It might be necessary to periodically buy a bottle of AlphaTrak strips to see whether the code has changed on the most current lots and to do a side by side comparison of the Freestyle Lite strips and the AlphaTrak strips.
At which point it might be just as easy to just use a Freestyle Lite meter, make the comparisons between AlphaTrak with AlphaTrak strips and Freestyle Lite meter with Freestyle Lite strips and develop, essentially, your own algorithm, on which you can adjust the Freestyle Lite meter readings.
I compared our OneTouch Ultra and an AlphaTrak and found a very consistent 20-40 point variance through a wide range of blood sugars. So I just added 30 points to my OneTouch reading. Because whether the blood sugar is 220 or 240 is irrelevent. Especially when no meter can guarantee you that much accuracy in any reading.
(The Freestyle AV mentioned in this graph is an animal validated meter that is no longer available.)