StripSafely- The Blood Sugar Meter Campaign
(Forgive me, I'm sick so this might be disjointed. Normal posts will continue when I'm well again!)
Lately, I've had some serious problems with my blood sugar being a little high. I got a massive shock a few months ago when my HbA1c came back higher than its ever been, despite my reasonable good levels. I've tried for months to bring them down and finally with the help of my diabetes educator have made some progress.
But I found out why my A1c has gone up, and it isn't entirely my fault like I previously thought.
My blood sugar meter and its test strips are inaccurate. There are standards not just in America but here in Australia as well that state the accuracy of these test strips must be in a 20% range, meaning it can either be 20% higher or lower than the actual blood level and released on the market. My blood meter was sent to me in the mail from an established company that also manufactures my insulin pump. This meter was sent to all eligible type 1 diabetics in NSW as it wirelessly communicates with the insulin pump. For it to be so wrong was a worry, as many other people may be affected and don't know.
If you refer back to this post, my blood levels had been soaring up to 29 and beyond. Unfortunately, my meter wasn't reading false highs...
It was reading LOWER than I actually am. Thst 29.3? That was more like 31. The HI? Mid 30's at least.
I checked with three meters and got the following:
Crazy should be off the market meter 1- 7.4 mmol/L
More reasonable mini meter I got off diabetes camp- 9.6 mmol/L
Previous noisy meter that was reliable but could wake the dead with its ticking- 9.4mmol/L
^ I'm not brilliant at maths, but that's more than 20%.
So now I found out about this StripSafely campaign, alerting others of this issue and campaigning for change in regulations. 20% is far too much difference, and it has been admitted (like my own meter here) that sometimes it's more than that! I could have gone into DKA (Diabetic Ketoacidosis- where high blood sugars make you very very sick), or if my meter read to high, a severe hypo from taking too much insulin.
So please, to the diabetics, check your test strips and blood meters.
And to the non-diabetics, don't judge someone by their A1c (in case you forgot, three month average level that should be under 7%). Their meter may be inaccurate. Change needs to happen. Fast.
Lately, I've had some serious problems with my blood sugar being a little high. I got a massive shock a few months ago when my HbA1c came back higher than its ever been, despite my reasonable good levels. I've tried for months to bring them down and finally with the help of my diabetes educator have made some progress.
But I found out why my A1c has gone up, and it isn't entirely my fault like I previously thought.
My blood sugar meter and its test strips are inaccurate. There are standards not just in America but here in Australia as well that state the accuracy of these test strips must be in a 20% range, meaning it can either be 20% higher or lower than the actual blood level and released on the market. My blood meter was sent to me in the mail from an established company that also manufactures my insulin pump. This meter was sent to all eligible type 1 diabetics in NSW as it wirelessly communicates with the insulin pump. For it to be so wrong was a worry, as many other people may be affected and don't know.
If you refer back to this post, my blood levels had been soaring up to 29 and beyond. Unfortunately, my meter wasn't reading false highs...
It was reading LOWER than I actually am. Thst 29.3? That was more like 31. The HI? Mid 30's at least.
I checked with three meters and got the following:
Crazy should be off the market meter 1- 7.4 mmol/L
More reasonable mini meter I got off diabetes camp- 9.6 mmol/L
Previous noisy meter that was reliable but could wake the dead with its ticking- 9.4mmol/L
^ I'm not brilliant at maths, but that's more than 20%.
So now I found out about this StripSafely campaign, alerting others of this issue and campaigning for change in regulations. 20% is far too much difference, and it has been admitted (like my own meter here) that sometimes it's more than that! I could have gone into DKA (Diabetic Ketoacidosis- where high blood sugars make you very very sick), or if my meter read to high, a severe hypo from taking too much insulin.
So please, to the diabetics, check your test strips and blood meters.
And to the non-diabetics, don't judge someone by their A1c (in case you forgot, three month average level that should be under 7%). Their meter may be inaccurate. Change needs to happen. Fast.
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