Comments on: FDA Cracking Down on Accuracy of Glucose Monitors

By: Scott K. Johnson

Scott K. Johnson — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 04:28:12 +0000

I agree – it is about time.

Isn’t there also some fudge room allowed by the FDA on food labeling? About they only have to be within a certain percentage of the actual value? There’s another monkey wrench to wrestle with.

By: Linda

Linda — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 19:42:02 +0000

I was so glad to find out about this about this new monitor because I have gotten so frustrated with the other monitors that are so hard to use plus you can get different readings when you do use them and feel like your sugar is low but the monitor doesn’t accurately denote this. I am going to call and order one of these. I have tried one touch ultra and freestyle. I have been diagnosed with type two for 3 years now and have my A1c in the 6 range. I am currently taking Metformin.

By: Mitch

Mitch — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 05:47:49 +0000

It makes you wonder sometimes when you see some strange numbers. On Sunday mine started at 238, then jumped to 311 later on. I knew it was high then because I was having problems seeing. A few hours later, it was down to 90; had to check twice because I couldn’t believe it.

I always wonder about drastic changes like that in one day; oh well,…

By: Joann

Joann — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 11:19:52 +0000

Great news!
I think that these monitors can be off by as much as 20 percent putting patients at risk for dangerously low blood sugars, which can cause seizures, brain damage, and death.

By: Joshua

Joshua — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 16:02:57 +0000

Here is more information on the accuracy of home glucose meters: http://www.newsinferno.com/archives/9578#more-9578

By: barbara novo

barbara novo — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 13:36:12 +0000

Early 2008, my insurance company started shipping me a brand of strips manufactured by a 3rd party company to be used with my meters that linked to my Paradigm pump. Shortly thereafter, my sugars were regularly exceeding 450, even when I often felt like I was going into insulin shock; and when my sugars felt normal (or slightly elevated), I rec’d results < 60. It wreaked havoc on my life for weeks, so I conducted a test one weekend across my 3 meters by putting a drop of blood on the 3rd party test strips for each meter. Meter 1 showed 399, Meter 2 showed 36 and Meter 3 showed 240.

I went to Walgreens and bought a new One Touch meter and strips to run comparisons against my 3 meters. Initially, the new meter gave me a result that matched meter #2 the closest, so I though Meter#2 was the only one still working. But I kept running tests throughout the day and rec’d completely random and invalid results across all 3 monitors.

Interestingly, the 3 meters previously worked fine w/ the strips originally manufactured by the meter company. It wasn’t until I started receiving strips manufactured by a 3rd party that I started to experience the problems. So it wasn’t a problem with the meter, but a problem w/ the test strips designed by another company to work with a meter they didn’t manufacture.

My sugar meter & strips are the only tools I have, and though I instinctively knew something wasn’t right for awhile, I trusted my medical equipment was properly working. Hindsight is 20/20.

I wrote a letter to Minimed to give them a “heads up”. I didn’t contact the 3rd party strip manufacturer or my insurance company, but felt an incredible amount of frustration with both. I was grateful not to have ended up in a coma from insulin shock or ketoacidosis.

By: Sara my

Sara my — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 13:27:58 +0000

And what about the standards for insulin potency? Think those are allowed to range also but I’m not sure.

By: Doug

Doug — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 01:20:45 +0000

Agree heartily with mollyjade; feel like I’m doing well looking at my 30 and 90 day averages (along with a big congratulations for day-to-day readings), and get nailed at the MD’s with the A1c. “Well, it’s not as well controlled as it could be”.

Argh!

By: mollyjade

mollyjade — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 15:47:50 +0000

It’s about time. I wonder if more accurate meters will eliminate some “I’m doing everything right and the numbers are still wrong” problems.

By: Sara

Sara — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 15:02:11 +0000

Last night I felt kinda low. Not about to pass out low – just a little shakey. Imagine my surprise when my meter read 25. That is lower than I have ever been before. With the limited brain power I had left I tested again and found that I was 42, tested again and I was 41. Now low is low, but there is a big difference for me between 25 and 42! Meters that become less accurate when you are high or low are pretty much pointless in the hands of most diabetics.