[Wannabehealthy]

I have 2 One Touch meters, a regular one and a mini. Because my insurance will only cover enough strips to test once daily, I also have a Wavesense meter and use wavesense strips from Target. Recently I have been testing mostly with the Wavesense because I'm running low on One Touch strips. My reading have been rather high lately. It is a new canister of strips and I bought a new bottle of control solution and did 2 control tests. To be sure I checked my glucose with both One Touch meters and got 152 and 157. The Wavesense read 182. Can I assume the One Touch is right because they are relatively the same? Also, since I just bought this new 100 ct bottle of strips for the Wavesense, can I continue to use it as an in-between if I reduce the reading by 17%, which is the difference between the two meters. I hate to waste a full bottle of strips. The only way I can be absolutely certain that the One Touch is right would be to call my DR and see if I could come in and have them test. I am just assuming that since the 2 One Touch meters are the same, they are the ones that are correct.

[fatmad]

WBH: no strip is 100% accurate. But truly, just use one meter. Even having 2 the same won't do, you have to use the same one. This is because meters and strips are only accurate to 20%. At one point I was trying to research about this because I was also really bothered by this. A recent consumer's reports article talked about this and rated test strips and accuracy.
So check out that article for some good info.
Another and best way to test your particular meter (meters) is to test at the same time you are having a lab test. Test at the same time as your blood is drawn. Do both a finger stick and get a sample from where the needle is withdrawn. One is capillary (the finger stick) and the other is venous blood. The venous blood should be a bit more accurate. But that will give you an idea of where your meter is.
Mine tests a bit high, my labs are consistently lower than my meter. Since I am not using insulin, its not a big deal.
So when you are using the same one, you will see changes. If you were always using one meter, and it starts to read high, especially in the middle of a container of sticks, you can watch what you are eating and hopefully see it come down. But if you are switching meters, you can't figure out if there is even a problem.
GOod luck with your detective work.

[Wannabehealthy]

Mad-After a day or so the meters are now only about 10-12 points apart. I don't know what happened that day, but now I am more comfortable switching between meters. I am also not on insulin so I'm not going to worry much about it. I will wait and see what my next A1c is in a couple months.

[fatmad]

that sounds good carol sue. It could be you were having some real ups and downs that day. I had that once, had a glass of cranberry cocktail. I started feeling shaky an hour later, and test, was about 17 if I recall. (very high) but the shaking continued, and I tested shortly afterward, and was now lower, (like 6, and by one hour, was below 4. I concluded that the sugar had gone sky high, and dropped very rapidly, causing the shaking, as if I had low sugar, even though it took a while to get there. But I was always using the same meter and test strip batch, so could trust the results.
I have been thinking of switching to a cheaper strip and meter, but have not been testing as much, as I know what makes my spike now.