Anyone here have any experience with these? Which one would you recommend?

Me, and I wouldn't.

Your blood sugar is only relevant over a period of time (months), and the only way to tell that is with an HBA1C test administered on a sample at a hospital.

Testing with one of those stick-a-needle-in thingies (Boots do them for a few quid) will tell you what your blood sugar is *now* but unless you sample every couple of hours you won't get a feel for what's happening. It'll be low before you eat, high after you eat, and the level will change depending what you ate and how much you ate.

The diabetics pages have much information on this.

http://medweb.bham.ac.uk/easdec/prevention/what_is_the_hba1c.htm

OK, thanks.

If I can just feed in a bit more information ..

The test I did was a fasting test. I fail on that. I scored 13.1 on today's results from ten days ago. So it isn't so much a need to constantly monitor my level; more a need to recheck the fasting level once a week, say.

I am going to start an exercise, low-alcohol-intake regime from now for the next three weeks and then get a retest from the GP. But I'd just like to be able to check the results I'm getting for myself.

In that case: http://www.boots.com/en/Boots-Blood-Glucose-Monitoring-System_44687/ - if you use it long term you'll need extra needles and test strips.

13.1 is serious... fasting overnight would normally be about 4-5 on a healthy non-diabetic.

Are the spare strips and needles available for this? I see some disillusioned punters claiming that they aren't.

Yes, it is a high reading, but I am not fully convinced that it is correct*. The last time I had this level was a year or two back after I'd been on that bizarre fruit juice diet. I had very clear symptoms then, but none at all now.

Also, when I came off the juice and got my joggies on I lost blood glucose like a Las Vegas gambler loses money.

So I want to check what happens in three weeks time. I don't want to go on medication until I have a good measure of what I am like without it.

* I am not entirely sure that the 13.1 referred to FBC. It might have been HBA1C level. Should have asked.

They are available; the machine will complain if the strips are out of date but if they are they're changed FOC. I never had an issue - and I think you get ten or a dozen with the kit.

For what it's worth - 'healthy' fruit juice was one of the triggers for my diabetes... 30% sugar!!!

I remember you telling me at the time. What glucose readings did you get up to?

So what are you on now? Tablets?

I occasionally saw ten and change, even on the pills.

I'm on gliclazide and metformin, no insulin.

Do you mean the pills didn't help?

Regarding this Boots machine, I need to check that its sell-by date is OK. How long do the strips remain valid?

I think he meant he is on tabs. As a general rule youngsters go on Insulin, older people tabs.

If you're thirsty all the time and constantly urinating, see a doctor.

Yes, but Neil said he got high levels even on the tablets. I wondered why.

I did get those symptoms a year or two back, with the fruit juice fiasco, but not now. Even though my blood glucose is claimed to be at a similar level.

I work for one of the biggest glucose meter companies. The meters are getting better & better and giving you more & more information on trends etc - but unless you know why you're doing it, the number it gives isn't going to mean much. Be careful that different systems have different interferents (depending upon chemistry used) which will distort the result.

Good!

So what would you recommend, primarily for testing my morning fasting level over the next few weeks?

Do you want to store the figures on the meter & trend or just record? One of our most popular meters is the LifeScan OneTouch UltraEasy

http://www.lifescan.co.uk/ourproducts/meter/one-touch-ultraeasy

Easy to use, great form-factor, 500 record memory

Few things to remember (whatever system you use)

- wash & dry hands carefully - the drop of blood is tiny and anything on your hands will distort the result

- ensure you close the lid of the strip vial

- results are typically accurate to around +/- 15-20% so that sort of variation is to be expected and the results can change quite quickly after eating or exercise.

Thanks.

At this stage I just want to get a read-out. No trends or computations required.

What I would prefer is a simple one with a set of test strips included, at a good price.

Brian,

My readings would be that high shortly after eating, but the pills do help and my average from HBA1C is down at 6.5.

I see.

So would something like this (with ten strips included) be OK for me?

http://www.boots.com/en/MediTouch-Blood-Glucose-Monitor_1207138/

That's the one I use but the NHS are stingy with the test strips due to cost, always a hassle, and buying them (retail) is expensive, well for me it is!

Having said that, it is a great wee machine, doddle to use, very accurate when comparisons are done with lab tests and more expensive machines. Highly recommended as long as you can afford the cost of the strips.....

That's pretty much what you get with the UltraEasy. It'll come with 10 test strips. It won't be the cheapest - that's not what we're about. All meters will have to conform to basic accuracy & precision requirements as set out by ISO (and probably FDA). If you're only going to use it for a short time, you might just want to go cheap. If you're "diagnosed" you should be getting this stuff on prescription. The lancing device is also pretty important (ultimately probably more so - good ones are very good and relatively painless - poor ones are very poor)

Can't say - probably. What you don't want is something that is fiddly and unreliable. Wasting strips because of system errors is frustrating.

Yes, I think I just want something cheap and including some test strips for now. When I go back for further tests at the hospital I will probably get a definite diagnosis, so then I can ask for a prescription.

Cheap, with some test strips included. No electronic wizardry needed.

Go for the Boots one for now then - it'll give you a number accurate enough for your purposes I think.

OK - thanks!

http://www.boots.com/en/Accu-Chek-Compact-Plus-Blood-Glucose-System_6443/

Bought this one, but from Lloyds for £12.50, with 17 tests on the drum included. Can't wait to see what result I get tomorrow.

That'll be fine. Probably cheaper to buy another one than buy the strips

The strip of 17 tests costs £6.68 separately, so not too bad.

Btw - people often make the mistake of comparing the results from one meter system with another (Stan's ok comparing meter with lab provided the samples are of the same type (ie capillary blood) drawn at the same time). If you compare one meter with another they can be as much as 40% different (20% either side of the lab reference) and still be considered "accurate" under the current standards. Your average user doesn't understand this. Blood is amazing stuff too and very complicated

Can you put that into simple English, please? Imagine you are writing a piece for BBC Online.

THAT dumbed down?!

Because each meter only needs to be within 20% of the REAL number, one meter might be 20% higher than the real number and one meter might be 20% lower - the difference would then be 40%

So, say the real number is 10. One meter might read 8. Another meter might read 12. Both would be considered accurate but, seeing 8 on one and 12 on the other might make you think one of them (usually the 12 as high numbers are "bad" for diabetics) is inaccurate. Not so.

Does that help?

I'm still learning about blood so I'm not going to try to explain it - far too complex