One Touch Ultra problem?

I'm also prediabetic, use a one touch ultra and for backup
the walmart that requires 20 seconds. One touch will vary if
you use several strips by as much as 5 pts on mine. On
average they are 8-10 pts higher than Walmart.

Like everyone, if I don't like the reading I try it again.
Who said on this board that average reading for over 50
was 100? What study was that based on? "Kari Karhi"
<[email hidden]> wrote in message news:eSXmc.11901$V97-
[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Hi, I'm pre-diabetic and take my FBG every day, using the
One Touch Ultra tester. I've noticed that over all my
readings are pretty consistent, but there are exceptions.
Occasionally, maybe once or twice a month, my reading is
much higher. Today, for example, my reading was 109, when
it usually is under 105. I took another strip and used the
same puncture to get another reading of 99. Then, to make
sure, I had another puncture and that reading was 101,
which I recorded. I thought at one time that maybe I just
let some air into the strip, but I've been pretty careful
recently and today I was positive there was no air in the
sample. Can the samples really vary that much and should I
really be taking several measuments every day and average
them? Or am I doing something wrong? Do people wipe the
first drop away and squeeze some more blood before taking
a reading? Could my tester have a problem? I bought it
about seven months ago.

Kari Karhi said this...

Quoted message said:

Hi, I'm pre-diabetic and take my FBG every day, using the
One Touch Ultra tester. I've noticed that over all my
readings are pretty consistent, but there are exceptions.
Occasionally, maybe once or twice a month, my reading is
much higher. Today, for example, my reading was 109, when
it usually is under 105. I took another strip and used the
same puncture to get another reading of 99. Then, to make
sure, I had another puncture and that reading was 101,
which I recorded. I thought at one time that maybe I just
let some air into the strip, but I've been pretty careful
recently and today I was positive there was no air in the
sample. Can the samples really vary that much and should I
really be taking several measuments every day and average
them? Or am I doing something wrong? Do people wipe the
first drop away and squeeze some more blood before taking
a reading? Could my tester have a problem? I bought it
about seven months ago.

well within the tolerance of a BG meter.

In UK units, there is a tolerance of 1 unit, which is 18 of
yours. It's a little bit of plastic you shove in your
pocket, not a portable lab after all!

If in doubt, ring Lifescan and get some test fluid (free
of charge)

R
--
Now with 64 bit stupidity

www.flyingrat.net

Flying Rat said:

Kari Karhi said this...

Quoted message said:

Hi, I'm pre-diabetic and take my FBG every day, using the
One Touch Ultra tester. I've noticed that over all my
readings are pretty consistent, but there are exceptions.
Occasionally, maybe once or twice a month, my reading is
much higher. Today, for example, my reading was 109, when
it usually is under 105. I took another strip and used the
same puncture to get another reading of 99. Then, to make
sure, I had another puncture and that reading was 101,
which I recorded. I thought at one time that maybe I just
let some air into the strip, but I've been pretty careful
recently and today I was positive there was no air in the
sample. Can the samples really vary that much and should I
really be taking several measuments every day and average
them? Or am I doing something wrong? Do people wipe the
first drop away and squeeze some more blood before taking
a reading? Could my tester have a problem? I bought it
about seven months ago.

well within the tolerance of a BG meter.

In UK units, there is a tolerance of 1 unit, which is 18
of yours. It's a little bit of plastic you shove in your
pocket, not a portable lab after all!

If in doubt, ring Lifescan and get some test fluid (free
of charge)

R

Hmm, that not my experience. Overall, my readings vary by
not more than 5 US units. If I repeat readings, I have only
a +-1 unit variation. This ignores those days when I have a
late-night sweet snack, with full knowledge of what it means
the next morning. Looking back on six months of data, I can
clearly see a trend of readings starting at 110 average to
the present average of 105, gotten by losing 30 lb. I figure
another 20 lb more should take me to around a 100 average,
which I can live with.

beachnut said:

I'm also prediabetic, use a one touch ultra and for backup
the walmart that requires 20 seconds. One touch will vary
if you use several strips by as much as 5 pts on mine. On
average they are 8-10 pts higher than Walmart.

Like everyone, if I don't like the reading I try it
again. Who said on this board that average reading for
over 50 was 100? What study was that based on? "Kari
Karhi" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:eSXmc.-
[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Hi, I'm pre-diabetic and take my FBG every day, using the
One Touch Ultra tester. I've noticed that over all my
readings are pretty consistent, but there are exceptions.
Occasionally, maybe once or twice a month, my reading is
much higher. Today, for example, my reading was 109, when
it usually is under 105. I took another strip and used the
same puncture to get another reading of 99. Then, to make
sure, I had another puncture and that reading was 101,
which I recorded. I thought at one time that maybe I just
let some air into the strip, but I've been pretty careful
recently and today I was positive there was no air in the
sample. Can the samples really vary that much and should I
really be taking several measuments every day and average
them? Or am I doing something wrong? Do people wipe the
first drop away and squeeze some more blood before taking
a reading? Could my tester have a problem? I bought it
about seven months ago.

So if you are right, since I am in mid-fifties, my One Touch
readings should be in the 110 range and I am not pre-
diabetic after all! Please don't tell me that, I have lost
30 lb so far with another 20 lb to go. I would never have
gone on a diet if it wasn't for this scare. Best thing that
could have happened to me.

Kari Karhi said this...

Quoted message said:

Hmm, that not my experience.

so your 'experience' is more valid than Lifescan's own
product data?

R
--
Now with 64 bit stupidity

www.flyingrat.net

Kari Karhi said this...

Quoted message said:

Hmm, that not my experience.

My reply was taken directly from Lifescan published data on
One Touch Ultra meters.

R
--
Now with 64 bit stupidity

www.flyingrat.net

I also use the same meter. I use to worry about the readings
bouncing around like the ones you are getting. The tolerance
for the ultra measurements are plus or minus 20% compared to
a clinal lab measurement. The ultra is susposed to give you
that reading and that is within federal guidelines. I always
test before a ceratain meal and never test after a meal til
2 hrs after a meal. If you test before it can throw off your
measurements. Accu-scan tolerance is not much better (+/- 15
to 20 %). Try this. Take your measurements over a certain
length of time and plot a graph of the data. Your BGL's are
everywhere on the graph (hopefully most are within the
target range (mine is 90-140 overall). Take the average for
each days BGL and then plot it. Hopefully you should be near
your target range. For the month of may, the average daily
glucose levels were within the 90 - 140 target range. I am
type 2. My glucose readings are an average of 3.6 times a
day. Look at the container of strips. The control range is
92-124 mg/dL. Do a control test and if it is within the
control range, you are okay. remember, you will get
different readings with every strip. Say, you had enough
blood on your finger and you had two meters with strips
inserted ready to take a reading and you dipped both strips
in the test blood at the same time, you will get 2 different
readings. The strips and meter work on a electric current
when trying to determine your BGL. It aint going to happen
trying to get the same BGL out of the 2 strips using the
same test conditions. Plus, everything I read on the ultra
says it is very accurate (remember +/- 20%) and comes highly
recommended.

"Kari Karhi" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:eSXm-
[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Hi, I'm pre-diabetic and take my FBG every day, using the
One Touch Ultra tester. I've noticed that over all my
readings are pretty consistent, but there are exceptions.
Occasionally, maybe once or twice a month, my reading is
much higher. Today, for example, my reading was 109, when
it usually is under 105. I took another strip and used the
same puncture to get another reading of 99. Then, to make
sure, I had another puncture and that reading was 101,
which I recorded. I thought at one time that maybe I just
let some air into the strip, but I've been pretty careful
recently and today I was positive there was no air in the
sample. Can the samples really vary that much and should I
really be taking several measuments every day and average
them? Or am I doing something wrong? Do people wipe the
first drop away and squeeze some more blood before taking
a reading? Could my tester have a problem? I bought it
about seven months ago.

I read the docs and as you said, there is the 20% uncertainty from
the lab reading. I think it probably is smaller but the company
is leaving some wiggle room there. However, I am mostly interested
in the consistency of the readings, which is a somewhat different
matter. My readings are pretty consistent, only varying by about
two or three units from day to day. If I believed the 20%, my
reading could be 80 one day and 120 the next. I do not see that
at all. I think that the FBG readings should be consistent, if
you really fast at least 8 hours and have not had too much carbs
the previous day. I only take one reading a day, so I can not
average them. I'm going to stop retesting and just live with the
anomalous high readings. Unfortunately, I never get anomalous
low readings :-(

Charles Eaves said:

I also use the same meter. I use to worry about the
readings bouncing around like the ones you are getting.
The tolerance for the ultra measurements are plus or minus
20% compared to a clinal lab measurement. The ultra is
susposed to give you that reading and that is within
federal guidelines. I always test before a ceratain meal
and never test after a meal til 2 hrs after a meal. If you
test before it can throw off your measurements. Accu-scan
tolerance is not much better (+/- 15 to 20 %). Try this.
Take your measurements over a certain length of time and
plot a graph of the data. Your BGL's are everywhere on the
graph (hopefully most are within the target range (mine is
90-140 overall). Take the average for each days BGL and
then plot it. Hopefully you should be near your target
range. For the month of may, the average daily glucose
levels were within the 90 - 140 target range. I am type 2.
My glucose readings are an average of 3.6 times a day.
Look at the container of strips. The control range is 92-
124 mg/dL. Do a control test and if it is within the
control range, you are okay. remember, you will get
different readings with every strip. Say, you had enough
blood on your finger and you had two meters with strips
inserted ready to take a reading and you dipped both
strips in the test blood at the same time, you will get 2
different readings. The strips and meter work on a
electric current when trying to determine your BGL. It
aint going to happen trying to get the same BGL out of the
2 strips using the same test conditions. Plus, everything
I read on the ultra says it is very accurate (remember +/-
20%) and comes highly recommended.

"Kari Karhi" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:eS-
[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Hi, I'm pre-diabetic and take my FBG every day, using the
One Touch Ultra tester. I've noticed that over all my
readings are pretty consistent, but there are exceptions.
Occasionally, maybe once or twice a month, my reading is
much higher. Today, for example, my reading was 109, when
it usually is under 105. I took another strip and used the
same puncture to get another reading of 99. Then, to make
sure, I had another puncture and that reading was 101,
which I recorded. I thought at one time that maybe I just
let some air into the strip, but I've been pretty careful
recently and today I was positive there was no air in the
sample. Can the samples really vary that much and should I
really be taking several measuments every day and average
them? Or am I doing something wrong? Do people wipe the
first drop away and squeeze some more blood before taking
a reading? Could my tester have a problem? I bought it
about seven months ago.

Try two readings a day for a while. Maybe a week. Download
the lifescan 2.1 program. It is free. Enter your data. Look
at the reports. Look at the summary and standard report. All
reports in the program are great. If your levels are like
mine, most readings are inside the target rangebut there are
readings outside the target level . See standard report.

Now look at the summary report. especially the graph
(average glucose vs meal type).

"Kari Karhi" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:8tSw-
[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I read the docs and as you said, there is the 20%
uncertainty from the lab reading. I think it probably is
smaller but the company is leaving some wiggle room there.
However, I am mostly interested in the consistency of the
readings, which is a somewhat different matter. My
readings are pretty consistent, only varying by about two
or three units from day to day. If I believed the 20%, my
reading could be 80 one day and 120 the next. I do not see
that at all. I think that the FBG readings should be
consistent, if you really fast at least 8 hours and have
not had too much carbs the previous day. I only take one
reading a day, so I can not average them. I'm going to
stop retesting and just live with the anomalous high
readings. Unfortunately, I never get anomalous low
readings :-(

Charles Eaves said:

I also use the same meter. I use to worry about the
readings bouncing

around

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

like the ones you are getting. The tolerance for the
ultra measurements

are

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

plus or minus 20% compared to a clinal lab measurement.
The ultra is susposed to give you that reading and that
is within federal

guidelines. I

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

always test before a ceratain meal and never test after
a meal til 2 hrs after a meal. If you test before it can
throw off your measurements. Accu-scan tolerance is not
much better (+/- 15 to 20 %). Try this. Take your
measurements over a certain length of time and plot

a

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

graph of the data. Your BGL's are everywhere on the
graph (hopefully

most

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

are within the target range (mine is 90-140 overall).
Take the average for each days BGL and then plot it.
Hopefully you

should be

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

near your target range. For the month of may, the
average daily glucose levels were within the 90 - 140
target range. I am type 2. My glucose readings are an
average of 3.6 times a day. Look at the container of
strips. The control range is 92-124 mg/dL. Do a control
test and if it is within the control range, you are
okay. remember, you will get different readings with
every strip. Say, you had enough blood on your finger
and you had two meters with strips inserted ready to
take a reading and you dipped both strips in the test
blood at

the

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

same time, you will get 2 different readings. The strips
and meter work

on a

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

electric current when trying to determine your BGL. It
aint going to

happen

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

trying to get the same BGL out of the 2 strips using the
same test conditions. Plus, everything I read on the
ultra says it is very accurate (remember

+/-

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

20%) and comes highly recommended.

"Kari Karhi" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:-
[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Hi, I'm pre-diabetic and take my FBG every day, using
the One Touch Ultra tester. I've noticed that over all
my readings are pretty consistent, but there are
exceptions. Occasionally, maybe once or twice a month,
my reading is much higher. Today, for example, my
reading was 109, when it usually is under 105. I took
another strip and used the same puncture to get another
reading of 99. Then, to make sure, I had another
puncture and that reading was 101, which I recorded. I
thought at one time that maybe I just let some air into
the strip, but I've been pretty careful recently and
today I was positive there was no air in the sample. Can
the samples really vary that much and should I really be
taking several measuments every day and average them? Or
am I doing something wrong? Do people wipe the first
drop away and squeeze some more blood before taking a
reading? Could my tester have a problem? I bought it
about seven months ago.

I might give two readings a day a try, good suggestion. I
have the program, right from the beginning so I have about
seven months of data. I have been above target six times,
most at the beginning. I enter the data manually as I did
not see the need to buy the data cable. The reports are ok,
but I wish one could change the scale and it could have some
horizontal stripes so it would be easier to read. Are people
out there using other programs with the One Touch meter?

Charles Eaves said:

Try two readings a day for a while. Maybe a week. Download
the lifescan 2.1 program. It is free. Enter your data.
Look at the reports. Look at the summary and standard
report. All reports in the program are great. If your
levels are like mine, most readings are inside the target
rangebut there are readings outside the target level . See
standard report.

Now look at the summary report. especially the graph
(average glucose vs meal type).

"Kari Karhi" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:8t-
[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I read the docs and as you said, there is the 20%
uncertainty from the lab reading. I think it probably is
smaller but the company is leaving some wiggle room there.
However, I am mostly interested in the consistency of the
readings, which is a somewhat different matter. My
readings are pretty consistent, only varying by about two
or three units from day to day. If I believed the 20%, my
reading could be 80 one day and 120 the next. I do not see
that at all. I think that the FBG readings should be
consistent, if you really fast at least 8 hours and have
not had too much carbs the previous day. I only take one
reading a day, so I can not average them. I'm going to
stop retesting and just live with the anomalous high
readings. Unfortunately, I never get anomalous low
readings :-(

Charles Eaves said:

I also use the same meter. I use to worry about the
readings bouncing

around

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

like the ones you are getting. The tolerance for the
ultra measurements

are

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

plus or minus 20% compared to a clinal lab measurement.
The ultra is susposed to give you that reading and that
is within federal

guidelines. I

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

always test before a ceratain meal and never test after a
meal til 2 hrs after a meal. If you test before it can
throw off your measurements. Accu-scan tolerance is not
much better (+/- 15 to 20 %). Try this. Take your
measurements over a certain length of time and plot

a

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

graph of the data. Your BGL's are everywhere on the graph
(hopefully

most

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

are within the target range (mine is 90-140 overall).
Take the average for each days BGL and then plot it.
Hopefully you

should be

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

near your target range. For the month of may, the average
daily glucose levels were within the 90 - 140 target
range. I am type 2. My glucose readings are an average of
3.6 times a day. Look at the container of strips. The
control range is 92-124 mg/dL. Do a control test and if
it is within the control range, you are okay. remember,
you will get different readings with every strip. Say,
you had enough blood on your finger and you had two
meters with strips inserted ready to take a reading and
you dipped both strips in the test blood at

the

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

same time, you will get 2 different readings. The strips
and meter work

on a

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

electric current when trying to determine your BGL. It
aint going to

happen

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

trying to get the same BGL out of the 2 strips using the
same test conditions. Plus, everything I read on the
ultra says it is very accurate (remember

+/-

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

20%) and comes highly recommended.

"Kari Karhi" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:e-
[email hidden]...

>Hi, I'm pre-diabetic and take my FBG every day, using
>the One Touch Ultra tester. I've noticed that over all
>my readings are pretty consistent, but there are
>exceptions. Occasionally, maybe once or twice a month,
>my reading is much higher. Today, for example, my
>reading was 109, when it usually is under 105. I took
>another strip and used the same puncture to get another
>reading of 99. Then, to make sure, I had another
>puncture and that reading was 101, which I recorded. I
>thought at one time that maybe I just let some air into
>the strip, but I've been pretty careful recently and
>today I was positive there was no air in the sample. Can
>the samples really vary that much and should I really be
>taking several measuments every day and average them? Or
>am I doing something wrong? Do people wipe the first
>drop away and squeeze some more blood before taking a
>reading? Could my tester have a problem? I bought it
>about seven months ago.