Help I have to switch to another Brand of Human Meter!!

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Mister's Owner

Mister's Owner

Member Since 2015
I have been using precision xtra blood glucose meter and strips since march. I had it tested with the vet doing a bg on the alpha track2. My meter was 30 to low so i always add 30 to misters numbers.

anyways i was paying 30.00 and free shipping for 100 strips and now all of ebay and amazon is going crazy on prices. I'm talking like 117.00! The meter also has the option for ketone blood test strips so maybe it caught on so prices soured.

i have 100 strips left no coding left for his precision Xtra meter so I need to buy something soon.
what is a good meter to buy off ebay in terms of accuracy and money? I was checking the relion micro and Prime out on Ebay .
I also have an accu-chek aviva in the house that ive never used..
also my sister in law gave us a freestyle lite.
i just want to know whats more reliable?

i just need a back up option in terms of buying power because i have been cleaning to earn all this as we are strapped for money with a grandbaby in the house to pay for.
Sorry so many questions

and last question...
i seen an alpha trak2 for sale with free style lite strips? Does this actually work together ?

sincerely, Tina
 
Hi Tina. Many people here use the Relion. You can also order it from Walmart but I don't know what the shipping cost is.

Yes, you can use Freestyle Lite strips in an Alphatrak 2, but they're way more expensive than the Relion.
 
Back in march the vet drew blood from misters hide leg
and put some on his alphatrak and some in my precision xtra meter. His bg value was 30 higher on the reading than mine was.
 
Is the alpha trak2 still as accurate with freestyle lite strips
?
and do you know the number difference between the relion and the alpha trak ?
 
Yes, the AlphaTrak reads a little higher than the human ones do, but most of us here use human meters and understand the difference. Our protocols for insulin dose here are also mostly based on the human numbers

We don't "add" anything to our meter's numbers to "make up" for the difference ....mostly because other than at low numbers, the "difference" between the AT and human meters isn't well established. We know that when a human meter reads 50, that's going to be about 68 on the AT, but as the numbers go higher and higher, the differences between the two get further and further apart....You can't just "add XX" to a human meter and always get the same number you would on the AlphaTrak

If money is an issue, the best thing you can do is go with the Relion Confirm or Micro from WalMart....the strips are $35.88 for 100 (from WalMart) which is a lot less than 100 of the AlphaTrak or Freestyle light strips are going to be!

You can also get replacement strips that will work in the Confirm or Micro from American Diabetes Wholesale ....they have the Arkray Glucogaurd that's the exact same meter as the Relion (Arkray makes them both..WalMart just re-brands them with their "Relion" name). The strips at ADW are $69.99 for 4 boxes of 50 and you get one box free...so that's 250 strips for about $70
 
Chris & China said:
Yes, the AlphaTrak reads a little higher than the human ones do, but most of us here use human meters and understand the difference. Our protocols for insulin dose here are also mostly based on the human numbers

We don't "add" anything to our meter's numbers to "make up" for the difference ....mostly because other than at low numbers, the "difference" between the AT and human meters isn't well established. We know that when a human meter reads 50, that's going to be about 68 on the AT, but as the numbers go higher and higher, the differences between the two get further and further apart....You can't just "add XX" to a human meter and always get the same number you would on the AlphaTrak

If money is an issue, the best thing you can do is go with the Relion Confirm or Micro from WalMart....the strips are $35.88 for 100 (from WalMart) which is a lot less than 100 of the AlphaTrak or Freestyle light strips are going to be!

You can also get replacement strips that will work in the Confirm or Micro from American Diabetes Wholesale ....they have the Arkray Glucogaurd that's the exact same meter as the Relion (Arkray makes them both..WalMart just re-brands them with their "Relion" name). The strips at ADW are $69.99 for 4 boxes of 50 and you get one box free...so that's 250 strips for about $70
Click to expand...
Wow Thank you!
 
So I just looked and these prices are so much better!
Do you also use the relion lancets? I have been buying ultra thin lancets online
 
it really doesn't matter what brand of lancet you buy....all a lancet is is a small piece of plastic with a sharp point at the end. If you use a lancet device, most brands of lancet will fit into any other brand of lancet device, but you can usually make sure by reading the box

I don't use the lancet device...I just freehand using the lancet only since I feel like I have better control over where I'm poking

The only thing that's really important in lancets is the size...if your cats ears are hard to get blood from, find a lancet that's 26-28 gauge (the smaller the gauge, the bigger the hole it makes)

If the ears are easy, you can use the higher gauge lancets like 31-33 gauge to make the tiniest possible hole
 
Ok, problem
i bought the ReliOn micro today and tested it on myself against 2 other meters.
my numbers ReliOn 113
Precision Xtra 107
Freestyle Lite 102 so I thought it was doing ok and tested mister at 9:34p he got ReliOn 77 retest 80
I freaked out and tested with his old meter Precision Xtra he gets 116?
thats a 36 difference. . What should I do?
he had 3u prozinc insulin at 325p and was 370 on the Precision Xtra.
 
All meters are allowed to have a 20% variance compared to the number that would be gotten on "official" bloodwork, so all those numbers are within that 20% range

Even if you test the exact same drop of blood using the exact same meter, you can get numbers that are different
 
And for his +6 to be 77/80 is really a great number!! 116 ain't bad either!

We want them to be between 50-120 as much time as possible because that's when the pancreas can do some healing and hopefully resume producing it's own insulin
 
It'd really help us to help you if you could try to always get a test in mid-cycle on the AM cycle (somewhere between +5 and +7) and another "before bed" test at night

He may be going a lot lower than you know about and then "bouncing" back high by Pre-shot time. We've seen other cats that would go from 400 to 40 and back to 400 by the next shot time, so without knowing where he's going, you could be giving too much insulin
 
His insulin times are now 3:19a and 3:19p
so is 8:30a and 930p ok for the in between tests?
should I pull back to 2.5 to be safe ?
the 77 at 6 hr mark has me worried... and I leave at 8:30a till 1:30p :(
 
Those look like pretty good test times to me, but it's even better if you kind of "sprinkle" them around....Think of the spreadsheet like you would a puzzle...If the only pieces you have filled in are the edges and down the middle, it's hard to see the whole picture, but if you sprinkle pieces all over, the picture becomes much clearer!

I don't use ProZinc, so I'm not really familiar with it, but what's important in all dosing decisions is how low the current dose takes them, and with ProZinc, a certain consideration is given to the Pre-shot numbers too

From what I see now, I'd say as long as his mid-cycles are in the "safe" zone, it's probably a good dose but if you get a test right before you leave in the morning and you're concerned, you can always leave some higher carb food down for him.

@Sue and Oliver (GA) is very experienced with ProZinc @BJM has a lot more experience with it than I do too....Hopefully one of them will be able to give you some more experienced advice
 
Looking at the spreadsheet now.

You got a drop of 293 mg/dL from a pre-shot of 370 mg/dL using 3 units. That is about 98 mg/dL per unit of insulin for that particular instance.
- He may bounce from going so low
- You won't always get the same amount of drop from a given insulin dose as numerous factors play into a glucose level (food, activity, stress, illness, etc.)​

If you're concerned about him being safe, you could cut back to 2.5 units or do a rough estimate based on his pre-shot and knowing he can drop around 100 mg/dL with just 1 unit, estimate the insulin dose based on that knowledge.
 
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Thank you,... I will try to get more random tests. He has associated food time with getting his bg checked though LoL!
He actually runs to the tester and lays down ..Like he is saying hurry Im hungry.
He gets that friskies special diet half of the 5.5 oz turkey and giblets at the 6 hr mark which would only be 2 carbs.
 
Mini-meals reduce the intensity of the work load on the pancreas, so spreading them out will let you test more often if you need to do so.

Um ... you're going to need to go shopping for another food. They've discontinued the Special Diet line of Friskies.

Take your pre-shot test.
Subtract your target glucose level you'd like him to get near.
Divide by 100 (at least for the next day - it can and will vary, so always use recent data!)
You'll get an approximate dose for the ProZinc in the morning. Ease it lower when you can't monitor.
 
It's good that he associates food with testing though!!

Find a good low carb treat (like freeze dried chicken -or any kind of meat) and every time you test, he gets a treat and he'll soon come running any time you get the supplies out!
 
Oh now I want to cry...why would they discontinue that :(
That was the only thing that worked to start keeping his numbers down because he appears to have kidney damage.
 
Chris & China said:
It's good that he associates food with testing though!!

Find a good low carb treat (like freeze dried chicken -or any kind of meat) and every time you test, he gets a treat and he'll soon come running any time you get the supplies out!
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I tried freeze dried and he turned his nose. He comes running no matter what now but after he runs to his plate LoL!
So I want to try to keep him expecting food because its so much easier :)
 
Ok I guess Im going to be breaking the bank and trying wellness and evo canned food that has barely any carbs and is below the 250 for kidneys .
can someone look at tell me if they think I should stay at the 2.5 insulin dose or go back up a little?
 
China didn't like freeze dried anything either for her "treats"....what finally worked for her was for me to bake a piece of chicken, chop it up into bite sized pieces and put some in the refrigerator and the rest in the freezer to use as needed

But if a little bite of food is working good for Mister, that's fine to use!

Do you think you could measure a 2.75 U dose?
 
I've heard Evo is being discontinued, so you probably don't want to start on that one. If money is a concern, I've heard Fancy Feast Classic is good. Maybe someone else can confirm if that's true. And thanks for this thread! It's been really helpful for me, too. We just started ProZinc four days ago, so not ready to start adjusting dose yet, but this information helped me to understand better how it works!
 
Djamila said:
I've heard Evo is being discontinued, so you probably don't want to start on that one. If money is a concern, I've heard Fancy Feast Classic is good. Maybe someone else can confirm if that's true. And thanks for this thread! It's been really helpful for me, too. We just started ProZinc four days ago, so not ready to start adjusting dose yet, but this information helped me to understand better how it works!
Click to expand...
Fancy Feast isnt an option.. He has kidney damage.
I tried them once and his numbers shot all the way up.
 
Chris & China said:
China didn't like freeze dried anything either for her "treats"....what finally worked for her was for me to bake a piece of chicken, chop it up into bite sized pieces and put some in the refrigerator and the rest in the freezer to use as needed

But if a little bite of food is working good for Mister, that's fine to use!

Do you think you could measure a 2.75 U dose?
Click to expand...
I was trying to do a 2.75 dose for a long time.....
Of course its not marked. BJM said i might be doing to high of a dose.
I just started 3.0 of 8/14/2015.
This may sound weird but it seems like whenever I change his insulin his numbers are good for like a week and than they shoot back up?
 
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