? Using alphatrack vs one touch verio

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Phoebes (GA)

Phoebes (GA)

Member Since 2017
I am seeing many people talking about using the human glucometer. I had gotten one from a niece that had an extra. I had already ordered the alphatrak because that's what tge vet had abd just starting out I wanted something around the same readings. Now that I am learning and seeing, could I just use the verio. It's much cheaper I am almost out of alphatrak test strips they are outrageous. What would I have to do to switch over and just use alphatrak when doing curve for vet?
 
Phoebes said:
I am seeing many people talking about using the human glucometer. I had gotten one from a niece that had an extra. I had already ordered the alphatrak because that's what tge vet had abd just starting out I wanted something around the same readings. Now that I am learning and seeing, could I just use the verio. It's much cheaper I am almost out of alphatrak test strips they are outrageous. What would I have to do to switch over and just use alphatrak when doing curve for vet?
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That's what some people do if they have both meters and their vet insists on seeing AlphaTrak numbers only.
 
Phoebes said:
I wanted it too because our numbers were 180-190 off. So is it easy enough to just use the verio? How would I do that?
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Yes, you can use the human meter day to day. It reads lower than the AT meter and there's no simple formula to convert from human meter to AT meter numbers. You have to switch your thinking from one system to the other. You'll soon learn what too high, OK and too low are in each system. The important thing to know is what the dangerous low range is for each - 50 and below on a human meter, 68 and below on the AT.
 
Yep, the big cost on any meter is the strips, and the Alphatrak strips are especially expensive. Vets like to use them because those are the numbers they are used to, and they are really nice to have for the accuracy in dealing with feline blood but not many of us can afford to keep it up for long! For day-to-day management of FD, most of us feel that as long as we know the "too low" number for each type of meter (50 on a human meter, 68 on Alphatrak), absolute numbers in the rest of the range aren't as important as relative numbers. In other words, if your human meter tells you that today's number is higher than yesterday's, that's what you need to know to make dosing decisions, not the "true" number as measured by Alphatrak.

I'm not familiar with the verio, but I think it should be fine as long as the strips are affordable and easily obtainable. The only meters that I have heard bad things about in terms of accuracy are "ones that have True in the name", which doesn't include the verio. I know that a lot of the people on the board choose the Relion brand meters from Walmart, due to cheapness/availability of strips.
 
Holy moly that's a relief!! I could cry. We were trying to figure out how we were going to test her this weekend and come up with 70 dollars for AT strips. We have 50 strips for the verio!!! Omg omg ty ty I will use the remaining AT for tonight's +2 +4. You don't know what that means to hear. My husband so far after 1700 dollars has never mentioned could we afford this until today. It broke my heart thinking I was going to have to decide to just hang it up., after all we have done. And all phoebe has been thru. I was so mad. I know we have to pay bills for roof over our head, but I can eat ramen noodles all day if I have to. Sorry. Just had to say it.
 
Phoebes said:
Holy moly that's a relief!! I could cry. We were trying to figure out how we were going to test her this weekend and come up with 70 dollars for AT strips. We have 50 strips for the verio!!! Omg omg ty ty I will use the remaining AT for tonight's +2 +4. You don't know what that means to hear. My husband so far after 1700 dollars has never mentioned could we afford this until today. It broke my heart thinking I was going to have to decide to just hang it up., after all we have done. And all phoebe has been thru. I was so mad. I know we have to pay bills for roof over our head, but I can eat ramen noodles all day if I have to. Sorry. Just had to say it.
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Venting is allowed - we all need it from time to time! :)
 
I'm so glad this works for you!!! I totally get the "so, this month do we pay for the cat, or do we pay rent and eat?" situation, a lot of us have been there at various points. One of the best things about FDMB is that we do have a lot of tips and tricks for making feline diabetes a little more affordable.

When you do switch meters, use a line in your spreadsheet to mark where you changed meters-- make the whole line a different color and put "HUMAN METER" in there somewhere so that anyone looking at the spreadsheet will know there is a change.

The numbers are definitely going to be different than what you are used to-- the good news is, most of us here are using human meters so we'll be able to interpret readily, and all of our protocols are written for human meters, too! And you'll get used to it in no time.
 
Nan & Amber said:
I'm so glad this works for you!!! I totally get the "so, this month do we pay for the cat, or do we pay rent and eat?" situation, a lot of us have been there at various points. One of the best things about FDMB is that we do have a lot of tips and tricks for making feline diabetes a little more affordable.

When you do switch meters, use a line in your spreadsheet to mark where you changed meters-- make the whole line a different color and put "HUMAN METER" in there somewhere so that anyone looking at the spreadsheet will know there is a change.

The numbers are definitely going to be different than what you are used to-- the good news is, most of us here are using human meters so we'll be able to interpret readily, and all of our protocols are written for human meters, too! And you'll get used to it in no time.
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Excellent!!!!
 
My wonderful vet has never been able to wrap his head around my using a human meter, lol. He tends to get really nervous about Squallie's numbers if the get lower than about 100, then he remembers. He just says, "Oh...right...human meter," and shakes his head; the numbers make no sense to him, except they all look too low. He trusts me to know what I'm doing, thankfully!:)
 
Squalliesmom said:
My wonderful vet has never been able to wrap his head around my using a human meter, lol. He tends to get really nervous about Squallie's numbers if the get lower than about 100, then he remembers. He just says, "Oh...right...human meter," and shakes his head; the numbers make no sense to him, except they all look too low. He trusts me to know what I'm doing, thankfully!:)
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That will probably be my vet but when I explain the cost. We can either not pay off their bill or I buy cheaper strips and pay off their bill, she will totally understand. Once I start understanding it more I can explain better. She trysts me with so many home treatments and I talk to her well every other day for the last 2 months. It's slowed down now but, she knows my number by heart. Lol the whole office knows me I drive them nuts.
 
Phoebes said:
That will probably be my vet but when I explain the cost. We can either not pay off their bill or I buy cheaper strips and pay off their bill, she will totally understand. Once I start understanding it more I can explain better. She trysts me with so many home treatments and I talk to her well every other day for the last 2 months. It's slowed down now but, she knows my number by heart. Lol the whole office knows me I drive them nuts.
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In a good way. They know I love my girl.
 
I loved the AT. I LOVED that it was the same my vet uses. It is expensive though and I was spending about 150 a month on strips. If the cost is prohibitive them just use it for curves and use human meter day to day.
 
Phoebes said:
That will probably be my vet but when I explain the cost. We can either not pay off their bill or I buy cheaper strips and pay off their bill, she will totally understand. Once I start understanding it more I can explain better. She trysts me with so many home treatments and I talk to her well every other day for the last 2 months. It's slowed down now but, she knows my number by heart. Lol the whole office knows me I drive them nuts.
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Lol, my vet's office is like that, too, they all know me and I call a lot, every time I have a question!
 
JanetNJ said:
I loved the AT. I LOVED that it was the same my vet uses. It is expensive though and I was spending about 150 a month on strips. If the cost is prohibitive them just use it for curves and use human meter day to day.
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I hated my AT and never really forgave my old vet for bullying me into buying it, especially since I was already testing successfully with the Relion. But I have a lot of other, more serious things I'll never forgive her for, so the AST meter is a minor aggravation.
 
Squalliesmom said:
I hated my AT and never really forgave my old vet for bullying me into buying it, especially since I was already testing successfully with the Relion. But I have a lot of other, more serious things I'll never forgive her for, so the AST meter is a minor aggravation.
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Haha why didn't you like it? Other than the strips being outrageous i find it easy to use and takes a tiny tiny drop.
 
JanetNJ said:
Haha why didn't you like it? Other than the strips being outrageous i find it easy to use and takes a tiny tiny drop.
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Lol, a whole host of (mostly petty!) reasons, not least of which were my irritation with thge vet, and the fact that such an expensive meter came with such a flimsy, shoddy case thatr the contents barely fit properly in, while my Relion had come with a very nice, roomy, well-made case. Silly, I know, but it was just enough to really tip the scales!
 
Squalliesmom said:
Lol, a whole host of (mostly petty!) reasons, not least of which were my irritation with thge vet, and the fact that such an expensive meter came with such a flimsy, shoddy case thatr the contents barely fit properly in, while my Relion had come with a very nice, roomy, well-made case. Silly, I know, but it was just enough to really tip the scales!
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Oh! See I like the case that came with mine! I have my meter, strip bottle, testing solution (which I think I used once lol), about 20 lancets, neosporin, and 3 cotton cosmetic pads.... All fits fine!
 
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