6/11 Tessie Lou AMPS 180 - Strip Mystery Solved!

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tessielou

tessielou

Member Since 2010
Happy Caturday!

Well. It you read my separate post a few days ago about how Hocks has gone to h**l in a handbasket, you'll appreciate this. I just opened the new bottle of strips, tested two of them, and they were both BAD. So, then I opened the bottle from Diabetic Care, which I ordered the same day I ordered from Hocks. I tested two of those, and one was ok, and the other was too low for the control range on the bottle! What the ???

So, I opened my brand new "backup" meter, that I had bought a few weeks ago, and tried two test strips from both companies in that meter. The Hocks strips were again bad, but the Diabetic Care strips read within the control range. So, then I concluded the problem was BOTH my old meter (6 months old, with recent battery change) AND the Hocks test strips. What are the odds of that??? I went ahead and tested Tessie Lou with the Diabetic Care test strip and the new meter and got the 180, which seems about right for how she's been running.

Then, just for the heck of it, I tried another strip from Diabetic Care in the new backup meter, and it was too low!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ohmygod_smile I am so confused right now!

What should I do? Buy another box of strips from Walgreens? Buy a new bottle of control solution (expirate date on bottle is 6/12)? This is getting REAL expensive!
 
Re: 6/11 Tessie Lou AMPS 180 - Or is it? Strip problems

I would call the manufacturer. They have a customer care number. I would NOT tell them this is for your cat. I would say it's for testing your child. Since there's apparently a problem with both the meter and strips, maybe the company can help. Whether they can help or not, they should send replacements.
 
Re: 6/11 Tessie Lou AMPS 180 - Or is it? Strip problems

sounds frustrating! good luck - be persistent because there is too much $$ in these to just let it go.
 
Re: 6/11 Tessie Lou AMPS 180 - Or is it? Strip problems

wow - and unreal. I too would call the manufacturer. Even if they can't help they would at least be aware that there is a problem. and yes - do NOT tell them this is for a cat. information they really don't need to know, nor is it really relevant to the problem.

I think, for now, if this was me, that I'd go with the new meter, as it seems to be giving consistent results. I know for us that sometimes when I run back to back tests that there is a variance on the numbers I get. Could it be possible with the additional test on the new meter, the one that read too low that maybe the blood sample wasn't enough, or too much, and threw off the reading?

Good luck - I know how frustrating it can be.

Nice amps though for Tessie Lou!
 
Re: 6/11 Tessie Lou AMPS 180 - Or is it? Strip problems

Mystery solved! It was the control solution! Even though the expiration date on it was 6/2012, it was the culprit. After posting my condo this morning, I went to Walgreens, bought a new bottle of control solution and another box of test strips (Yikes, $38 for 25 strips). I went home, and before opening the new box of strips, I went back and tried both test strip orders with the new solution. Both worked just fine! :-D ohmygod_smile :-D Makes sense. It was the only common denominator in the "experiment." At least I can take back the Walgreen test strips. :roll:
 
Wow! What a mess huh? I'm glad you got it figured out.

Tessie Lou is looking good! Tarragon is doing much better after his bouncy Friday. Thank you for the note! I am going to do a full curve tomorrow and am anxious to see what the numbers show. He is not a very consistent kitty though.

Hope you had a great day and have a relaxing night!
 
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