About to pull my hair out

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Indigo

Indigo

Member Since 2018
So I’m thinking I wasted 50 something dollars on an Alphatrak meter.

I am in the process of building my Hypo toolkit :banghead:
Alphatrack uses insulinx strips right...? well in the tool kit instructions it says to buy a spare meter and use it in case of a hypo event.... and to change out the strips in your hypo toolkit regularly as in an event you do not want to have expired strips or run out when needing it...

OK so here’s my dilemma the alphatrak it’s going to be using insulinx strips so it makes sense that I buy a meter that uses the same strips right? Impossible the insulinx meter has been either discontinued or just simply not available anywhere anymore .... OK so where do I go from here because I’m almost in tears over the fact that I’ve got a $50 meter I’ve got $30 something in strips coming from Amazon today and cant get a human meter that coincides with this strip

The whole thing has been quite overwhelming and I’m at my wits end ...Am I stuck buying a human meter and corresponding strips just to have on hand for hypo event? Am I going to use the alphatrak for hypo only.. I have no idea what I’m gonna do, was doing good, shopping on Amazon and roadblock so much for the Hypo tooolkit I have no idea what I’m doing either way I’m buying another meter I’m buying more strips to throw away when they expire for a just in case?

:banghead:someone help me
 
Okay, first, take a breath. :) Do you have any interest in getting a meter to test ketones? If so, you could have that as your backup glucose meter.

I have been testing for nearly a year and a half using the same AlphaTrak the entire time. I have never needed a backup. It's always great to have one because things happen, but don't let it freak you out that you don't have one right now.
 
First, BREATHE!!! HUGS - BIG ole loooooooooong one.

Now - strips aren't interchangable between meters. Even those hundreds of human meters all take strips just for that meter. There are a couple that share 2 meters with same strips but those are being discontinued. It's a good idea to have a human meter backup anyway just in case...
 
FurBabiesMama said:
Okay, first, take a breath. :) Do you have any interest in getting a meter to test ketones? If so, you could have that as your backup glucose meter.

I have been testing for nearly a year and a half using the same AlphaTrak the entire time. I have never needed a backup. It's always great to have one because things happen, but don't let it freak you out that you don't have one right now.
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Appreciate that ... just trying to follow the toolkit to the letter
 
Squeaky and KT (GA) said:
First, BREATHE!!! HUGS - BIG ole loooooooooong one.

Now - strips aren't interchangable between meters. Even those hundreds of human meters all take strips just for that meter. There are a couple that share 2 meters with same strips but those are being discontinued. It's a good idea to have a human meter backup anyway just in case...
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But if I buy human meter and the corresponding test strip then if I don’t use it im just getting new strips
 
FurBabiesMama said:
Okay, first, take a breath. :) Do you have any interest in getting a meter to test ketones? If so, you could have that as your backup glucose meter.

I have been testing for nearly a year and a half using the same AlphaTrak the entire time. I have never needed a backup. It's always great to have one because things happen, but don't let it freak you out that you don't have one right now.
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Where would one obtain a Keytone monitor and how is it used?
 
Can you post a picture of the Insulinx strip please. It may be useable in another meter because the old insulinx meters now use the same strip as the Freestyle Lite and Freestyle Freedom Lite meters.
 
If you get the Walmart 'Prime' meter, the strips are $5/25. They usually have a couple of years expiration plus I've used expired strips and not had issues...
 
I use alpha with insulinx for my daily testing. I have a ketone meter that also reads glucose that I can use as a backup. In 3 years I have never needed it for glucose on my cat but it's an option if I need it. I have used it on myself but for my cat I always have used the Alphatrak
 
JanetNJ said:
I use alpha with insulinx for my daily testing. I have a ketone meter that also reads glucose that I can use as a backup. In 3 years I have never needed it for glucose on my cat but it's an option if I need it. I have used it on myself but for my cat I always have used the Alphatrak
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Appreciate that, I will hold off at the current moment for the secondary meter I am just trying my best to do everything to set up this hypo toolkit
 
I went through a meter frenzy for a period and ended up with meters and strips of every kind. It was a good learning experience if nothing else. What ultimately worked best for me was to have an Alphatrak2 with plenty of InsulinX strips as the daily test kit and then a NovaMax Plus human meter with a small supply of ketone test strips and glucose test strips as the backup.

We didn't really have an issue with ketones so I didn't test Grandpa's ketones often, but when I wanted to check them, the NovaMax plus was much easier than catching urine.

We ran low on InsulinX strips once, and of course that was the night Grandpa's numbers went lower than usual. I used the NovaMax for a day or two to test his glucose and I was really happy with it.

The ketone test strips for the NovaMax plus are a bit pricy, but the glucose strips aren't bad at all. Also, the blood drop required for a keytone test is either .5 or .8, but the blood required for a glucose test is the same as with the Alphatrak2.

Good luck.
 
Beck and Grandpa (GA) said:
I went through a meter frenzy for a period and ended up with meters and strips of every kind. It was a good learning experience if nothing else. What ultimately worked best for me was to have an Alphatrak2 with plenty of InsulinX strips as the daily test kit and then a NovaMax Plus human meter with a small supply of ketone test strips and glucose test strips as the backup.

We didn't really have an issue with ketones so I didn't test Grandpa's ketones often, but when I wanted to check them, the NovaMax plus was much easier than catching urine.

We ran low on InsulinX strips once, and of course that was the night Grandpa's numbers went lower than usual. I used the NovaMax for a day or two to test his glucose and I was really happy with it.

The ketone test strips for the NovaMax plus are a bit pricy, but the glucose strips aren't bad at all. Also, the blood drop required for a keytone test is either .5 or .8, but the blood required for a glucose test is the same as with the Alphatrak2.

Good luck.
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Appreciate all the good information so far I haven’t picked up a secondary meter I’m going to Use the alphatrak along with the insulinx and go that route, until I can learn more . I hear people talking about relion and keytones, I never realized until I got into the hypo tool kit that I needed a secondary monitor. I’m beyond confused anymore.
 
Indigo said:
I never realized until I got into the hypo tool kit that I needed a secondary monitor.
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You don't HAVE to have one....but meters are famous for breaking at the worst possible time (or having their batteries die). We've had them break when dropped, stop working for "who knows why??" and I know of one person who accidentally put their meter in the microwave instead of her rice sock. Stuff happens....LOL

Don't stress out about it right now....you have a brand new meter and hopefully you won't put it in your microwave or drop it down your toilet so it should be good for awhile. ;)
 
Chris & China said:
You don't HAVE to have one....but meters are famous for breaking at the worst possible time (or having their batteries die). We've had them break when dropped, stop working for "who knows why??" and I know of one person who accidentally put their meter in the microwave instead of her rice sock. Stuff happens....LOL

Don't stress out about it right now....you have a brand new meter and hopefully you won't put it in your microwave or drop it down your toilet so it should be good for awhile. ;)
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I had a cat tell me what he thought of a meter by peeing on it. I discovered the hard way that they aren't waterproof.
 
Chris & China said:
You don't HAVE to have one....but meters are famous for breaking at the worst possible time (or having their batteries die). We've had them break when dropped, stop working for "who knows why??" and I know of one person who accidentally put their meter in the microwave instead of her rice sock. Stuff happens....LOL

Don't stress out about it right now....you have a brand new meter and hopefully you won't put it in your microwave or drop it down your toilet so it should be good for awhile. ;)
Click to expand...
Goodness no I promise not put my meter in the microwave or drop in the toilet or drop it. For that matter but then again I have a essential tremors so you never know yeah I’m going to Need a good recommendation for a meter I heard someone in here today talk about rely on $20 with strips at Walmart?
 
The meter most of us used, the Relion Confirm has been discontinued, but WalMart has the Relion Prime and the new Relion Premier (about $15) and the strips for both are only $9/50

I've seen some complaints about the Prime having lots of error messages, but since the Premier is new, we don't know how it compares.
 
Aha, I definitely appreciate information that helps me a lot. I will keep an eye on the forum and see how their premier does if anyone gets it thank you so much :bighug:
 
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