? Difference between Contour Next and Alphtrak readings?

tackeee

tackeee

Member Since 2019
So I finally got my contour next and tested Little One's blood. I got the lowest reading I'd ever seen (yay!) but I also don't know which meter I should pay more attention to. The Contour next read his blood glucose at 133, and the Alphatrak read it at 162 (the most recent number posted on his chart). I gave him a little snack and will retest at 9:30 for his PMPS. I know I shouldn't give insulin under 200. What if at that time the alphatrak is above but the contour reads below?

Thank you!
 
tackeee said:
I shouldn't give insulin under 200.
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Hi Elizabeth. What an excellent avatar pic of Little One, very cool :).
Is this a very handsome little boy or a very pretty little girl :rolleyes:?
Ok... question why aren’t you suppose to give insulin under 200? I’ve not heard that before o_O
 
As a somewhat diehard pet meter user who eventually switched to a human meter for regular every day testing, my suggestion would be to pick one meter and stick with it. You'll drive yourself nuts trying to wrap your head around the differences. I'm assuming you may have seen that no shot number of 200 here (with Lantus the no shoot number is actually 150 on a human meter). All the numbers referred to here are based on human meter readings unless other wise specified and there is no way to know what any number might be on a pet meter other than to say it likely would be higher. You can't assume it would be a certain number of points or a % because there is no mathematical way to convert between the two and there is also meter variance that adds another unknown into the differences. Generally, the higher the BG the greater the difference with the pet meter reading higher.

I suggest you pick one meter and stick with it. Use the other meter as your backup. I personally continued to use my pet meter for a double check when I got numbers warning of potential hypo but I did so knowing my human meter read low at low range BG.
 
Thanks! So if his numbers are below 150 on the human meter tonight (on Lantus) should I not dose at all or give a lower dose? I’ll stick to the contour meter (cheaper!)

I’ve also heard that sometimes people use the alphatrak when their vet wants a curve but use their human meter for everyday use. Worth it?
 
tackeee said:
I’ve also heard that sometimes people use the alphatrak when their vet wants a curve but use their human meter for everyday use. Worth it?
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If your vet uses the AT2, showing them a human meter curve could elicit a "useless" verdict or cause your vet to think Little One is doing better than he is. So yes, it's ideal to do curves for your vet with the AT2 meter if that is the vet's meter of choice.
Little One is indeed handsome but hardly old in my books.... I have a 20.75 year old!
 
One clarification, there is no Lantus no shot number. If you are new and following SLGS for dosing, in the beginning there is a no shot number, but as you gather data that can be lowered. If you are following Tight Regulation, we suggest that if you get a number under 150, you stall, do not feed, and post for help.

Nice to see the numbers coming down. :cool:
 
Wendy&Neko said:
One clarification, there is no Lantus no shot number. If you are new and following SLGS for dosing, in the beginning there is a no shot number, but as you gather data that can be lowered. If you are following Tight Regulation, we suggest that if you get a number under 150, you stall, do not feed, and post for help.

Nice to see the numbers coming down. :cool:
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Thank you! I'm so happy to see some lower numbers (granted encouraged by the switch to Contour, but they'd started coming down too).

Is there a reason for the not feeding part? (We don't want it to temporarily throw his numbers off?)
 
Feeding will bring his numbers up. You want to know if his numbers are rising on their own at the end of the cycle, without influence of carbs.
 
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