Different meters, different numbers?

[donnahc]

Hi everyone:
I have a question about meters. We started out with the AlphaTrak pet meter. Test strips for that are 60 bucks shipped for 50, so I was looking into an alternative that would be good but more affordable for strips.

We got the Freestyle Lite meter. People said they liked theirs and it’s the same manufacturer as the one we have, the comparison test (Gator sent a link) looked very close for the two meters.

So today we got the meter and for tonight’s pmps we did a test on both meters on the same drop of blood to see if there was a difference.

AlphaTrak got 237 and Freestyle got 204. Now is that a difference we should worry about? When we get to low numbers it seems like it might be. And folks said we didn’t need to do any conversions from a human meter if I remember correctly.

Any thoughts? I’d really like to use the Freestyle, but only if we can know it’s ok.

Thanks,

-Donna and Asher

 

[Sue and Oliver (GA)]

From what I have read, the AlphaTrak does test higher at the lowest numbers. Your numbers tonight aren't that far apart - you would dose the same for either number.

If I were you, I would pick a meter and use it, and not agonize over the difference.

 

[donnahc]

Thanks Sue!
I had a vibe that is what the answer was but wanted to ask the experts

-d.

 

[Joanna & Bix (GA)]

I kept 50 as the bottom end acceptable # for my human meter & 80 for the pet meter. People disputed me on that, but that was what made sense to me & what Dr. Rand has written. I also tested a civie with each meter and used that as a guideline - I got 81 I think on the cat meter, and 54 or something on the human meter from a civie (different blood drops though, but same civie).

My only pet peeve on the whole thing is if people tell you that 50 is an acceptable # using your pet meter I would take that with a giant grain of salt. Might be true, but it could also be that 50 on your pet meter would be 20 on a human meter, so why take that risk? You have to assume (if using a pet meter) that other people don't realize that, and/or don't see a distinction, so you have to do more "translating" in your head to adjust the #s to what other's are saying (i.e. if they say 50, you think 80 to compensate for the different meter).

My feeling is that it is easier to just use a human meter, then you are in line with everyone else and their expectations. In a sense it doesn't matter what the "true" numbers are, because the protocols are designed for using a human meter, so IMO the differences are already built into the #s (i.e that is why we find 50 acceptable, b/c we know the meters run low, although I may be in the minority in believing that!).

 

[judy and squamee(GA)]

I used Free Style lite and loved it. (got the strips from Hocks---much cheaper than local pharmacies). I compared my results with my vet's several times (don't know what he used) and they were quite similar. I think there is supposed to be something like 20% variability anyway, so you are not dealing with absolute numbers. It makes sense to pick one and stick with it. Otherwise you can make yourself crazy.