New Meter - Relion Prime. Also, nervous Mom.

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Courtney and Kismet

Courtney and Kismet

Member Since 2012
Hi everyone,

I'm a newbie here and posted a thread introducing myself and my furbaby Kismet yesterday. After chatting with a few members on this board, I decided to start home testing yesterday, even after my vet had discouraged me from doing so. I bought the Walgreen's True2go but was told this is not a reliable meter. A few mentioned Relion as a better alternative. I am planning on doing my first curve tomorrow (my vet never bothered to do one) and I was lying in bed unable to sleep worrying about the stupid meter and feeling very emotional and guilty. After a few hours of restless worrying, I got up and got changed at 2am.

With my husband and Kismet snoozing away in bed, I popped out to Walmart to buy a Relion. I'd referenced the Glucose Meter SpreadSheet by Pixiegirls and boy before I left and decided on buying either the Confirm, Micro, or Ultima. When I got to Walmart (which is about a 30 minute drive for me) they only had the Confirm but NO test strips! arggh! They did have the Relion Prime, though, one I hadn't seen mentioned. After dancing around and fingering a considerably more expensive meter, I decided on buying the Prime... it has to be better than the True2go, right? Plus, it is VERY affordable. The meter was $15 and I bought two boxes of 50 strips at $9 a piece.

I got home and decided to compare the two meters on myself. There was only a difference of 10. The True2go gave me an 83 and the Prime gave me a 73. Doesn't seem like too big of a difference. Would I expect that such a minimal range would be similar for kitty? Hoping I didn't just throw away $40 I don't have.

Anyway, I thought I'd reach out here and ask if anyone has any experience with this meter? Would you say that I have a greenlight to go ahead with the curve as planned?

Thanks,

Courtney
 
Hi Courtney,

The relion prime is a newer meter. I know some here have used it, and seem to be happy with it. You can do a search if you want to read some of the posts about it. You really can't beat the cost of the test strips, which is really important if/when you test a lot.

I use the relion ultima, and like it. With that said, I have tested the meter to several other meters:

* our vet's meter - mine read 50 points lower
* the arkray vital - the numbers were lower than the ultima
* the relion prime - it ran lower than my Ultima
* another vet's Alpha Trak - i did a curve comparison and my meter was within 1 - 18 points different (up and down). I see many posts that claim the Alpha Trak will always read 30 points different... That wasn't my experience.

I was really driving myself crazy with all the testing and wondering which number was accurate. All meters have an acceptable variance of +\- 20%. Plus even if you test the same drop of blood two times in a row, you are apt to get a different number even using the same meter. What you are really looking for is patterns. So I was advised to just pick a meter and stick with it.

I would definitely go ahead with the curve. Any and all data that you can get is important and will help you to make dosing decisions going forward.

Good luck,
Kathie
 
HI Kathie,

I will do a comparison with the two meters as soon as I get a little bit more experienced with the process of testing. This is only my second day, but already I am improving! I was able to successfully get blood drops my first attempt today. I was up very late after going to Walmart and then doing more reading on the board here. My husband woke up before me, fed breakfast and shot without doing a AMPS. After a 2am trip and an hour drive total and a lot of anxiety about doing the curve right and then missing out on that vital piece of information was very frustrating. I thought hubby was on the same page, but it looks like I am going to have to be the primary caregiver here. Instead of expressing my dismay, I popped a xanax and got a cup of coffee. What else can I do? We chatted about the importance of testing, especially PS testing, so I think he gets it now.

So far, the ReliOn Prime has been yielding very similar results to what I was getting with the True2go. Kismet doesn't seem to fluctuate in his levels very much and stays fairly consistent within a 5 point range over a period of time. 3 separate tests yesterday with True2go showed levels in the low 240s. Today with the Prime I've also gotten 240s. It will be interesting to see how he does over the course of the day. I did test him with the Prime at 4am before I went to bed. I had a little difficulty with the new lancet and had to poke him several times. It was the only time he seemed to be anxious about the process and I got a 344. I don't know if this was due to stress. Today, we've been very stress free. It all depends on how quickly and painlessly I can do the test.

Kismet is a very attentive, intelligent cat. He's learned to recognize the orange caps on the insulin needle, and if he sees them, will bolt and hide LOL No fooling him. I think from now we will try shooting while he eats to distract him as much as possible. He doesn't seem to mind the shots at all when he receives them, but apparently, there is some element of anxiety to the visualization.

Hope this gets easier with time. He is still very social, he's sitting between us napping right now, but he's more standoffish than usual. That said, he has taken to hiding under the bed anytime he is unsure of what our movements mean. For instance, if we both stand up at the same time, he bolts. Poor baby. I can't stand the idea of him being frightened in his own home by his own people. He is just going to have to get used to it.
 
Courtney, you are doing great!!! Congratulations :-D only your second day and you have been able to successfully get blood on the first attempt, that is awesome! Lots of us did not have that kind of experience with our first tests - I think I cried most of the first day, I couldn't get blood, and Zeus was not happy (squirmy little fella), and then he would run away any time I even looked in his directon. He is back to coming to me for attention now though.

It does get easier, I promise. A lot of it has to do with your confidence level, if you are worried about it, it will transfer to Kismet. We have been testing since the middle of May, and last week for the first time, Zeus purred during the test... I was thrilled. And last night he came running to the spot where we test a few minutes before it was time. Just so darned cute. He still does try to shake his head while the blood is beading up, and jumps down as soon as he can, but it is much easier than it was In The beginning.

You made me laugh, popped a xanax and got a cup of coffee... What else can you do? You are right, not much you can do about it after the fact. But it is great that you're doing the curve today, you will be able to see what affect the shot is having.

Kismet will get used to the new routine very quickly. Cats are resilient, and more adaptable than we sometimes give them credit for.

Oops, time for me to test Zeus. Take care,
Kathie
 
That is a great job getting a reading on your second day!!!

I just got a bunch of errors for many days in a row. For my first day to do curves I used a timer and set it for every hour. After the third test Sneakers started running and hiding whenever the timer went off- who says cats are dumb??? They know what is going on :lol: ! Don't forget to give treats.

After the second week Sneakers was an old hand at it and now, 9 months into it, she will wait on the stool for me to do the reading and then get her food. And, yes, most of the time she is purring- or wheezing.

If your cat gets finicky on food- try some parmesan cheese sprinkled on top- cheaper than flori flora and you can get it anywhere.

While the Prime is such a new meter- only a few months out- all of the other ones of the brand have been pretty reliable so I think it is a good one. For comparing- a good test would be to use any high BG levels to tests with if you are still interested in seeing if they match. The old True meters had trouble with anything over 299. Carl is right, they might not be so bad as that anymore. When I bought my Micro last November it was $9. I looked at it in the store this last week and it was up to $15 :shock:.

And, yes, the choices are limited at 2am as two of the WM is my area keep those items behind the pharmacy shelf.
 
Hi all,

I've posted this elsewhere, but thought I'd update this thread too. I had the vet compare my ReliOn Prime to their AlphaTRAk today.

AlphaTRAk:118
ReliOn Prime: 96

The vet said this was an acceptable range though they like to see it a little lower. She explained that oxygen changes the blood almost immediately, and that the same meter can yield different results from the same drop of blood based on a difference of a matter of seconds in testing. She said, as everyone here knows, the key is to be consistent with your meter.
 
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