ReliOn Confirm Meter Completely UNreliable, help!

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Cherylockholmes

Cherylockholmes

Member Since 2013
I had the day off today, so I decided to do a BG curve on Joplin using my ReliOn Confirm meter. Last time I tested was 2 hours ago and he was at 276. I just tested again 2 hours later, and it reads 409! I thought that has to be wrong, so I immediately tested him again and got 350! Just for the heck of it (poor Joplin's ear!) I tested a third time and got 382!! So needless to say, I am stopping this curve since it is obviously not accurate. I am so mad that I have spent money on this piece of crap meter and all these testing strips, and lord knows how long I've been getting inaccurate readings!!

Can anyone recommend a RELIABLE meter? I guess this is what I should expect buying something from Walmart!! :evil:
 
Ok, after furiously typing my original post, I took a few deep breaths and did some research. I understand that it doesn't really make a difference when you're talking over 300's if it's 409, 350 or 382...ALL are indicating that BG is TOO high...I get that. It still is frustrating to have this much of an inaccuracy. I just looked at the spreadsheet, and this particular model doesn't seem to rate extremely well for accuracy, so I will be looking into others.

My second question...many here have been telling me I should get him off the Vetsulin and onto the Lantus (glargine). I have a call into my vet regarding this. Someone told me before, but if someone could just reiterate here, I'd appreciate it....someone said something about the Vetsulin lasting only 6 hours, is that correct? If so, then today's numbers would make sense. I administered the Vetsulin at 7am...BG came down over the next 4 hours and then by hour 6, it was higher or at the level he tested in the morning! Should I expect this number to stay steady through to his PM shot? I am going to continue with the curve, even though I said I wouldn't, just to see what numbers I come up with.

Thanks all.
 
Blood glucose meters are allowed by law to be off by 20% from one reading to the next. Even if you tested off the exact same blood drop, the readings will vary from test strip to test strip. Federal regulatory agencies have decided this accuracy is sufficient for humans, including small children.

The reason the Relion meters are recommended by members here is because of the low cost of test strips. DCIN (Diabetic Cats in Need) has recently switched all their clients to the Arkray meters. Arkray is the manufacturer of the Relion line of meters for Wal-Mart. You'll see that on the back of your meter. The Wal-Mart Relion line has simply been 'branded' with the Relion logo and cases look a little different.

You can go through a lot of test strips in a month, especially at the beginning when you are trying to get your cat regulated. It's easy to go through 100 -200 test strips in a month.

It's a balancing act between repeatability of the test numbers and the cost of the test strips. Your choice.
 
The duration of insulin is unique to your cat. ECID. Some cats may get 6 hours out of the Vetsulin. Some cats may get 8 hours out of the Veetsulin. Some may get a full 12 hours control out of the Vetsulin. A full 12 hour duration is unusual with the Vetsulin. Most get a lot less duration. Past experience from members on this board, before the Vetsulin was pulled off the market because of quality control issues, has shown that the Vetsulin does not last long enough with a cats' rapid metabolism to be an effective insulin for use in a cat. Dog maybe. Not a cat.

There has been no change in the formulation of the Vetsulin since it has been reintroduced to the market. These poor past results hold for the Vetsulin that is now on the market.

Please, continue with the curve. your results today will be worthwhile to give us an idea of the duration your cat is getting.

Your cat may also be bouncing. Going into higher numbers as the body pumps out hormones to raise the BG's back to what it has become used to being a safe zone. This may be in the 200''s or more.

I administered the Vetsulin at 7am...BG came down over the next 4 hours and then by hour 6, it was higher or at the level he tested in the morning! Should I expect this number to stay steady through to his PM shot? I am going to continue with the curve, even though I said I wouldn't, just to see what numbers I come up with.
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Please continue with the testing curve today. The numbers may continue to go up. That will be useful information. Are you testing at least every 2 hours for 12 hours?
 
Deb, yes I am testing every 2 hours for 12 hours. I have entered the values in my spreadsheet thus far, and will continue with the curve. Thanks!
 
You might be interested in reading this Think Tank thread on glucometer accuracy. The number variance can be frustrating, but one good thing is that our spreadsheets are color-coded. Anything yellow is "warning" anything blue is "doing all right" and anything "green" is perfect. :mrgreen: The most important thing for me is accuracy in lower numbers so I can stave off a potential hypo. Luckily, with all meters, the lower the number, the smaller the range of 20% variance. You can check it out in this graph posted by BJM (the "range width" column).
 
So, from your curve yesterday, we can see that the peak was somewhere between +3 and +6. Lowest number you tested was at +4.

Numbers were fairly steady after the +6 reading.

You don't test everyday so it's hard to compare to the history and see any pattern.

Do I remember seeing a post from your that said your were going to switch to Lantus? Yes, here it is http://felinediabetes.com/FDMB/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=95792&p=1047085#p1047085

Cherylockholmes said:
Ok, I spoke with my vet and he is going to switch him to Lantus...yeah! After the most recent reading in my curve, 417, this Vetsulin is clearly no good for him.
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Let us know how the switch goes.
 
Another thing to note: if you take 2 tests, the overlap of the +/- 20% is more likely to represent where the true test value lies.

The variability is kind of like ring toss - so long as the big ring is on the stake, it counts. With several rings, the area of overlap starts to narrow in on the stake.
 
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