Sparks update 1/16

[Care4Sparks]

Hello!

Sparks seems to be doing really well. He's more playful and getting around a lot better. We knocked him down to 0.5 units after the last posting and it hasn't caused any dramatic spikes. He's still lower at night than in the morning.

I am concerned about the recent posts RE: Freestyle Lite underestimating blood sugar. This is the meter we use. I just bought 200 strips on the 1st but am now back in the market for meters. I posted a question about Akray on the general health board, but if you have a meter you love that is fairly affordable and does not require a large sample please feel free to respond here.

In other news, he has hopped up on the bed 3 times on his own that we know of, so the neuropathy is subsiding/healing and we are very thankful for that. The other cat in our house is less stressed too. I got permission to work from home which has helped greatly with the feedings and monitoring. I was going to attempt a full curve soon but now with the Freestyle reliability concerns I'm not sure whether to go for it (use the strips I already bought and have on hand) or wait.

Thanks for your interest,
Karen

 

[owlgal]

Hey karen,

Looks like sparks is doing GREAT! :RAHCAT

As for meters, i used the freestyle lite meter at the beginning and it was reading over 100pts lower than the alpha trac. I ended up buying the walmart Relion Micro and love it. It is cheap and the strips are very cheap to get. I measured it against the alpha trac and the relion came within 30pts lower each time. It's a good reliable meter.

Good luck and hope sparks keeps doing good!

lori

 

[dmartini4]

wonderful news! glad Sparks is doing so well,
especially jumping on the bed, I know how huge that can be!
sorry I cant comment on the meter thing as I have yet to find a great meter
and I am currently using the alphatrack which is expensive

 

[Teresa and Poopy]

It seems most are having issues with the Freestyle, but not all. And it seems mostly focused on the strips being the issue, from what I'm reading.

I wonder how the strips do testing human blood? Has anyone tried for comparison? Or is it only when numbers are running high they test too low? (Sorry no answers and just more questions. :sad: )

I use a Contour and buy my strips on Ebay for about what the Relion would run me, but I hear often great things about the Relion. When I need to replace my meter, I will probably go Relion for the ease and cost of getting strips.

 

[bookw0rm]

Theresa, there's someone who posted over in Health that is a human Type I diabetic. He's been working with the company to demonstrate the problem. The low readings are showing up in humans, too.

 

[Teresa and Poopy]

Aw man. Thanks Lisa. I try to read everything I can but there's a lot of info here! LOL

And that's a good thing.

That is terrible about the Freestyle...and so dangerous. I hope it gets addressed soon!

 

[calliecat an marty]

Hi Karen :smile: I use the Relion from walmart for callie I have put it up against the vet and they got 280 and I got 275,it does not get any closer than that ;-)