Strange readings - is this normal?

EttaD

Member Since 2025
After a couple of days of higher numbers after lowering his dose, we were expecting to see his PMPS number high. Instead it was 6.5. So we immediately tested again in his other ear and it was 4.2. I’m so confused. Any idea what this is about? We decided no shot tonight. I feel like every time I’m comfortable, something strange happens.
 
Hello! I’m sorry things are confusing. You are doing a very good job.

I’m seeing some bouncing — obviously he was bouncing from the 65 on January 7— and then he came down into blue again (like on the 9th with that 198) and then he went high again. Today it looks like he was clearing the bounce and trending downward all day and that is why you saw the PMPS of 112. Things would be easier to interpret if there was at least one nighttime test. If you have a lower than expected preshot number then you can stall by not feeding and then wait half an hour and retest to see if the numbers are going up. You may not have wanted to do that tonight though. If you have time you can wait even longer until the numbers rise, but it would put your shot times off schedule.
 
Hello! I’m sorry things are confusing. You are doing a very good job.

I’m seeing some bouncing — obviously he was bouncing from the 65 on January 7— and then he came down into blue again (like on the 9th with that 198) and then he went high again. Today it looks like he was clearing the bounce and trending downward all day and that is why you saw the PMPS of 112. Things would be easier to interpret if there was at least one nighttime test. If you have a lower than expected preshot number then you can stall by not feeding and then wait half an hour and retest to see if the numbers are going up. You may not have wanted to do that tonight though. If you have time you can wait even longer until the numbers rise, but it would put your shot times off schedule.
Thank you. Looking back he did the same weird lower later on the 4th. Also, do you think we should be concerned that one ear gave us a reading of 6.5 and the other ear a 4.2? We shall see what tomorrow brings. I don’t know what I would do without your advice.
 
Instead it was 6.5. So we immediately tested again in his other ear and it was 4.2.
These different readings could just be what is called meter variance. The glucometers are permitted to have a variance of up to about 20 percent— so it’s possible that you could even test the same drop of blood and get a 100 and a 120 or an 80 (just as a random example.) Your two numbers tonight are a bit in excess of that. It’s also possible that you can occasionally have a bad test strip. The main thing is that he was probably too low to give insulin to tonight because we don’t have enough data yet to know if that’s okay for him. You probably could have given a very small dose like .5 units, but since it’s very new for him to be that low at shot time, I think it’s just as well that you skipped the shot. You can start fresh tomorrow.
 
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