test strip expiration?

[Bonnie & Kyndra]

I know everything has to have an expiration date, but I also know that many things, prescription meds included, do not suddenly crumble, lose their potency, etc. the date that is written on the package. What is a safe margin for test strip expiration date? a month or so?

thanks

 

[Larry and Kitties]

I would go couple of months. However, I would "test" the strips either using the control solution. If that is not available, tet yourself if you are not diabetic, You should read about 100. Specifically:

Many factors affect a person's blood sugar level. A body's homeostatic mechanism, when operating normally, restores the blood sugar level to a narrow range of about 4.4 to 6.1 mmol/L (82 to 110 mg/dL).
Despite widely variable intervals between meals or the occasional consumption of meals with a substantial carbohydrate load, human blood glucose levels normally remain within the normal range. However, shortly after eating the blood glucose level may rise temporarily up to 7.8 mmol/L (140 mg/dL) or a bit more in non-diabetics. The American Diabetes Association recommends a post-meal glucose level less than 10 mmol/L (180 mg/dl) and a pre-meal plasma glucose of 5 to 7.2 mmol/L (90–130 mg/dL).[4]
The actual amount of glucose in the blood and body fluids is very small. The control mechanism in the human body works on very small quantities of glucose. In a healthy adult male of 75 kg (165 lb) with a blood volume of 5 litres (1.3 gal), a blood glucose level of 100 mg/dL or 5.5 mmol/L corresponds to about 5 g (0.2 oz or 0.002 gal, 1/500 of the total) of glucose in the blood and approximately 45 g (1½ ounces) in the total body water (which includes more than merely blood and will be usually about 60% of the total body weight in men). (A small sugar packets provided in many restaurants with coffee or tea is about 5 grams.)

From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_sugar

 

[Bonnie & Kyndra]

Thanks, Larry. I am considering some that don;t expire until the summer so many will be fine. Maybe I would test one or two on myself (I am not diabetic) before they expire and then after under same conditions (before a meal, just after I get up). They are certainly less expensive this way.

You are a wealth of information! :mrgreen:

 

[LynnLee + Mousie]

for one touch strips i think people have gone a few months past expiration with no problem.

fwiw, the only meter i know for sure won't let you use expired strips is the accu-chek aviva. the darn meter basically tells you to get lost once you reach about noon on the day they expire. LOL!!

 

[Bonnie & Kyndra]

OMG! really? boy, they sure have you tied up there, huh? I suppose it is to keep people from getting wrong readings and using them too far past the expiry date but they could have SOME little buffer built in and a flashing message on the meter: "you have one month left", then "two weeks" etc. to give you advance warning! nailbite_smile - one more thing to worry about!