TrueTest Meters

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NewAtDiabeticCat

Member Since 2012
Hello again!

Now that testings are going a little better, I'm developing concerns about my meters. We've been checking our other cat Gibby occasionally and consistently found her with low glucose levels, from 42 up to about 62. We've done this with two meters of the same brand: True2Go and TrueResult, both from CVS.

I was concerned about her low glucose, so I took her to the vet today. The vet took blood and sent it off for Gibby's annual labwork, which includes glucose testing. Her level came back 160! I know stress (vets) raises glucose, but 100 points? Does anyone have any experience with these meters? I'm afraid they're testing too low, and therefore Marty is not getting his correct doses of insulin.

Thank you!
Steven.
 
We took Ruby in for a standard check up a couple of weeks ago. I tested her right before we left the house and she came in at 105 on an AlphaTrak (these run higher human meters). When we got the lab work back it showed she testEd at 197.
 
Stress can raise them up even higher than 100 points. I've seen it on the board that people should not use any meter that starts with True......I cannot vouch for that either way. I have always used my One Touch Ultra.......I trust it from all the tests and comparisons I've run including with lab work. I remember one cat of mine tested over 300 and he was not diabetic but was in major stress.
 
The only thing I will say about meters, is if you are uncertain or unhappy with your existing meter(s), then purchase a different brand and test it out to see if that works better for you.
 
i can't speak to the accuracy of any of the "true" meters, but i can show you an example from alex's spreadsheet of elevated numbers due to vet stress.

vetstressexample_zps33daeabb.jpg


she had ruptured an anal sac. the vet gave her a pain med before cleaning her up and packing the wound with an antibiotic ointment, but you can see how stressed out she was anyway.


edited to add:
Consumer Reports Blood Glucose Meter Ratings as of September 2012
 
NewAtDiabeticCat said:
Hello again!

Now that testings are going a little better, I'm developing concerns about my meters. We've been checking our other cat Gibby occasionally and consistently found her with low glucose levels, from 42 up to about 62. We've done this with two meters of the same brand: True2Go and TrueResult, both from CVS.

I was concerned about her low glucose, so I took her to the vet today. The vet took blood and sent it off for Gibby's annual labwork, which includes glucose testing. Her level came back 160! I know stress (vets) raises glucose, but 100 points? Does anyone have any experience with these meters? I'm afraid they're testing too low, and therefore Marty is not getting his correct doses of insulin.

Thank you!
Steven.
Click to expand...

OK I'll comment on this touchy subject.....
There have been posts in the past about warnings to refrain from bashing this meter over that one, so I will say only that others have said they got unreliable test numbers when they used the meters you are using. I never used that brand, so I have no first hand experience.

There is another meter that has shown to give false BG readings, never giving any results over around 300 when using the butterfly technology strips, and several high dose cats likely suffered with their resistance given a chance to increase because of misleading BG readings from the FreeStyle meters. Sure, the strips could be fixed now, so you could try one and take your chances. I know there are Consumer Reports comparisons of meters, but all the data relates to humans, so it's up to you. I never used any FreeStyle meters, but I have seen the results on many many spreadsheets, a sea of 200s and the dose not adjusted as needed because '200s are not that bad', meanwhile the cats are up in the 300s and 400s.

The most economical meter, that I have used for a time as do many others, is the Relion. The strips are where you spend the money and their strips are the least costly.

Many people have done their own comparisons of a few meters, then selected the one in which they had the most confidence. I most prefer the Bayer Contour - I compared it to the OneTouch, AccuCheck, and Precision Xtra. They were all quite fine, but the criteria I used ended with Bayer as my main meter for giving the lowest BG on the low end of the scale, no strip coding, and best sipping. My backup has always been any of the OneTouch meters.

Cost wise, I'd suggest the Relion if you are in the US. Otherwise, I would go with Bayer or OneTouch
 
Good Morning!
Meters - oh the touchy discussions these get! I just really have a couple of comments that has nothing to do with your meter...first, my civies run between 45 and 65 most of the time using my human meter. I use the human ReliOn Confirm. If I took them to the vet, he'd use an Alphatrak pet meter, they would probably read 75 - 95 IF we could filter out that 'vet stress' wacky number. We already know that human meters read lower than ones calibrated for animals but this doesn't cause problems, we just know a human meter reads about 30 points lower in those low numbers. That's why we consider '50' to be a low number for most people BUT if we know they use an Alphatrak, 80 is the low number. Not too tough to figure out huh!

My backup meter is a OneTouch Ultra altho' only because I have lots of strips that were sent to me a few months back. I truly liked the Beyer Contour when I tried it. The OneTouch reads a bit higher above 150 but below that, it starts matching my Confirm quite closely.

BIG HUGS!!!!
 
Wow, everybody, thanks! All of that is so helpful! Those vet BG levels are amazing! So stress really can make a big difference. And boy, was she stressed at the vet! While they were taking the blood specimen, she screamed like crazy!

Today, after a little research, I went to Walmart and bought a Relion Confirm. It's inexpensive, has cheap strips, and only requires 0.3 uL of blood, which is a huge benefit! I tried it on Gibby an hour ago. She scored a 49, which is in the same range as both of my TrueTest meters. So no real difference between the results of my three meters.

Gibby has an appointment with her vet Monday morning. I'll take the Relion meter along, and the vet and I can compare results from the same blood sample. They use AlphaTrak, so it will be an interesting comparison.

Thank you again for all your help!

Steven.
 
Interested to see the results as this has been a hot debate for a while.

I think the issue with the Trues was that the higher the numbers got, the less accurate the meter would read, giving falsely low numbers when the cat was in the 300-400+'s.

That aside, nice numbers :)
 
Steven,
I have a feeling her numbers are just fine as your meters are showing at home. Another difference in the 2 types of meters, the Alphatrak is calibrated for venous blood while human meters are calibrated for capillary blood. You might want to both use the same ear pokie blood so you're comparing apples to apples...
 
NewAtDiabeticCat said:
Wow, everybody, thanks! All of that is so helpful! Those vet BG levels are amazing! So stress really can make a big difference. And boy, was she stressed at the vet! While they were taking the blood specimen, she screamed like crazy!

Today, after a little research, I went to Walmart and bought a Relion Confirm. It's inexpensive, has cheap strips, and only requires 0.3 uL of blood, which is a huge benefit! I tried it on Gibby an hour ago. She scored a 49, which is in the same range as both of my TrueTest meters. So no real difference between the results of my three meters.

Gibby has an appointment with her vet Monday morning. I'll take the Relion meter along, and the vet and I can compare results from the same blood sample. They use AlphaTrak, so it will be an interesting comparison.

Thank you again for all your help!

Steven.
Click to expand...

the discrepancies between meters seems to be most at higher numbers and the least at lower numbers.

some info you might want to share with your vet since they're using the AlphaTrak meter...
the "old" strips have been discontinued. AlphaTrak has come out with new strips which can be used with the "old" AlphaTrak meter as well as the "new" AlphaTrak 2 meter.

about the "new" strips...
AlphaTRAK® meters and AlphaTRAK® 2 test strips
From American Diabetes Wholesale: If you choose not to upgrade, you can continue to use your original AlphaTRAK® meter with the new AlphaTRAK® 2 test strips; however, you must use CODE 7 for all species.

Please note: when using the AlphaTRAK® 2 test strips with the original meter, test results for cats remain accurate. There is a 9.7% negative bias in dogs. This bias falls within the ISO standards of +/- 20% variance set by the FDA for glucose meters, and may not impact your veterinarian's treatment decisions. For the most accurate AlphaTRAK® test results, we recommend that you upgrade to the new AlphaTRAK® 2 meter.
 
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