Importance of Self monitoring of Blood Glucose at Home with Glucometer. Is there still need to go to a lab test?

[StopDiabetes]

Good quality machines are accurate & precise. If instruction given in sugar testing machine followed properly there should not be any problem. As there are many differences in the methods of testing (e.g. machines uses capillary whole blood & estimate blood glucose whereas laboratory uses venous blood for plasma glucose estimation), one should not compare accuracy & efficacy of machines with laboratory.

Machine detects ups & downs of blood sugars at an early stage. It is the only way to know how the body responds to changes in diet, exercise, tablets & insulin and will help in adjusting the therapy to achieve specific blood sugar goals. It is the only method of diagnosing hypoglycemia (low sugar) at the precise time of its occurrence. It will also help in identifying insulin doses during intercurrent illness.

It is important to know that good machines still have a margin of error of at least 10%. Precision & accuracy of machines need to be assessed periodically to guarantee the quality of data with quality - control solution. Laboratory testing is good for finer control.

[Kalyan34]

The write up is informative. I always use blood sugar test with Accu Check. I regulate insulin intake from Accu Check and maintain both Fasting & PP at required Level

[fastrise]

I agree with stopdiabetese observation. If one takes 10% plus/minus it is OK. However test strips are pretty expensive manufacturers should make it cheaper.

[sargunamoorthy in reply to fastrise]

we may send a request to manufacturer to check the possibility to the reduction of price to the strips.

[ravkumac in reply to sargunamoorthy]

YES I DO AGREE. ACCUCHECK - 50 COSTS RS.1100/- IN OU LOCALITY BUT I GET IT FOR RS.1000/-. SO YOU CAN SEE THE MARGIN OF PROFIT.

THE COS ARE NOT FOR PATIENT - 1ST THEY SEE THE BENEFIT OF SELLERS (20 TO 25% AND THEN LOOLYPOPS). COS. SHD THINK +VE AND REDUCE THE PRICE SO THAT LOTS OF PEOPLE ARE BENEFITTED.. CHECKING SUGAR LEVEL 2 A DAY - MEANS RS.40/- PER DAY WHICH IS ON HIGHER SIDE..I.E., IS WHY PEOPLE PREFER TO GO ONCE OR TWICE IN A MONTH IN THE LAB. AND THERE ALSO REPORT IS ON "RAM KE BHAROSE"

[chandramatad]

Test strips arevery expensive if priceis reduced more people use strips some times result wil

Very depends oncondition of battery etc.,

[AYUDHYA]

Fully agree with you. The chances of mixing up are there many times in busy labs.In one of the Medical Mela for a diabatic check up my brother was shown very high sugar level, which was wrong.

[kirankumar]

It is true that the glucometer is a handy machine to monitor blood glucose levels at various times in a day or night. It is very useful to the patients who are on insulin to monitor low glucose levels at home.

Only detrimental fact about the strips is the cost? If the companies are reducing the cost of strips to a lower level it is helpful to all diabetics.

[fastrise]

Hi Vinod

you have raised a very sensitive issue. In fact none of the hospitals in India no matter they are premium or non premium one's they have hardly any knowledge on handling medicines etc. I think its because of the level of education among the loaders,carriers who have less knowledge about all these and I would not be hesitant if they really care for the labels or for that matter even know the meaning of label's symbol. Even at the airport no one cares for fragile baggage and loaded and handled in the shabby way. Every thing is over crowded here so the care is less and all this happens because no one cares for human life.

[geear]

There is considerable reduction in the cost .Earlier I used to payfor100 stripsRs2000 but now it costs Rs 1500 only Still many can not afford even this expense

[ravkumac]

BEST WAY IS TO TAKE YOUR METER WITH YOU AND USE THE FIRST OR LAST DROP OF YOUR BLOOD AND SEE THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE TWO. READINGS. IF YOU CAN AFFORD STRIPS THEN 90% YOU ARE SURE OF YOUR READINGS AT HOME WITH + /- 10%.

[sunil_rao2 in reply to ravkumac]

Ya, very correct. Do like that once or twice then you can check your levels in your home. Go to the lab once in 6 months. and again crosscheck your meter.

[prasanthi]

I am monitoring my B.S levels through Glucometer twice aweek to see fluctuations in levels. As narrated by me earlier in these columns there is a 10 to 15 percent variation in comparison to lab tests. Best option is to do lab tests every month or as advised by diabetologist.Strips are very expensive and should be affordable to the common man.

[mihr49]

Whenever I go to the Lab for sugar tests I carry my Glucometer and simeltaneously I conduct my respective sugar fasting/pp test and have observed that Glucometer readings are always higher than lab readings by apprx. 15-20 mg/dl

[damayanti]

As long as the corruption continues in the political system, we the common man have to

pay the price for it. In fact cost of any medicine, input cost will not be more than 10%

of MRP.The generic medicine is available @1/3rd or less cost than the branded medicine.

Particularly prices of diabetic related goods and services will never come down, as they have a roaring business in this category b'coz the population of diabetics is increasing at

an alarming rate day by day and we have got to suffer.Once a man inflicted with diabetics, he has to make regular budgetary allocations, which is a regular assured income to the industry(medical) So grab loot as much possible. Now a days at every nuke and corner

a diabetic clinic/hospital have come up to en-cash upon the ignorance of the patient, in the name of packages they are looting from gullible public. How many are aware it (diabetics) is not a decease but a disorder in pancreas, which can be corrected by bringing in a change in living life style.