[O4FFS]

I am quite annoyed by meter manufacturers - who when I tested several different almost new meters and test strips, at the same time, from the same drop of blood, gave 3 widely differing results from 5.8 to 7.6. So I reported this to the assorted national theraputic goods admin and national diabetes associations - and I complained that the Chinese made Freestyle Neo - had an office in Australia, but a foreign call centre, that had people who could barely speak english and worked from a flow chart script. Their meter gave erratic readings, AND they had those idiotically awful Chinese manuals written in 1 mm high fonts - where diabetes is a life or death issue and they are writing the encyclopedia britannica of how to operate their equipment on the back of a postage stamp.

Grrrrrrrrrrr So I kicked up a stink about, "Don't you people ever think about these things, when you approve these blood glucose testing meters - that no one can read the instructions for them?"

If you can't read them, then you can't operate them....

Now into the issues.

What has ticked me off this time, is that I bought a new "True Metrix Air" blood glucose testing meter. On page 3 it says, "Perform Control Tests BEFORE performing a blood glucose test for the first time."

OK.... What with? There are no 2ml ampoules of testing solutions in the packet, with the meters? Of all the chemists - near and far, no one has got them either.

So I rang the company and got stuck into "Don't you get it" person who didn't get it.

I told them to include the control solutions in the packet, with the product....

I also asked them to tell me the formulation of the testing solutions so I could make my own.

Blood Glucose Testing machines, are for testing the glucose levels of HUMAN BLOOD - this bullshit spun by the manufacturers of the machines, stipulating that you have to use a solution, that is made for their machines - is an absolute lie.

Essentially I'd use distilled water, as the mineral content of tap waters can vary a lot, which could alter the readings, but what you are making is the precursor to an alcoholic beverege, by the adding of say 1 gram of glucose to 99 grams of water - a 1% glucose solution, and there may be other ingredients to alter the PH, to modify the surface tension, and to act as a preservative.

Given that small and highly accurate pocket sized digital scales are available for nix, and the solution would be used in the day, and then drunk, I see every reason to make a DIY 100 ml batch every month or three and to then test all the meters at the same time.

Blood serum replicas do not have to be absolutely accurate, but plasma has about 900mg of sodium chloride, 200mg of potassium chloride, it's PH is 7.2 - which is slightly alkaline. I am not sure of the surface tension of blood or the materials use in the test trips are blood-phillic - meaning they attract and flow blood across their surfaces, and into the chemically reactive testing electrodes.

Does anyone have a good idea of the more exact formulation of control testing solutions?

The only differences I can think of would be the dissolved glucose levels, would be a 1%, a 5% and a 10%, or 1%, 3% and a 5% range of solutions.

I could always do a blood test and then make a few replica solutions to see which one replicated the results of the blood test.

And then go from there.

 

[mbuster]

HI O4FFS, welcome to the forum. I'll try to respond to as much as I can in your post. If I missed something it could be because of some overlap I try to address later and just missed it.

I am quite annoyed by meter manufacturers - who when I tested several different almost new meters and test strips, at the same time, from the same drop of blood, gave 3 widely differing results from 5.8 to 7.6. So I reported this to the assorted national theraputic goods admin and national diabetes associations - and I complained that the Chinese made Freestyle Neo - had an office in Australia, but a foreign call centre, that had people who could barely speak english and worked from a flow chart script. Their meter gave erratic readings, AND they had those idiotically awful Chinese manuals written in 1 mm high fonts - where diabetes is a life or death issue and they are writing the encyclopedia britannica of how to operate their equipment on the back of a postage stamp.

The US FDA guidelines for meter accuracy must be within +/- 15% for 95% of the readings and within +/- 20% for 99% of all meter readings. This is found on page 12 of the FDA guidelines issued Sept 29, 2020. So that means if the actual value is 100 mg/dL (5.55 mmol/L in your case), the meter reading can be considered accurate if it reads between 85 and 115 mg/dL (4.72 to 6.39 mmol/L). Australia guidelines may follow those of the US FDA.

Your numbers, 5.8-7.6 would be within that +/- 15%, assuming the real value was a 6.7 mmol/L. However, your sample is possibly tainted after you took the first sample. Some of the chemicals in the test strip could have gotten back onto the remaining blood drop and interfered with the reading of the second meter. The second sample could have also gotten chemicals back onto the drop causing possibly even more interference with the third sample.

So I kicked up a stink about, "Don't you people ever think about these things, when you approve these blood glucose testing meters - that no one can read the instructions for them?"

If you can't read them, then you can't operate them....

It is not only BG test meters that suffer from translation to from one language to another, and not understanding the support person you reach, nor their knowledge beyond the script they have. It is frustrating and could have serious consequences as you mention. I am not aware of the regulations in regards to instruction manuals or customer support but there is much room for improvement.

Now into the issues.

What has ticked me off this time, is that I bought a new "True Metrix Air" blood glucose testing meter. On page 3 it says, "Perform Control Tests BEFORE performing a blood glucose test for the first time."

OK.... What with? There are no 2ml ampoules of testing solutions in the packet, with the meters? Of all the chemists - near and far, no one has got them either.

So I rang the company and got stuck into "Don't you get it" person who didn't get it.

I told them to include the control solutions in the packet, with the product....

I also asked them to tell me the formulation of the testing solutions so I could make my own.

Blood Glucose Testing machines, are for testing the glucose levels of HUMAN BLOOD - this bullshit spun by the manufacturers of the machines, stipulating that you have to use a solution, that is made for their machines - is an absolute lie.

I do not know the purpose of using the test solution. I personally don't believe that the test solution really serves a very useful purpose and have never used it but once when I was able to get a bottle of it at the pharmacy way back when. If I got a reading outside of the range for that solution, is it the meter, is it the strip, is it that solution causing it? It's not a solution to calibrate the meter, I don't know of any home meters that users can calibrate, so to me its the waste of a strip. But if you want to use it, most manufacturers used to would send you a vial if you requested it, not sure what they do now because I don't use it.

Essentially I'd use distilled water, as the mineral content of tap waters can vary a lot, which could alter the readings, but what you are making is the precursor to an alcoholic beverege, by the adding of say 1 gram of glucose to 99 grams of water - a 1% glucose solution, and there may be other ingredients to alter the PH, to modify the surface tension, and to act as a preservative.

Given that small and highly accurate pocket sized digital scales are available for nix, and the solution would be used in the day, and then drunk, I see every reason to make a DIY 100 ml batch every month or three and to then test all the meters at the same time.

Blood serum replicas do not have to be absolutely accurate, but plasma has about 900mg of sodium chloride, 200mg of potassium chloride, it's PH is 7.2 - which is slightly alkaline. I am not sure of the surface tension of blood or the materials use in the test trips are blood-phillic - meaning they attract and flow blood across their surfaces, and into the chemically reactive testing electrodes.

Does anyone have a good idea of the more exact formulation of control testing solutions?

The only differences I can think of would be the dissolved glucose levels, would be a 1%, a 5% and a 10%, or 1%, 3% and a 5% range of solutions.

I could always do a blood test and then make a few replica solutions to see which one replicated the results of the blood test.

And then go from there.

Different manufacturers do use different technologies for meters and thus maybe different chemical reagents used for measuring the BG in the samples. I don't understand it but that is why there is not a standard solution for all meters. Maybe with manufacturers using the same technology, there may be a common test solution. Again I don't know because I don't use it. I wouldn't loose any sleep over it.

As far as checking meter accuracy, I try to verify mine when I go to the doctors office when they are going to do a blood draw. I take my meter with me and check my BG right before or right after they draw their sample and compare my number with their results. My meters have been fairly close over the years. There are meters that are more accurate than others and that info can be found just searching the internet.

 

[O4FFS]

What is it about this, that you do not get?

"Different manufacturers do use different technologies for meters and thus maybe different chemical reagents used for measuring the BG in the samples."

They are measuring a compound in the same substance, in the same material - blood glucose in human blood.

They are not testing salty ocean water, battery acid, bathroom bleach and tree sap.

I told you what the information IS. So pay attention.

Do you know how to formulate a testing solution? What materials are involved?

Yes or No.

If yes, spell it out.

If no, keep your chemically illiterate opinions to yourself.

 

[Lee_Bo]

What is it about this, that you do not get?

"Different manufacturers do use different technologies for meters and thus maybe different chemical reagents used for measuring the BG in the samples."

They are measuring a compound in the same substance, in the same material - blood glucose in human blood.

They are not testing salty ocean water, battery acid, bathroom bleach and tree sap.

I told you what the information IS. So pay attention.

Do you know how to formulate a testing solution? What materials are involved?

Yes or No.

If yes, spell it out.

If no, keep your chemically illiterate opinions to yourself.

Great way to get ignored in the future.

Welcome to the site anyway.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[itissteve]

Do you know how to formulate a testing solution? What materials are involved?

Yes or No.

If yes, spell it out.

If no, keep your chemically illiterate opinions to yourself.

O4FFS, this issue definitely has you on a tear. I'm sorry this upsets you so much.

mbuster is trying to help. Very few of us are chemists, none of us are diabetes M.D.s, and none of us are privy to whatever combination of ingredients each manufacturer uses for their control solution (and apparently it is proprietary to the meter because, to my knowledge, no one offers a "universal" control solution). So if you need that discrete an answer, the answer is no.

It seems to me that you might be better off asking this question on another Web forum, maybe one more geared to chemistry or biology. It also seems to me that if all of your questions about diabetes have this same critical tone, this forum may not be the one for you at all. It's your decision to express yourself less critically in future posts here. If you choose not to adapt, we can make some decisions too.

 

[mbuster]

What is it about this, that you do not get?

"Different manufacturers do use different technologies for meters and thus maybe different chemical reagents used for measuring the BG in the samples."

They are measuring a compound in the same substance, in the same material - blood glucose in human blood.

They are not testing salty ocean water, battery acid, bathroom bleach and tree sap.

I told you what the information IS. So pay attention.

Do you know how to formulate a testing solution? What materials are involved?

Yes or No.

If yes, spell it out.

If no, keep your chemically illiterate opinions to yourself.

Thank you for showing how smart you really are and how illiterate I am. If you don't mind, explain to me exactly why test solutions are specific to different brands but shouldn't be?

Oh, I get it, but apparently you don't. Sorry I misused the word meter instead of test strip for the different technologies. Maybe this site can provide more detail to aide in the oh so simple answers to your quest, unless you think they are electrochemistry illiterate.