[bps]

Hi,
I'm a 2 week nube, and have a One Touch Ultra 2 from my CDE. My insurance will cover two tests a day, and, based on advice from many, I'd like to test more, especially now as I'm learning. Instead of just buying extra strips for the One Touch, it looks like it might be a good idea to get the ReliOn from Walmart for $9 as the strips are much cheaper. I'd use that meter for the extra tests. Any experience with the ReliOn? Is this a good idea?

Thanks!

 

[jwags]

Lots of people use the Relion and it is about $.40 a strip, you can't beat that price. I would compare the results on the 2 meters. I just recently switched from the One Touch to the Bayer Contour because I found the strips cheaper. I find about a 20 point difference between the 2 meters.

 

[breezeonby]

Hi,
I'm a 2 week nube, and have a One Touch Ultra 2 from my CDE. My insurance will cover two tests a day, and, based on advice from many, I'd like to test more, especially now as I'm learning. Instead of just buying extra strips for the One Touch, it looks like it might be a good idea to get the ReliOn from Walmart for $9 as the strips are much cheaper. I'd use that meter for the extra tests. Any experience with the ReliOn? Is this a good idea?

Thanks!

Hello bps and :welcome:! Come on in and get comfortable :couch2: You have come to the right place, we have an answer for almost everything! Good decision to use the ReliOn meter and strips. I have used them and had no problem with them. I hope you are able to visit the forum often and take care!

 

[Shanny]

For the first few days after my diagnosis, I used a One-Touch that was given to me. Then I went to buy more strips & about fainted. So I got the ReliOn ultima & ran with that until a coupla months ago, when I thought it got a little hinky, so I got the ReliOn Confirm, and am happy with it. I've always checked the ReliOn against my lab tests when I get them, and it comes within a very few points - like 4 or 5 - of the lab results. That suits me. I don't even ask doc for a prescription, because I know Medicare will pay only one test a day, and I want the freedom to test as needed. I just buy the ReliOn out of pocket.

 

[RobertIA]

I say go with what either your insurance covers and if no insurance then use what you are able to afford. Testing more often is good especially in getting to know yourself and how different foods or food combinations affect your blood glucose levels. In testing 1 or 2 hours after eating will help you know whether the food is okay, or whether you ate too much. Either way, you should test using the same food on different days to determine whether to eliminate it or just reduce the quantity of that food, or you will know that this food is okay for now. I recheck foods at least once a year to see if things have changed. Sometimes they do and then some don't.

Many people worry about comparing one meter to another which often solves nothing. What you are looking for is if a reading is way out of the norm. Then most would suggest rewashing your hands with warm soapy water and drying completely especially the finger or fingers for the next test as the moisture mixed with the blood can affect the reading. You are looking for daily trends especially for the morning fasting blood glucose.

If something looks out of the norm by a great amount, by all means use the test solution to test a strip and if it is normal then the strips are good. It is possible to get a container of bad test strips.

Good luck and let your meter be your friend.

 

[Richard157]

I also want to test more frequently than my insurance coverage will allow. I use the Free Style meter until my strips are gone and then use my Relion meter until my next shipment of Free Style strips arrives. The Relion and Free Style meters agree very closely and I trust the Relion just as much as the Free Style. The Relion meter and strips are the best deal I have seen.

 

[Strawberry]

Do any of the ReliOn meters have the ability to be downloaded to the PC?

 

[Shanny]

The website says the Confirm has downloading capability, but it doesn't elaborate anywhere that I've found, except to offer this phone number:

How can I order a cable to download my test results?
Please contact the manufacturer directly at 800.631.0076.

ReliOn | Diabetes Products

 

[Boseman]

Great info. Thanks. I have been using an accutouch plus meter that was supplied to me in the hospital. I have used nearly 200 strips in 60 days testing and testing as suggested. I have learned so much about how my body responds to foods and exercise. I am going to purchase a relion meter and compare the results. I can then keep it in my day bag.

Best regards to all
Boseman
51 yr. old Male
Charleston, South Carolina, USA

Diagnosed Type2 Dec 1, 2010 - A1c: 8.4, Weight: 165 lb

As of Jan 24, 2011:
Average Fasting BG: 110, A1c: 7.1, Weight: 158 lb

Metformin 1x 500 per day
Aspirin 162 Mg per day
bystolic 2.5 mg per day
Effient (heart med) 10mg per day
Crestor 10 mg per day

 

[Strawberry]

If Wal*Mart wanted to get more sales from their brand of meter, they could make it easier to buy the cable necessary for downloading. Granted not everyone has the desire to download, but there are many who do want that feature. Our local Wal*Mart store seems to have a low supply of their meters......unless I always look when they need to stock their shelves

 

[Aslosman]

The information below comes from working the system for 7 years now. All information is provided for educational purposes and reflects my experience in dealing with different manufacturers, insurance companies and providers nothing can be guaranteed accurate for your specific situation but take what I have learned and yse it to your best advantage.

Every manufacturer (except, for obvious reasons, Reli On) will at some time have a program to give you a free meter. Most of these offers will come with no strings attached. Just like the mobile phone company will give you a expensive phone for free so they can lock you into even more expensive air time charges the meter makers hope they get a long term test strip customer. In the past 7 years I have owned more than 20 meters and actually purchased only three.

Take every no strings offer that comes your way even if you don’t use that brand right now. Every manufacturer (again except Reli On) also has periodic deals on test strips. Having several different brands of meters allows you to use which ever test strip will cost you the least right now.

The best deal I know of right now is the Freestyle Promise program. Enrolling gets you a free Freestyle Light meter and a 30 day supply of strips for no more than $15. The program is currently available for 1 calendar year after you activate you benefits and you have to have private insurance.

One touch is still giving away free ultra mini meters but you have to dig to find it. For some reason they are not currently using a direct discount marketing scheme like Freestyle.

Some insurance companies cover a particular brand of tests strips at a lower copay than other brands. The favored brand sometimes changes. Here in New Hampshire some commercial Anthem Blue Cross policies cover One Touch strips at the generic medication copayment, all other brands are covered at the brand name medication copay.

Discovering the particular brand your insurance company prefers is sometimes difficult. I spent more than 2 months trying to get the Federal Blule Cross customer service department to understand that I was asking what, if any, brand would be covered at the generic level. They kept coming back with “There are no generic manufacturers of blood glucose meters.” Some insurance companies have specific help lines for diabetes related questions, these are good sources. Diabetes educators often know about programs as well.

Finally look at the manufacturers web sites. I join all the loyalty “clubs” and get a lot of glucose meter SPAM. I also get a lot of offers from lawyers who know I have taken this or that medication and want me to join their class action but I also get a lot of discount offers.

In the end I keep a couple of Reli On meters around. As mentioned above the meters cost less than $10. And the strips cost roughly $40 per 100 so you can test 6 times a day for 80 bucks if you are paying for your own. My insurance company charges me a $25% coinsurance if I don’t get my supplies through their mail order service so my cost is right around $20 per month. When all the discounts have expired Wal Mart comes to the rescue.

 

[Shanny]

Alex? Could you be persuaded to open a new thread on the Introductions Board? Tell us more about yourself & how you manage your diabetes.

Welcome to DF!

 

[lia]

Relion

I was really happy to find out about Relion here, (thanks Shanny) but hit a little problem with it lately. I'm running low on strips and for about 3 weeks now the Walmart site doesn't have them. A search for them used to turn up the 50 for $20 and 100 for forty, but now the only result is a new meter with 20 test strips for $16.

Even at that price it's better than a lot of the competition just for the strips alone, and a second meter might come in handy. But does anyone know what happened and why? I'm not near enough to a Walmart to go visit, and was hoping to have them delivered. For awhile I was worried that maybe they are going out of business or something. I have never seen a pharmacy run out of test strips before.

Anyone know what is happening with that? Do the Walmart stores still stock them?

 

[Strawberry]

I was just in our local Wal Mart store and they had plenty of the Relion blood glucose test strips. But you are right....sometimes in the store they have run out and I don't really know why. Hope you will get your strips soon.

 

[moon]

Although Walmart's site doesn't show the strips available, there's another link that shows available for mailorder w/ 3 pkg purchase. Looks as though you have to sign up via pharmacy mailorder: ReliOn Test Strips -- 50-Count Box (3 box bundle) - Wal-Mart

I'd consider calling ReliOn and asking about availability since you aren't near a store and do have the meter.

 

[Shanny]

These are for the ReliOn Confirm: (nevermind . . . these Walmart links aren't working - they're apparently written to redirect to the front page. Just search the Walmart site for ReliOn Confirm test strips . . . it said they were in stock and it was free shipping to your home)

 

[lia]

Thanks for all the help. This was one tough order to put through. I finally got it done with the test strips and a couple other items. Seems like the test strips weren't in stock in the online store, but were in the Walmart that the order is going to be picked up at.

Besides that they wouldn't take a Canadian credit card. (sigh) Anyway a friend put it through on his (and I paid him ). He is going going to pick up the online order there and the test strips too.

 

[Patdart]

I began this journey with a One Touch meter, but since I have to buy my own since even tho' I'm on Medicare, I asked my doctor's nurse to do an A1C on me and when she gave me the result, I immediately read all I could and put myself on an Atkins/Bernstein diet, testing 6 times a day, and my A1C was below Medicare's range by the time I got in to see the doctor. So, I've not been diagnosed yet.

I bought a Advantage meter because a friend suggested it for some feature it had and it has gotten unreliable lately. I called the site I bought it from today and it was going to cost me $14 for a small bottle of control solution and the shipping...to see if it was somehow damaged or it I had gotten bad strips. That was not a hard decision for me...I tossed it because the strips cost less than that.

I bought a ReLion meter and called to see if I could buy a bottle of solution and discovered that they will ship me one FREE! And all others that I need FREE!

No hard decision there for me!

 

[Grif110]

I use the ReliOn for extra tests. My only complaint is that it takes a little more blood (a little deeper stick in most cases) than my Aviva.