Like most glucose meters, you will never ever know if it’s right unless you have a blood sample to which you can compare it. Finger tip blood and veinous blood are very different, I get that. But this thing gives me a fairly different number every time I use it. I have to take the avg of three readings. That’s the only way for me to truly gauge. I am pregnant and am apparently pre diabetic. I got this for myself to keep an eye on trends with my sugar and if I’m doing things right w my dietary changes. I kinda need these to work. And I would think everyone else using them kinda does too. I used one off these meters for my late son, who passed away two years ago. He had hypoglycemia and needed his sugars checked several times a day. I relied on the reading those meters gave me.
One day while he was in the hospital, he had a severely low sugar. Own meter and it was 70s. I can’t have that I’m sorry. I was so pissed off bc all those weeks we’d spent at home (we only had him hole for four weeks of his life, the rest were all in hospital PICUS), I would go about my day thinking we’d been managing his sugar. That created a zero-faith effect. Cut to now, pregnant , and needing one of these stupid things. And here we go again w the unreliable readings. I don’t even feel like these should be allowed. Ok so you tell me to use a control solution to make sure it’s calibrated. Do you think this came w any? No. I know this is the light version, ok, but it comes w every other thing on the planet, which I appreciate, so why not jsut put in a few effing drops of control solution?
At least to just get the customer using a reliable product. Page thing in the directions about control solutions and how to test, and NOT GIVE ANY SOLUTION. Yesterday my sugars were not great. Today so far they are okay. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see what my bloods looks like from doctor based blood draws. Until then, the averaging of 3 numbers seems realistic, albeit annoying. I’m glad it came w so many strips and lancets, and case. It is simple to use. But there’s no way I’d ever use this to like document sugars and show my doctor. Update, a week later: turns out I have to use this to document sugars and show my doctor lol. However bc of this, I have sprung the extra $10 to get the control solution. Hopefully this quells any concerns. I can also get a reading in the dr office and have them compare this with the official one they use.
I have calmed down a bit with the three reading averages. My numbers have been fairly stable and correlate correctly to my diet changes. I even got the same number twice in a row when checking. SO im still giving this a shot. If it doesn’t hold its weight w the doctors machine though I will have to get an insurance approved one. UPDATE: about 2 months later: (pics posted show comparisons between OhCare and the Freestyle meters) Ok I have actually come to really like this little meter set. I do NOT like how expensive the replacement lancets and test strips are, and I feel like Ive spent $300 on bs supplies like that already. However, I like the lancer, and the interface of the meter itself. I recently ran out of supplies, AGAIN, and was tired of ordering new ones when I know for a fact my insurance covers a meter.
I had my dietitian put in an Rx for the ever popular Freestyle. DISLIKE. I totally prefer this OhCare one. I like the lancer WAY better, the Freestyle lancets are a thicker gauge needle and ike destroy my fingers every time. I have the lancer on a 2 setting. With the OhCare I was on a 4. I never had a bleeding problem w the Oh Care, but with the Freestyle I am bleeding everywhere and it doesn’t stop for a while. Its very annoying. I also prefer the OhCare meter over the Freestyle. There are very obvious buttons on the OhCare, power, scrolling up and down, Glyco Caresglucose metabolism the time and date, etc. The Freestyle has no designated power button, just lettered buttons and I dont like how its used w the scrolling. I also like the OhCare’s bottles better. The test strips slide easily out of the container with a finger. When you do this 900 million times a day you kind of find a groove and have that baby set up in 10 seconds. With the Freestyle, the strips are in a smaller bottle and are made of a different material and dont slide out nicely. It takes far mortise to set up the Freestyle than it does this OhCare. I also like the case the OhCare comes with. FAR better quality than the Freestyle. Sometimes the grass isn’t always greener. I rather like the OhCare and I recommend it for those whose either don’t have insurance and Glyco Caresglucose metabolism need something simple, or are looking to change meters and dont Glyco Care supplement about insurance.