Control Solution = Better Control?

By Quinn Phillips Monitoring blood glucose at home is second nature to many people with diabetes. In fact, it's often so automatic that you may not stop to think about all the steps in the process that may interfere with achieving an accurate blood glucose reading. First, there's the near-automatic loss of accuracy that comes from taking a blood sample from capillaries, which is what happens with both fingertip and alternate-site testing. The blood glucose level in your capillaries is delayed compared to the blood glucose level in your veins, which is considered your "true" blood glucose level and is what lab tests measure. The two levels may differ by as much as 10% to 15%, depending on how quickly your blood glucose level is changing. If you've been fasting and your blood glucose level is stable, the two probably won't differ by very much. Second, your blood may become tainted when it reaches the surface of your skin, especially if you've been handling food prior to lancing your finger. And third, the test strip or meter you use may deliver inconsistent or inaccurate results. This last possibility is one that people with diabetes often forget about. After all, meters give the impression that they can pinpoint the exact glucose level of blood samples; they don't display a range of possibilities. But most new meters are only guaranteed to be accurate within a 20% range. This means that if your actual blood glucose level is 100 mg/dL, the meter might display a number anywhere ...
Source: Diabetes Self-Management - Category: Diabetes Authors: Source Type: blogs