I think something is wrong with this BD meter

[cadesmom]

I check Cades bg at 10:00 and he is 178 and again at 2:00 he is 146 then my dh checks him before going to work and and it is 5:49 meter reads 29:eek: he gives him 4oz of apple j, then comes and tells me he was a 29 imediantly I new this could not be I have his basel set at .05 from 3am to 8am, so I jump out of bed mad that he didnt get me first, I check and Cades not even sweaty, pillows not wet, hes acting fine, oh yea this is 7 mins later after the 29 bg check, I check him and he's 75 I ask Cade if he felt like he was low and he said no, so my question is how long does it take for juice to start working? Im thinking he never droped below 65. weve dropped this meter a few times maybe it not any good.

[zimbie45]

typically it can take upwards to 15 min or so ( give or take) ... Your meter should have a control solution with it to see if it is testing in range.. also it may not always be the meter if something is wrong.. it maybe the test strips)....... WOW 29 that would be scarry. DID he go up from the 65.... Hope he is better

[bkfkmc]

We used the BD meter for a while. We had several wacky readings and I just didn't trust it anymore. However, our false readings were usually on the high side. I decided I didn't want to risk it anymore, so we switched meters-different brand. I can't remember having any low readings that I didn't trust, but you can always call and request they change out the meter.

[momofphoenix]

Once I give my son a juice box within about 5 minutes I recheck him and his bs is already going up. Sometimes if I continue to get low's I will use one of my other meters. But if I dont trust the readings low or high I will use the control solution and check the meter, or my favorite is checking my hubbys bs... :D he seems to be the guini pig for all the new stuff we try...

I hope he is feeling better did you change out the meter or check with the control solution?

[Abby-Dabby-Doo]

Kerry-
My personal opinion is the BD meter is JUNK!
We only use it for downloads.

[Kaylee's Mommy]

we used the BD meter briefly when Kaylee started pumping (I do miss that feature of having her number go right to her pump!) but we were getting numbers on the lower side... for weeks we thought we had terrific numbers and we did not.. I started checking her against or other meter and sometimes it was over 150pnts off!! So we stopped using it.. we never did get a low false number like that though..

Juice does seem to effect Kaylee pretty fast.. as long as she isn't still headed in a downward trend it'll bring her up quickly.. we've never been 29, lowest has been a 32 and that day it took forever to get her up.. (well, what seemed like forever..)

[Isabelle's Mom]

I agree with Lanae. The meter is junk. My dh (TI) did a lot of test readings comparing the the BD meter and with the One-Touch because we got a lot of erroneous readings with the BD. The BD was occasionally off 50+ points on back-to-back readings! MM sent us a new meter, but, same problem. Eventually, the helpline told us that some vials of test strips might be bad. So, we still use the meter because of the convenience, and throw away the test strip vial and start a new one if we get some squirrelly readings.

Some good news, though, is that Life Scan will start supplying the meters for MM in 2008. My dh has had great luck with LifeScan's One-Touch meter for many years. See binmoosa's post from 8/24/07, "Medtronic Announces Alliance with LifeScan" (sorry, not so good at the forum features yet):

"Medtronic, Inc. today announced an exclusive United States agreement with LifeScan, Inc., a Johnson & Johnson company, to distribute and co-market new blood glucose meters to be developed by LifeScan for Medtronic Diabetes patients. The new meters will be built using the OneTouch platform and will wirelessly transmit blood glucose test results to MiniMed Paradigm(R) insulin pumps and the Guardian(R) REAL-Time continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) system. The initial meter offering will be available to Medtronic's U.S. patients early next calendar year, with planned meter enhancements to be introduced during the terms of the agreement.
"This alliance allows us to provide our patients with the best tools available for managing diabetes," says Chris O'Connell, president of the Diabetes business at Medtronic. "Together with LifeScan, we will work to educate people about the benefits of insulin pump therapy and proactive diabetes management for improving health and extending life."
Data transmitted from the new LifeScan meter can be viewed via Medtronic's proprietary CareLink(TM) Therapy Management Software for Diabetes, the only software that integrates meter, logbook, insulin pump and continuous glucose monitoring information to help patients and physicians more easily assess and manage diabetes.
As part of the agreement, the two companies will work together to promote awareness of insulin pump therapy, the growth of the insulin pump market and proactive strategies for diabetes management.
LifeScan's new meter will replace the Paradigm Link(R) blood glucose monitor, which is being discontinued by Becton Dickinson. Medtronic will continue to include the Paradigm Link monitor with its insulin pumps, and make test strips available to current users, until the commercial introduction of the new meter next year. The company anticipates no interruption in service during the transition of its blood glucose meter products."

[Kaylee's Mommy]

I agree with Lanae. The meter is junk. My dh (TI) did a lot of test readings comparing the the BD meter and with the One-Touch because we got a lot of erroneous readings with the BD. The BD was occasionally off 50+ points on back-to-back readings! MM sent us a new meter, but, same problem. Eventually, the helpline told us that some vials of test strips might be bad. So, we still use the meter because of the convenience, and throw away the test strip vial and start a new one if we get some squirrelly readings.

Some good news, though, is that Life Scan will start supplying the meters for MM in 2008. My dh has had great luck with LifeScan's One-Touch meter for many years. See binmoosa's post from 8/24/07, "Medtronic Announces Alliance with LifeScan" (sorry, not so good at the forum features yet):

"Medtronic, Inc. today announced an exclusive United States agreement with LifeScan, Inc., a Johnson & Johnson company, to distribute and co-market new blood glucose meters to be developed by LifeScan for Medtronic Diabetes patients. The new meters will be built using the OneTouch platform and will wirelessly transmit blood glucose test results to MiniMed Paradigm(R) insulin pumps and the Guardian(R) REAL-Time continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) system. The initial meter offering will be available to Medtronic's U.S. patients early next calendar year, with planned meter enhancements to be introduced during the terms of the agreement.
"This alliance allows us to provide our patients with the best tools available for managing diabetes," says Chris O'Connell, president of the Diabetes business at Medtronic. "Together with LifeScan, we will work to educate people about the benefits of insulin pump therapy and proactive diabetes management for improving health and extending life."
Data transmitted from the new LifeScan meter can be viewed via Medtronic's proprietary CareLink(TM) Therapy Management Software for Diabetes, the only software that integrates meter, logbook, insulin pump and continuous glucose monitoring information to help patients and physicians more easily assess and manage diabetes.
As part of the agreement, the two companies will work together to promote awareness of insulin pump therapy, the growth of the insulin pump market and proactive strategies for diabetes management.
LifeScan's new meter will replace the Paradigm Link(R) blood glucose monitor, which is being discontinued by Becton Dickinson. Medtronic will continue to include the Paradigm Link monitor with its insulin pumps, and make test strips available to current users, until the commercial introduction of the new meter next year. The company anticipates no interruption in service during the transition of its blood glucose meter products."


I wonder if MM is going to replace all our bd meters for free? is there a warrenty to these meters? Kaylee's only had hers for 1.5 years, and we've hardly used it.. I think when they do finally come out with the other ones I want to try it (we use to use one touch and really liked that meter, but use freestyle because of the blood sample size...) Hopefully MM will replace these junky BD meters for free..

[cadesmom]

Well I dont know what to do, I cant find my test strip solution, so I used one from another meter and it was reading way high so I checked w/ mt one touch and the bd and they are about 50 points off, I opened another bottle and still way off from the other meter, this is so frustrating:mad:

[semperwife]

I was told it is never a good idea to compare meter to meter doing finger stick comparisons. There are so many factors that we were told to pick one meter and stick to it. Brandon has been using his for 3 1/2 years and we have never had a problem with it not being accurate. The CGMS and the BD are usually within 10 points of each other.

[Heather(CA)]

Is that the meter where the teststrips could be the fake ones from China?:confused: Johnson and Johnson...

[Carrie]

We had a reading of 27 on one of our BD's not too long ago. Re-checked within two or three minutes and it was in the 200's?!?!? At our July appointment, the meter didn't jive with the endo's either. When I called the company, I wasn't too happy that they wanted me to use the control solution, write down the lot numbers from the strips, and call them back. Obviously the person I talked to doesn't have a child with Type 1 diabetes, and doesn't understand the seriousness of having a false reading--HI or LOW.:mad: Just send me a new meter!!

[haileysmom]

i usually check my own blood sugar when i am worried our meter isn't right.

[jeep_bluetj]

The vast majority of the population that uses BG meters think's that there is something wrong with your meter.

The BD meters are absolute garbage. (IMnotsoHO)

I once heard a endo say "That meter is worse than not having one...."...

Use a different meter.

[Brensdad]

I think we've been able to isolate the problem with that junk meter.

If the blood does not fill up the strip all at once, it will ALWAYS give a false low. If you start to take a BG, and your child wiggles a bit and you have to catch up with the blood again (but the countdown has already started) then you might as well pull it out because it will either give an error or a false low.

That thing is garbage. It doesn't even have a light!