Will this test help me in assessing the correctness of my glucose testing meter reading?

I am a diabetic. I have not yet bought a blood glucose meter. I have heard that it gives some difference in the readings. So if I buy one then I would like to do the following test in order to assess how different the reading of the blood glucose meter is from the one of the testing laboratory.

I will have my last meal before 9pm in the night and will not take anything after this. Early morning I will just have a glass of water and take the reading with the accucheck meter at 7am. After half an hour I will go to the medical laboratory near my home and take the test there. Compare both the results. For sure I believe the results should be the same with only half an hour gap between them.

Am I correct in my thoughts about the above?? Please advise.

There are only two tests necessary:
1) The metrer will come with a Glucose Test Solution. You place a drop of this solution on a test strip, just like blood, and the reading should be in the range as indicated on the bottle of glucose solution. NOTE that this stuff wears out, and you have to buy a new bottle every 6 months or so.

2) Take your meter with you to the doctor, and when HE takes a reading, YOU take a reading from the same finger prick. Your two meters should be within 15 points of each other.

YOUR test is wrong because it is based on a wrong assumption: “For sure I believe the results should be the same with only half an hour gap between them.”

Your blood sugar changes BY THE MINUTE, depending on on what and how much you have eaten in the last 12 hours, and how much exercise you have taken, AAND yoru stress level. Simply walking to your car will raise you blood sugar by 20-50 points, depending on your overall physical condition.

Here are the facts:
1) blood sugar does NOT stay at one value at all times, it is high or low depending on time of day, food eaten, exercise taken, and stress. Eating food WILL rasie your blood sugar, but the question is, FROM what value TO what value? THIS is unpredictable. the ONLY thing we know for sure is that yor reading should be NORMAL (80-120) just before every meal, and just before bed. Readings taken at any other time are unpredictable.

2) your blood sugar value changes in minutes, even seconds in some cases. You can take two reading with the same meter just seconds apart, and get wildy different readings. THIS IS NORMAL.

3) The meter itself is highly accurate, but the TEST STRIPS vary. Careful control of the manufacturing process keeps these variations generally in the range of +/- 10 points. For example, if your exact blood sugar reading is 100, then the meter might read any value from 90 to 110.

Test meter strips cost from about $0.75 to $1.50 EACH. the manufacturer COULD make them more accurate, but then they would caist $8.00 – $12.00 EACH STRIP. Since your blood sugar changes so frequently and so widely, a +/- 10 points accuracy is plenty sufficient for home use.

4) The ONLY way to get a more accurate reading is from a blood sample sent to the lab. Even the machine used in the doctors office is no more accurate that the one you use at home.

DO NOT GET ALL BENT OUT OF SHAPE OVER ACCURACY! you body isn’t that accurate, so if you take your meter into the doctor’s office and take a blood test alongside his meter (see above) and both readings are within 15 points of each other, you are PLENTY accurate for your purposes.

fingerstick with a Lifescan glucose meter