diabetic monitoring--from Ed

[critters]

posted with permission
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The ONLY way to properly manage diabetes is with home testing. At a minimum, tests before insulin and periodic Blood Glucose (BG) Curves. In these early days, you need to run a curve 5 days after changing the insulin dose. After that, about one a month for a few months and the, just when something doesn't seem right.

I am currently using a new meter, the AgaMatrix KeyNote. It is one of the least expensive meters on the market, uses a new technology to measure the glucose level and has the lowest cost test strips around. Before switching, I ran 100 tests comparing the results with the cat and dog-calibrated AlphaTrax which is probably the most expensive meter on the market, but much more accurate with a cat or dog than any other meter I am aware of. The KeyNote was within 3% of the AlphaTrax reading on average and most importantly, not one of the 100 tests was clinically different--the variation would not have resulted in me raising or lowering the insulin. I ran these tests on a dog and two cats doing 100 tests on each species. I have 6 different meters and as long as I had blood, I tested up to 6 meters each time. The other meters had huge variations that in around 30% of the cases would have caused me to raise or lower the insulin. Because the AlphaTrax is specifically calibrated for cats and dogs, it is quite accurate and it is pretty amazing how inaccurate an ordinary human meter is.

You can probably buy this at any of the diabetes supply sites on line such as Hocks which has supported pet owners. I have been buying my diabetes supplies from www.americandiabeteswholesale.com for several years now. Their prices are among the best and there service has been excellent.

Ed and the SugarBabies