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>Now I wait 5 seconds but we still have blood sugar strips with +-20% accuracy

This is the part that still both sickens and baffles me. I had onset at about 20, despite not looking like a typical diabetic (5-foot-8, 140lbs). 11-years ago, my endocrinologist made sure to drill into my head this margin of error, and that the margin of error was highest in situations where I would be hypoglycemic or suffering from an insulin reaction. As a diabetic himself (and for the record, having a diabetic endocrinologist is the best thing you can hope for), he was all too aware and frustrated with the limitations.

Now, a few days ago it was pointed out that the margin of error for test strips in a medical facility is much lower. The one thing I've been waiting for is to get that level of accuracy. If there's one thing I want, it's that. More than anything. I couldn't give a rat's ass about anything else.

Getting that number consistent could've sped up the timeline in which it took to get my blood sugar levels to be consistent. I'm not terribly methodical, but at the end of the day my endocrinologist doesn't complain when my HA1C results are consistently between 6.2 and 6.6, and have been for the past 6 years, despite relying only on subcutaneous injections(1) and continued dietary changes and experimentation. However, I bet I could keep it at 6 on the nose -- while "cheating" a bit more -- if I knew that a reading was nearly dead-nuts on every time.

(1) Not a fan of pumps. My mother was and still is on TPN. After seeing the joys of dealing with infections, I prefer the very rare dermatitis.




A major reason why the accuracy on blood sugar strips is +/- 20% is because that is all that the standard (ISO 15197:2003) requires:

* Within ±0.83 mmol/L of lab results at concentrations of under 4.2 mmol/L

* Within ±20% of lab results at 4.2 mmol/L or more

Companies are juggling cost, reliability and performance/accuracy, with the first two generally winning in the marketplace as key selling points.

Some devices offer significantly better accuracy than 20%, depending on the market that you are in (not all are for sale in USA, IIRC).




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