What the vast majority of experts do agree upon, however, is that expired test strips can contribute to dramatically unreliable blood glucose readings. Others say that as the enzymes get old it’s impossible to determine whether or not measurements will be consistently high or low. Some experts believe that as the enzymes on test strips begin to deteriorate it will cause a lesser conversion of blood sugar and, therefore, more often lead to an inaccurately low measurement on your blood glucose meter. But saving money doesn’t do you any good if you can’t be confident in the results your test strips provide.Įxpired test strips can lead to blood sugar readings that are skewed either high or low. It’s true that the cost of test strips, particularly for those who need to measure blood glucose levels multiple times each day, can add up fast. Accomplishing this depends, more than anything else, on accurate and reliable blood sugar testing. Your diabetes physician and care team rely on accurate information to help you build the most effective and personalized diabetes management plan. Risks of using expired test stripsįirst and foremost, what you’re risking is compromising the integrity of your entire diabetes management and treatment program. There’s no other way to effectively manage your diabetes. At the end of the day, your health and well-being are what’s most important and, as someone living with diabetes, that means making sure your blood sugar testing it is accurate. We just can’t endorse this and, in fact, consider it rather reckless thinking. The problem is that some people believe going six months or even a year past the expiration date is perfectly fine when it comes to blood glucose test strips. You have a reasonable margin of error here. In other words, there’s no risk of these strips losing performance due to time.įrom a user perspective, however, test strips that expire on a Friday will most likely not suddenly go bad by the time Saturday rolls around.
So, you can expect the expiration dates posted on these boxes of test strips to be pretty conservative. This is for your safety and to ensure that any test strips you purchase from them or their authorized distributors perform accurately. Clearly, reputable test strip manufacturers, such as FreeStyle, OneTouch, and TRUEMetrix, need to err on the side of caution when labeling their products. How accurate is that test strip expiration date?
Your test strips may look like nothing more than small slivers of plastic however, the reality is they are highly sensitive and complex medical tools. As you can imagine, once this breakdown happens it can compromise the integrity of blood sugar readings. This means they can’t last forever and will eventually break down over time. The thing is these enzymes are living organisms. Basically, the end of each test strip it is coated with specific proteins that react with the glucose in your blood and transform it into an electrical current which then allows the glucose meter to assess the concentration of blood sugar in the sample. The reason why is that diabetic test strips rely on live enzymes to measure blood sugar levels. Diabetic test strips do expire over time. The answer to this question is absolutely yes. Do blood glucose test strips really expire? Do test strips really expire? Can I use expired test strips safely? Is big Pharma just trying to sell me more product? If you’ve ever wondered about using expired diabetic test strips, this post will provide some important and honest answers.īefore going any further, we will tell you up front that using expired test strips is not a good idea. One of the big debates in this area revolves around the expiration of test strips.
So, it’s understandable that many people with diabetes are looking for ways to stretch their dollars. In fact, some diabetic test strips can cost upwards of two bucks a piece when purchased at pharmacy or standard retailer. While the process is simple enough, going through a number of test strips each day can get quite expensive. Most people still do this using a glucose meter and diabetic test strips.
By Diabetic Warehouse 0 comment(s) Articles Is it Okay to Use Expired Diabetic Test StripsĪs someone living with diabetes, testing your blood sugar each day is an important part of life.
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