Blood glucose test strips are consumable items which cannot be reused. What this means is that, every month, you can look forward to spending part of your income on glucose testing strips. This is a main incentive for finding the cheapest glucose blood test strips that you can.
Cost Of Glucose Test Strips
The cost of a single test strip can range from a low of 15 cents to a dollar or more. So if you are testing 4 times a day, you could spend anywhere from $24 to $120 a month on strips.
In fact, the incentive is on the manufacturer to keep the costs as high as he can because the profits are in selling the blood glucose testing strips, not in selling the meter.
In order to test your blood glucose level, you need a glucometer or a blood glucose meter. You prick your finger enough to draw blood, place your blood on a blood glucose test strip, and insert the strip into the meter.
The meter will read the strip, compute the results, and display your current blood glucose level.
Quality Of Test Strips Is Critical
For the entire process to work, you need a glucose test strips that will react to glucose. This is why the quality of the test strip is so important. And also why, if the strips are too old or of bad quality, you may possibly get incorrect readings.
To help offset the number of false positive or errors, many of the newer meters come with their own built-in calibration programs and one or more test strips. In some models the user will enter the code off of the test strip. Other models can read the test strip directly.
Either way, after reading the test strip, the meter should be able to re-calibrate itself so that the patient gets the right reading.
When looking for cheap glucose test strips, however, beware of buying knockoffs or fakes. If you use them, odds are you will be getting incorrect readings from your meter.
Two Places To Buy Cheap Glucose Test Strips
One place for finding the (cheapest blood glucose test strips) is american diabetes wholesale. They carry thousands of healthcare products. On any given day, you can usually find discounts on one or more brands of blood glucose test strips. Although there is a shipping cost involved, some of the products can be bought with significant savings over what you would pay in a normal retail store.
Amazon.com is another place to find inexpensive strips such as the Truetest blood glucose test strips. Many companies have begun to effectively use eBay as their Internet resell store. So, many times when you buy from ebay, you are basically buying from the manufacturer or authorized reseller who is simply using eBay as another sales channel.