How accurate are glucometer readings really?

I've started wondering how much small things can mess with a glucometer reading.

For example, I've definitely tested without washing my hands first, and I also have a box of strips that has been sitting in a cupboard for quite a while. With the weather getting hot and humid, I'm wondering if storage matters more than I realised.

Can expired strips, humidity, heat or having something on your fingers actually give you a noticeably wrong result?

What do you normally do when you get a reading that just doesn't make sense? Do you wash your hands and test again, use a new strip, or just assume meters sometimes vary?

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@naveen456 hr ago

Unwashed hands absolutely caught me once. I had been cutting fruit, checked my sugar and got a number that made no sense. Washed and dried my hands properly, tested again and it was completely different.

@lokesh945 hr ago

Same thing happened to me after eating mango 😂 That was the day I stopped being lazy about washing my hands before testing.

@arunmishra4 hr ago

Fruit seems to be the perfect way to scare yourself with a finger stick.

@poornima123 hr ago

Drying your hands matters too. I used to wash and immediately test with my finger still slightly wet. Now I wash with soap and water, dry properly and then test.

@rahulverma1 hr ago

This is one of those tiny things nobody thinks about until they get a weird reading.