Changing of the clock time is also associated with "check the batteries in your smoke and Carbron Monoxide detectors." I'd also like to suggest that people using glucose meters use the date to remind themselves (parents would do it for their kids) to get their meters checked.
Our daughter almost died in 2007 from a massive DKA incident because it turned out that her meter wasn't registering correctly. Unfortunately, we knew nothing about this until after she had to be intubated, etc.
When she recovered, we all (parents, doctors, etc.) started reading her the riot act about not taking care of herself even though she insisted she was. When she suggested maybe her meter was broken we thought she was just trying to pass blame for not doing what she should. I thought I'd call her bluff and before she was released from the hospital I brought her meter in and had it checked against the hospital's. Her meter read almost 40 points lower than what the hospital meter read. Her endocrinologists (who was one of the ones that thought she just wasn't taking care of herself) apologized to her and informed us that it was as if she wasn't getting any insulin at all (despite her normal daily doses, etc.).
So get those meters checked!! I wouldn't want any parent or diabetic to have to go through what we did.
Thanks for the tip. I never really thought of the implications of having an unchecked meter but now I'll remember to check mine sometimes. I'm sorry you had to learn the hard way through such a scary experience!
You'll want to use the control solutions that are recommended for your meter to check it's performance. And anytime your child has a doctor visit that includes doing a blood test ask to do a reading with your meter at the same time and compare the 2 results. The numbers won't usually match but they'll come close. If they don't you'll need to follow up with your meter company. Hope that helps...
Being 40 points off almost killed my daughter and her Endo was really concerned that there as such a difference so I wouldn't be comfortable with a meter that was that far off. It's fine for a day or two maybe but other than that, not so much. We don't expect them to be perfectly in sync. As the doctors said, plus or minus a few points is okay but 40 is too much. At least in her case. Maybe it was such a problem for her because she's a "fragile, insulin resistant" diabetic.
You can also check with your local fire dept. to see if they'll help you out as most of them carry the same meters type of meters as the hospitals and have to have them calibrated every so often.
Its just so hard to figure out which meter is accurate ya know. Its like trial and error all the time, it can be really frustrating. And in your case deadly. I heard that the new keynote by wavesense is the most accurate meter on the market. You should try to get one.