when i was little, no one had computers or ways to track :o) we never got a computer until i was in 8th grade. i had 2 meters. one at home and one at school, and i wrote down every result into a chart. other than looking at a hundred numbers at once, we couldn't discern patterns very well. after we got a computer, i did the same thing except i put it into a spreadsheet instead of handwriting it.
how did you end up with 4 meters? usually insurance (at least with my experience) will only approve one type of test strips. at the clinic i work in, we will trade in meters. will your endo do that so you can at least have the same kind (so all are compatible)? do you use all 4 or are there a couple you just have lying around?
i only have one meter that i use. like C, until last year when i got a OneTouch UltraSmart I wasn't able to transfer my levels onto a computer. in 16years, I've never used more than one meter...i've had at least one back-up but it was never used until the meter i was using died.
I got one meter from the hospital when my son was diagnosed, one from insurance and one of the one touch sites was offering a free meter so at the present time meters are not an issue. My insurance is also great. My son had lost one of the meters and we switched and the insurance company called to ask why we had switched strips and we told them we lost one (the good one). They said no problem and allowed a replacement. The meter we lost was about a week old. We have one at the school nurses office, one at home (the good one that downloads info on the computer.). One in the car we use most often. I think there are still one or two lying around. My insurance up to a week ago only issued the one touch but has since added another and at the last walk for the cure we met the rep and got of those.
One Touch typically has pretty great software to download your blood sugars and look at patterns. I have a One Touch Ping. It took a little playing around with, but I really do like the software. I can look at averages, individual numbers, times of day, and then correlate it to food, insulin, stress.... whatever.
I work at a diabetes clinic, and we are always willing to look at numbers for you if you are having troubles. We are an adult clinic, but I'm sure your pediatric endo will do the same for you. We will sit down with you and discuss your numbers, possible patterns, and possible treatments. If you are interested, contact your doctor for help. Here on Juvenation, we are willing to offer suggestions from our own personal experiences, but we can't take the place of a professional opinion. Let us know what we can do for you :o)
I've only used one kind of meter since I was Dx'd...FreeStyle Flash. I don't worry about downloading the #'s...the hospital does that for me when I go for my endo appointments.
I carried around a journal with me and everywhere I went I forced myself to write down my numbers and I also tracked what I was eating specifically. I did this all to show my endo that I was ready to go on a pump after only 5 months since my diagnosis. 4 months later, I don't track anything anymore.
I have only ever used two meters at a time. One for school and for home. I would just bring home my school numbers and put them in my log book. You might want to create a spreadsheet to help track down things or something like that.
i did that all the time and it was so irritating. then i took it to my doctor at the peds in spokane and they looked at, like, 3 or 4 numbers then said good a whole bunch and then said "ok well, we need to check your thyriod again" ugh... blood drawing