August 14, 2009

The FDA has issued an alert about the possibility that people with type 1 diabetes who take certain medicines that contain non-glucose sugars might get falsely elevated readings from home blood sugar monitors if they use a specific kind of test strip.  These false high readings could be dangerous, because they might mask low blood sugars or cause people to take excessive amounts of insulin.  The test strips in question are GDH-PQQ glucose test strips, and there is a list of medications that might result in incorrect readings – as well as additional information – on the FDA website.