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Type 2 Why Are Blood Sugars Different In Different Fingers?

L

Lil t

Newbie
Messages
3
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
I’m newly diagnosed and not yet seen my diabetic nurse to go through everything. As it was going to be quite a wait my hubby hit me a meter. I’ve tested this morning then realised I hadn’t washed my hands and got a completely different result as used a different finger. Tried another and got another completely different result. Why is this?
 
Meters arent ever completely accurate and have an acceptable variation tolerance of 15% between readings on the same sample. The higher the “true” BG level the bigger the acceptable varriance is in mmol
Also various substances on fingers ( sugary, chemicals, make up etc etc ) can also contaminate readings
 
I know that but they were clean and done just after each other so can’t be contaminated. How do I know which reading to go by?
 
Not sure which meter you have. Most meters are self-calibrating but may be you need to go through the operating manual that comes with the meter to see if there are nay initial steps in the machine set up that you may have missed.
Sometimes putting on a larger drop of blood may skew the readings, or if you squeeze blood out it gets diluted by the fluid other than blood that comes out under pressure.
If you can cintact your new diabetes nurse by phone he/she may be able to assist you over the phone ?
 
kitedoc said:
Sometimes putting on a larger drop of blood may skew the readings, or if you squeeze blood out it gets diluted by the fluid other than blood that comes out under pressure.
Click to expand...

:bigtears: I almost always do that. I didn't know. Maybe my readings aren't as good as I thought they were. Will try to see if I can avoid it in future, and see if they go up :/
 
@Lil t how different are the readings you are seeing?
If they are within 15% of each other, they are effectively the same.
 
Lil t said:
I’m newly diagnosed and not yet seen my diabetic nurse to go through everything. As it was going to be quite a wait my hubby hit me a meter. I’ve tested this morning then realised I hadn’t washed my hands and got a completely different result as used a different finger. Tried another and got another completely different result. Why is this?
Click to expand...

This will happen even if you use the same finger, or even the same drop of blood. It is something we have to live with. Our blood flows very quickly round the body and changes, so even with only a few seconds between tests you can have different results.

All you can do, for your own records, is to average the numbers.
 
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