finger pricking woes

[endocrinegremlin]

I just had my 21st diaversary and am running into problems of the blood testing type.

Each time I prepare to test my blood I rub my fingers together and try and warm them up and all that jazz but more and more now, pricking just....doesn't produce blood. I have my pricker on the deepest setting and new needles each time, for once, but it can take multiple painful stabs for me to get enough blood to fill a strip these days.

I do have the libre but that system is not reliable outside of a set range and I always use my meter upon waking and before bed anyway. I know my fingers are weary but they still need to cough up the red stuff.

Any advice?

 

[Pipp]

If fingertips are not releasing any blood I try the side of finger instead.

 

[therower]

@endocrinegremlin . Nothing more frustrating than not being able to get blood when you need it.
Only a thought but is the skin on your fingers calloused, dry and hard?
In the past I’ve had trouble with hard skin where I’ve finger pricked. Something that worked for me was to soak my hands in warm water and then use a pumice stone to gently remove the hard, calloused skin on the side of my fingers.
Apologies if this doesn’t help.
Hope you find a solution and can get blood a bit easier.

 

[DCUKMod]

I might be with @therower in suggesting you do a sort of exfoliation exercise, on a fairly regular basis.

You could either ise a body scrub (although all those little plastic pellets....), or alternatively a drop of cooking oil, of any sort, and a teasapoonful of sugar works really, really well. The sugar is the exfoliant and the oil ensures your natural oils aren't stripped from your hands. Just rub it in for a moment or two, as if washing your hands, then was the sugar and oil off.

A few weeks ago, I picked up a cheapo hand cream in Lidl. It's just their Cien Q10 Hand Cream. For me, it's better than the usual Nivea, but not as heavy as the likes of Norwegian Formula.

 

[Gloucestergirl]

I have had diabetes for 23 years so am quite used to finger pricking! I used to have trouble at the beginning mainly because I was copying what happened when a nurse pricked my finger, stab then squeeze straight away and have great trouble getting any blood out. It was quite a few years later that I was told that you should wipe away the first spot of blood as it could have fluids in it which could give an inaccurate reading so take the next spot of blood instead. What I also found out was that instead of stabbing and squeezing straight away you should wait for several seconds to give the hole time to open up so now I pick my finger then put the pricker and testing stick tub back into the case and then I squeeze and the blood comes out straight away with no problem.

 

[endocrinegremlin]

@endocrinegremlin . Nothing more frustrating than not being able to get blood when you need it.
Only a thought but is the skin on your fingers calloused, dry and hard?
In the past I’ve had trouble with hard skin where I’ve finger pricked. Something that worked for me was to soak my hands in warm water and then use a pumice stone to gently remove the hard, calloused skin on the side of my fingers.
Apologies if this doesn’t help.
Hope you find a solution and can get blood a bit easier.

They are actually. This sounds like something to try! Thanks!

 

[JeremySE18]

Also try the heal of the hand, the fleshy part below the thumb. This is a recognized secondary sampling site.

 

[Adm_Mad]

Oh thank god it's not just me. I only got a monitor on Wednesday (the Accu-Chek Performa and an Accu-Chek FastClix because that's what the chemist had), and SO MANY TIMES now I've wasted a precious strip because there wasn't enough blood. I guess this is something I'll just have to get the hang of, LOL.

 

[RobertSK]

I just had my 21st diaversary and am running into problems of the blood testing type.

Each time I prepare to test my blood I rub my fingers together and try and warm them up and all that jazz but more and more now, pricking just....doesn't produce blood. I have my pricker on the deepest setting and new needles each time, for once, but it can take multiple painful stabs for me to get enough blood to fill a strip these days.

I do have the libre but that system is not reliable outside of a set range and I always use my meter upon waking and before bed anyway. I know my fingers are weary but they still need to cough up the red stuff.

Any advice?

I’ve been a T2 diabetic for almost 30 years and developed some calluses on the sides of my fingers. The diabetic nurse would always tell me to rotate fingers but I always would go back to my favourite 3 fingers. I was so thankful to go on Libre because it gave my poor old digits a chance to recover .

Does your meter support alternate sampling sites? If it does, you could try your forearm. I use a Contour USB One meter that will support alternate sites and forearm sampling works for me.
Good luck and don’t get discouraged!

 

[zauberflote]

I've only been testing for 7 months, most of those cold enough to trigger my Reynaud's disease, making 5 of my fingers useless much of the time. Scrubbing and hot water are all very well and good IF your hands don't get cold while you're drying them! Started with very dry skin anyway. I use Noxzema original cleansing cream to lotion my hands as it's not greasy and smells So Good. And all winter I wear nitrile gloves. I'm old enough to not care if people stare, and it keeps my fingers from cracking. The weather has warmed up thank goodness, but I seem to have to set the lancet gadget one deeper for more fingers than I used to. Luckily, my meter only requires a very small drop, so I can use 30 gauge pokers.
I'm a flute player, and I really feel sorry for all stringed instrument players, whose livelihoods depend on the calluses on their left fingertips!

 

[HSSS]

Oh thank god it's not just me. I only got a monitor on Wednesday (the Accu-Chek Performa and an Accu-Chek FastClix because that's what the chemist had), and SO MANY TIMES now I've wasted a precious strip because there wasn't enough blood. I guess this is something I'll just have to get the hang of, LOL.

Get the strip ready but not pushed all the way in. Then stab your finger, give it a few moments and gently milk from base of finger up to the tip. Only once you have a reasonable drop push the strip in that final little bit. That way you have as long as it takes to get things flowing. Needs a little more dexterity to be able to hold the meter and push the last bit (put it on a surface to do this perhaps) but gives you lots of time.