Type 1'stars R Us

LooperCat

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Also, alcohol won’t get rid of sugar or food matter from the skin, it will just kill some/most of the microbes on there. It’s a bactericide, not a substitute for hand washing. It works by drying out and rupturing bacterial cells as it evaporates, combined with the rubbing action. Perfect for cleaning skin prior to IV cannulation on already cleaned skin because you’re going deep, pointless for a fingerprick. If you’re determined to use a wipe rather than just wash your hands, try “diawipes” as they’re designed for this purpose but are pricey.
 
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therower

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sorry do you want me to remove that picture ??
Most definitely not.
We had an incident a while back on the forum.
A picture of a spider scared and upset some people. It seems ( at the moment) that snakes are not so scary.:)
 

LooperCat

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just think iv'e had 2 sets of paramedics come to me this year no gauze or tissue were used to check my sugar level only some kind of wipe.
Some trusts do have just water wipes for this purpose. Recent research, which has been incorporated into the paramedic code of practice specifically says not to use them. Screenshots from the 2019 JRCALC which all uk paramedics must adhere to.


ECF44E81-622A-4A40-8E98-36EBF831DEB4.jpeg
6D245D55-F388-41D3-86AD-D707633A3600.jpeg
 
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chris85 type 1

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Also, alcohol won’t get rid of sugar or food matter from the skin, it will just kill some/most of the microbes on there. It’s a bactericide, not a substitute for hand washing. It works by drying out and rupturing bacterial cells as it evaporates, combined with the rubbing action. Perfect for cleaning skin prior to IV cannulation on already cleaned skin because you’re going deep, pointless for a fingerprick. If you’re determined to use a wipe rather than just wash your hands, try “diawipes” as they’re designed for this purpose but are pricey.
if you wipe anything with something wet and clean sugar will be moved..........fact
 

LooperCat

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so why did it tell me i was at 5.9 then after soap and water 4/4 and on the re-check 4.2 all done within 10 mins of each other i don't get it
Not quite sure why you’re arguing with yourself now, but if the 5.9 was before hand washing and the two results in the fours were after, you’ve proved my point. You washed sugar off the skin. An alcohol wipe won’t remove sugar, because sugar doesn’t dissolve in alcohol.

In a nutshell: Alcohol wipes will give falsely low readings on already clean skin but won’t remove food and sugar.
 
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chris85 type 1

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@LooperCat please don't think i'm saying your wrong like my last post i don't get it are the alcohol wipes meant to make the readings lower or higher i appreciate your trying to help and give advice i know nothing compared to you
 

chris85 type 1

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@LooperCat oh the other thing is if i can get to fresh clean water i would use that but i love being in the woods and in england there's not much fresh water out there no more
 

LooperCat

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@LooperCat please don't think i'm saying your wrong like my last post i don't get it are the alcohol wipes meant to make the readings lower or higher i appreciate your trying to help and give advice i know nothing compared to you
I’m not explaining it very well, my apologies. Let me try again :)

If there is any food or sugar on your skin, and you only use an alcohol wipe to clean it, the food and sugar won’t be removed, but the bacteria there will die. You’ll get a faslely high result.

if you’ve washed your hands in soap and water, that will remove any food and sugar from your skin, and it’ll be clean enough to test. Most bacteria will be removed, it’s quite adequate. This gives the most accurate result.

If you’ve washed your hands in soap and water and THEN use an alcohol wipe, research has shown that it can give a falsely low result.

Does that make sense?
 

LooperCat

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@LooperCat oh the other thing is if i can get to fresh clean water i would use that but i love being in the woods and in england there's not much fresh water out there no more
Your bottle of drinking water used to dampen a tissue is more than fine. I’ve done just that halfway up a Welsh mountain at an RTC before now. Adapt and overcome!
 
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chris85 type 1

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@LooperCat like i said i am not arguing but when someone tells me something different to what i was told by a gp probably 16 years ago i do have to question it but here is some more BG results.
washed my hands with soap and water 7.5 wipe the blood with an ipa wipe 7.0 check a different finger 7.2 ???? like i said though i'm not saying your wrong i like you and everything you have done for me
 

chris85 type 1

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Your bottle of drinking water used to dampen a tissue is more than fine. I’ve done just that halfway up a Welsh mountain at an RTC before now. Adapt and overcome!
i never thought of that but then for who knows how long iv'e been not checking my bg trying to forget and hide my diabetes so i'm out of touch so to speak. Thank you i know i can be quite ignorant and brain dead
 

LooperCat

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@LooperCat like i said i am not arguing but when someone tells me something different to what i was told by a gp probably 16 years ago i do have to question it but here is some more BG results.
washed my hands with soap and water 7.5 wipe the blood with an ipa wipe 7.0 check a different finger 7.2 ???? like i said though i'm not saying your wrong i like you and everything you have done for me
Those results are perfectly within the standard “acceptable” +/-15% tolerance of a home blood glucose meter. They’re not actually that accurate. But just do what you’re comfortable with :)
 
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chris85 type 1

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@LooperCat like i said i am not arguing but when someone tells me something different to what i was told by a gp probably 16 years ago i do have to question it but here is some more BG results.
washed my hands with soap and water 7.5 wipe the blood with an ipa wipe 7.0 check a different finger 7.2 ???? like i said though i'm not saying your wrong i like you and everything you have done for me
I’m not explaining it very well, my apologies. Let me try again :)

If there is any food or sugar on your skin, and you only use an alcohol wipe to clean it, the food and sugar won’t be removed, but the bacteria there will die. You’ll get a faslely high result.

if you’ve washed your hands in soap and water, that will remove any food and sugar from your skin, and it’ll be clean enough to test. Most bacteria will be removed, it’s quite adequate. This gives the most accurate result.

If you’ve washed your hands in soap and water and THEN use an alcohol wipe, research has shown that it can give a falsely low result.

Does that make sense?
that will be why it said 7.5 after soap and 7 after i wiped and re-squeezed it
 
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@hh1 I feel for you - I had Labyrinthitis about 10 years ago - took about 8 weeks to recover. It’s like being drunk on the cheap - you get the affects but not had to buy any booze! My nephew got married whilst I had it and I told him that if he saw me swaying in the pews it wasn’t because I had started celebrating early!!

I had Labyrinthitis many years ago, luckily is was mild, but my older friend had balance problems.
 
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Had the weirdest hypo this morning. Did everything as usual: woke up, scanned Libre (6.3, but it tends to read lowish so I figured I was likely between 7 and 8), took insulin to counter feet-on-the-floor, put coffee to brew, fed the chickens and the rabbits, poured the coffee in the pot and went upstairs to enjoy it.
I always stay at the higher end of my range during the first couple of hours after waking, that part of my day is so predictable that I usually don't even bother scanning my Libre for hours until I want to eat something.

Started to feel off during the chicken part, suddenly craving a big glass of cold water so bad that I went back inside before finishing feeding the animals. By the time I reached the couch with my coffee I felt definitely off so I scanned again. 3.6 with the arrow straight down! Finger prick: 3.4! I've never had a hypo like this at this time of day.

Usually I see where things went wrong but not a clue this time.

Diabetes - expect the unexpected.
Hope you're feeling a little better now.