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Any Advice To Help Mum Get Blood For Test Meter?

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woodbine

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My 74 year old mother is newly diagnosed. She was given an Accuckek meter and finger pricker by the hospital.

The problem she has is getting a useable spot of blood, or any spot of blood out of her finger. Its early days, and at present, a bit hit and miss. Sometimes she uses the pricker, and after hanging her arm down to the side, either gets no blood, or too little to get the meter to analyse. The pricker is set to 5/max. Sometimes, it takes four attempts on different fingers.

Does anyone have any tips to make sure that the blood flows, as its a bit frustrating for her?
 
Has she tried squeezing the tip of her finger (that she wants to prick to test) so its really red before she pricks it??

As that is what I do sometimes and helps with getting a decent blood spot. Also are her hands warm? as cold hands have reduced blood flow in them anyway
 
Has your Mum tried lower settings? I've got an Accuchek Softclix Plus lancet, the instructions with that said to start at 2 as that was fine for most folk. Other than that, warm hands before the check and "milk" the finger from the knuckle towards the pinprick. One thing I'm wondering is whether your Mum is moving her finger away from the lancet when she hears the click. I'm currently testing several times a day as I'm trying to get an understanding of how various carbs affect me and I did notice a couple of times that I 'jumped' my finger away from the lancet. If she's anxious about not getting blood and finding the 5 setting sore this could well be part of it.
 
Hi i got some advice on the forum about the same problem. (try pricking the side} of her finger tip as the accu doesn't always pick up the blood from the tip as the test strips don't come out that far on these meters. Hope this helps.
JF.
 
When I first started testing, I washed my hands and rinsed them for a few minutes under warm water to get the blood flowing - always worked for me.
 
Has anyone else found that it is MUCH easier to get a sample when BGis low, than when it is high? Just an observation...

I always give my wrist a little shake, then push as much blood into the end of my finger as I can. Make it go nice n' Red. Then, lance it on the side of the finger, about half way down the nail. (Up toward the top of the nail is quite tender...)
 
Warming hands in warm water then drying is a good tip, just make sure you are using the side of the fingers and not the tips.

Nigel
 
Hi
I am like your mum, i often wonder if i have any blood in my fingers, but i often try the side of the tip of the finger but i do have to squeeze my finger quite hard.
Hope all goes well.
Tracey
 
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