BG Monitor

[Welshman1952]

Well, I have taken the advice of people on the forum and purchased a monitor. First (and completely unlike me), I read the instructions. Then, having gained a reasonable understanding of what I needed to do, I moved to the next stage and started to set my kit up. So far, so good - it has the correct date, the right time and all the other bits necessary to make life easier for me.

Finally, it came to crunch time .. I had to insert a lancet and prick my finger. Now, those of you who have been doing this for years can probably whack out a test while cooking a 7 course LCHF Jamie Oliver meal (does such a thing exist?) and singing all the parts from the last act of La Traviata. Unfortunately, this newbie needed 3 hands, a large stretch of table, several strips (to correct the false readings) and a couple of lancets.

By the end, I had a fingertip smeared in blood, a digit that felt and looked like a pincushion, but I did have a perfect (or close enough) test strip. In a while I am about to test again, mainly for the practice but partly to see what I am like pre-meal.

I know I need the monitor and I can see it will be really useful, but there is no way in a month of Sundays anyone is going to the extent of my clumsiness. So, if tomorrow you read how some stupid T2 diabetic managed to impale himself on a lancet then try no to laugh too much

My daughter is about to start training to be a nurse and she can't wait to stab her Dad! I think I should be worried!!!!!!

 

[noblehead]

Practise makes perfect, it does get easier in time

 

[Juicyj]

@Welshman1952 Yikes poor you, nothing quite prepares you for the first stab, I sometimes 'do' my non diabetic friends when they get curious about their blood glucose levels and they look at me after i've done it as if 'what did you do that for' whilst clutching their pricked finger !

It might be easier for you to try the side of a finger rather than the pad, less sensitive and less likely to bleed lots afterwards.

Sadly I still need full concentration on the job, even after over around 10,000 pricks, i'm still in infant mode though compared to others

 

[ally1]

It certainly gets easier

 

[Welshman1952]

Oh I tried the side of my finger .. several times. I had the needle set at its highest and the insipid microglobule that emerged made my wife begin to ponder on whether or not I was really a zombie! After a few stabs I gave up and returned to the pad. I've found that if I press the contraption hard against the skin then wring the impaled digit to near death, I can extract enough to test successfully.

The machine instruction say I can use alternate testing sites on my arm if there is no hair. Unfortunately, I have the forearms of an ageing orangutan, so I will persevere with the fingertip stabbings.

I'll get there ... But I may need a few boxes of strips and lancets first

 

[Oldvatr]

Oh I tried the side of my finger .. several times. I had the needle set at its highest and the insipid microglobule that emerged made my wife begin to ponder on whether or not I was really a zombie! After a few stabs I gave up and returned to the pad. I've found that if I press the contraption hard against the skin then wring the impaled digit to near death, I can extract enough to test successfully.

The machine instruction say I can use alternate testing sites on my arm if there is no hair. Unfortunately, I have the forearms of an ageing orangutan, so I will persevere with the fingertip stabbings.

I'll get there ... But I may need a few boxes of strips and lancets first

Try washing your hands in warm water just prior to activating your pet vampire. Then drop the hand you are about to prick, and gently shake the hand at the wrist. Then test. If you have to wring the finger to get blood, then apply pressure upward from the base of the finger. easing it gently up toward the test site.. Applying pressure directly close to the site can give rise to a false reading. Hope this helps. As others have said it does get easier with practice. In time you will find yourself cocking, aiming and firing one handedly like Clint himself.

 

[borderter]

Oh this so reminds me about a time years ago when my mum wanted me to prick to see if I had inherited high bs but just coulnt do it acted like a weirdo jumping before lancer could do the job and i even sat with a sewing needle trying to get blood (useless) and now as an old hand just stab the thing in without hesitaion ,just wish my mum were still alive to laugh about it with me