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Differing amounts of blood???

pinkiepunksmummy

pinkiepunksmummy

Active Member
Messages
37
Location
Wales
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
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Peanut Butter!
Does anyone know why when I do my finger prick sometimes I get such a small amount of blood I have to do it twice, others times I get a big drop that runs down my finger?
Other than cold hands (which I don't have) I can't think why this happens....obviously I mean when I do the prick correctly, not a miss-fire!
 
It happens to me a lot, too. My little finger always produces more blood. The others seem to have thicker skin so the capillaries are deer down I suppose.
 
Perhaps it also depends how close you are stabbing to a capillary. There will be ordinary flesh between them so you might just nick one rather than putting a big hole in.
 
I find you have to be careful that you actually get blood as well. It is easy to get interstitial fluid that is red, but isn't in motion as it were. bg levels can be different. This is true especially when pricking under low light conditions say at night in the bedroom when your eyes are blurry.
 
gfmoore said:
I find you have to be careful that you actually get blood as well. It is easy to get interstitial fluid that is red, but isn't in motion as it were. bg levels can be different. This is true especially when pricking under low light conditions say at night in the bedroom when your eyes are blurry.
Click to expand...
Hi
How will u differentiate blood and interstitial fluid? Actually in med school, v are asked to discard the 1st drop of blood as it contains tissue fluid while doing some physiological experiments with blood...

Sent from the Diabetes Forum App
 
I think that my blood seems redder and thicker than the interstitial fluid. Think about a piece of steak on a plate before being cooked. There is blood and fluid (mixed?) on the plate, but it's not pure blood is it - it's just juice from the meat!

My take anyway :) and yes a good question.
 
Not surprisingly someone has investigated best practice for glucose testing. ( a set of experiments, one with not washing hands, one with fruit 'exposed' fingers and one with washing fruit 'exposed' fingers and one with pressure applied to finger (they used a baby blood pressure cuff and admitted that it might not mimic finger squeezing or milking)
conclusions were:
We recommend washing the hands with soap and water, drying them
and using the first drop of blood for self-monitoring of blood glucose. If washing hands is not
possible, and they are not visibly soiled or exposed to a sugar-containing product, it is acceptable
to use the second drop of blood after wiping away the first drop. External pressure may lead to
unreliable readings.
http://care.diabetesjournals.org/content/34/3/556.full.pdf

So squeezing or milking may alter the proportions of interstitial fluid to blood and give inaccurate results.
 
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