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Fed up with wasting testing strips

IanBish

Well-Known Member
Messages
1,200
Location
Cardiff
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
Today I wasted five strips trying to test my blood glucose. I had good drops of blood from several fingers, but as soon as put the test strip to the blood, the Gluco Navii came up with an "A-2" error (insufficient blood). They're new strips and they're in date, and I have read the instruction leaflet.

Does anyone have any tips or advice before I chuck the thing in the bin?
 
With most meters you don’t put the blood on the strip. Hold the tip (usually) of the strip just onto the blood and let the strip suck it up.
maybe post the name of your meter here so that someone who has the same one can comment.
 
Think of the strip like a drinking straw. It just needs to hover in the blood which will then fill the tiny little window. If the tip of the strip touches the bottom of the drop (your skin) blood can't flow up it.
Just like drinking a drink if the straw is on the bottom of the glass or an ice cube, no liquid can come up.

Make sure it's a nice domed rounded drop of blood.
You'll soon start to recognise what's a good drop.
If its not a good drop, try pricking again somewhere else to save wasting a strip.

It's just practice, I wasted quite to few begin with too. Worth persevering though!
 
Well, only one strip wasted today. Four successful tests. It turns out that a small globe of blood from the finger next to the index finger works well, but the small pool of blood from the ring finger doesn't. I'm not sure why the ring finger seems to be the problem, but at least I've narrowed it down.

Thanks for the replies.
 
At least you can get a drop of blood, I sometimes find its like getting blood out a stone! Also the vampire nurse when taking bloods can never find the "correct" veins on me, I am a human pin cushion
 
I sometimes struggle and have wasted 2-3 strips in the past. I’ve found if I consciously drink lots of water throughout the day (which is advised anyway) I get a better blob of blood and as @MrsA2 has said you need a domed drop on your finger not a smear, if it smears I wipe it away and squeeze my finger again. How often do you change your lancet?
 
MissMuffett said:
you need a domed drop on your finger not a smear, if it smears I wipe it away and squeeze my finger again. How often do you change your lancet?
Click to expand...
I'll try that later, thanks. I normally change the lancet once a day, after about five stabs.
 
IanBish said:
I'll try that later, thanks. I normally change the lancet once a day, after about five stabs.
Click to expand...
I only change mine once a week or when it starts to hurt, I buy them myself so try not to use too many and that’s why I get cross if I waste a test strip
 
MissMuffett said:
I only change mine once a week or when it starts to hurt, I buy them myself so try not to use too many and that’s why I get cross if I waste a test strip
Click to expand...

Yes I watched someone else & realised they scooped the blood from underneath the droplet instead of laying it in the blood.

I never have issues now.

Almost as if you are scraping it off your finger . I really hope this helps , you will likely see the problems I had with it from posts on here.

Good luck I know how disheartening it can be
 
PS if you squeeze your finger from the lower part upwards that helps increase blood flow too as well as vigorously washing your hands prior.
If I don’t do that I struggle too.
 
Only one failure out of four today. I'm getting there. Thanks for the tips.
 
Lainie71 said:
At least you can get a drop of blood, I sometimes find its like getting blood out a stone! Also the vampire nurse when taking bloods can never find the "correct" veins on me, I am a human pin cushion
Click to expand...
I’m the same as it usually takes me 5 attempts to get enough blood for testing. With blood tests they normally have to try 2-3 times in each arm before success and, if they’re not quick enough, it stops before they get enough!
 
I thought I’d got a faulty batch of test En I changed the batteries inside and it worked fine. So now whenever it shows an error the first thing I do is change the batteries and that nearly always solves the problem
 
Still getting a few failures. But I'm surprised just how little blood is actually needed for a successful reading; The tiniest blob, rather than a pool, seems to work just fine.
 
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