Finger pricking

[cjw]

Hi,

I have done my blood sugar testing by using my arms for a few years now as less painful etc. Recently started on a pump so had to go back to finger pricks.
I'm on a Medtronic pump with a Contour Link meter and sensor. Recently noticed a difference between tests at the same time on different fingers of over 2 mmol which worried me. (Not because I randomly do that - I forgot to update the reading to the sensor so had to do it again then got curious!!) I rang Bayer and they said that as it uses such a small amount of blood (6 micro bits) it is important that you do not squeeze the blood out of the finger - you have to prick it hard enough that the blood just spurts out. This is something to do with other fluid messing up the sample which didn't matter when more blood was required previously.
Anyone heard of this? I am a bit distressed about this as it hurts enough to make the prick in the first place and I'm doing 7 or 8 tests a day. Also my DSN has helped squeeze the blood out when doing a test a few weeks back.
I guess if you wash in hot water before a test it may be easier but it seems a bit sadistic!
Grateful for any thoughts.

 

[MushyPeaBrain]

This sounds bizarre and I've never heard of it. I really struggled initially with the finger pricking but some tips that helped me were:

ALWAYS changing the needle with every test

Rotate fingers regularly and prick the side, not the pad

Wait 2 secs before milking the finger for blood

If cold I wash my hands in hot water

Got a more modern finger pricker, which really helped

Set me depth to as shallow as I could and have noticed this helps stops fingers feeling sore with all the tests. In fact sometimes it bleeds better than with the deep depth I had it on.

Use hand lotion regularly to keep skin soft and stop it drying out.

 

[donnellysdogs]

I had a huge high reading over Christmas, gave extra bolus, put pump to 250% to bring it down. Less than 3 minutes later I was hugely, badly hypo. I put it down to having something sugary on my hands......however....

I am speaking to my nurse today, because in the yesterday again I had a high which which was totally unaccountable for...I had also washed my hands prior to testing. I did another test 1 minute later according to the machine, so it literally was the time of putting in a new tester. I used the same finger and just resqueezed to get more blood.....the reading came back 4mm lower.......iit has now made me think whether my huge reading at Christmas was really down to having sugar on my finger....

Last night when I had my unexplained high and after I had got the 2nd reading 4mm lower, I did a test on my old blood machine to check, and my old blood machine said I was in fact even lower>>....

I don't know if this is a one off, but now if I get an unexplained high reading, I will be getting my old blood test machine out to check it......

 

[flightdeck]

Thats a very intresting point DD
Also if someone has never tested before might have anxiety thus maybe sweaty palms .What anyone needs to remember is if we don't change the prickers we could actually be prone to cross infection and us diab's cant recover as fast as non D's :wink:
It might be straight forward for us more experianced however i feel thet newbies need this taught as it seem that GP'S and DN'S just throw a meter at them with this relaxed "See how you get on !!!!" appauling attititude.
I also think that schools should implicate a tutorial about diabeties as apparantly 38% of children are classed as obiese and to be fair it is not there fault prevention as always better than cure :wink: :wink: :wink:

 

[ebony321]

When i did the DAFNE course we were told not to squeeze the finger as it can cause fluid to mix with the blood and give a false reading, But to 'milk' the finger from the palm almost like a little massage to encourage good blood flow.

I wouldnt recommend pricking it so hard that you have a gush of blood though!

Always wash your hands, even newspaper print on your fingers can alter a test reading!!

and remember you have six fingers between both hands good for testing so always alternate! i'm a b*gger for always using my left hand fingers as im right handed then curse myself when theyre sore! :lol:

And if i'm ever in doubt, i wash my hands again and re-test

I sometimes get clumsy in hypo mode and have fed myself a sugary treat with my hands, re-tested and it's totally false! Doh!

 

[cjw]

MushyPeaBrain - I missed the 2 second wait you mentioned in your post till just now. I saw my DSN in the week and discussed with her. She said of course you have to squeeze the finger but said about waiting a few seconds before squeezing - this is because the capillaries collapse initially to prevent blood loss then relax. I've done this (and the hot water washing) and it's been great ever since.

Though I still suspect that meters aren't 100% accurate!