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First Blood Glucose test of the day before foot on the floor?

Pipp

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Moderator
Messages
11,319
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
Serious question. If the first test is meant to be before you put a foot on the floor, it suggests it ought to be whilst still in bed. So how do we wash hands before the test? What do others do? I have noticed that if I get up and wash hands first the reading can be higher than if I don’t wash first.
Would add that I always wash hands at other times, before testing.
 
I lay out my kit the night before in the kitchen and when I get out of bed in the morning, put on slippers, toilet, wash hands, dry hands and test.
Actually first time I heard of test before feet on the ground. That would mean a whole new lay out of bedside table.... proabably not going to happen any time soon.
 
I test (and inject) in bed before getting up, no hand washing.
But then, I only do the hand washing thing when I see an unexpected result anyway.
 
I have a greater need to go to the toilet when I get out of bed first up in the morning.

I wash my hands after going to the toilet.

Then I wander out via the kitchen and hit the 2 button on the microwave, so the preloaded mug of water boils for my first coffee of the day.

While the water is cooking, I test my fasting bgl, then I make my black coffee.
 
Unless I've needed a sugary hypo treatment overnight I normally figure my hands are clean enough first thing as they've normally been washed before I got to bed anyway
 
Rokaab said:
Unless I've needed a sugary hypo treatment overnight I normally figure my hands are clean enough first thing as they've normally been washed before I got to bed anyway
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I guess that would depend on what one has been up to in the night.
 
Antje77 said:
Why a saline solution? I didn't think saline cleaned better than plain water. Which is much more cost effective than saline wipes.
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I don’t know if they clean any better, I have used some which were just water but they went up in price and became more expensive so I switched.
 
Pipp said:
I guess that would depend on what one has been up to in the night.
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I guess this should only be an issue if you or your partner see glucose levels regularly above 10 or 11 mmol/l, as that seems to be the level at which you start spilling glucose through sweat, tears, urine and other fluids.

So as long as you keep below 10 I don't think anything left on your hands will affect the reading.
 
Rachox said:
I don’t know if they clean any better, I have used some which were just water but they went up in price and became more expensive so I switched.
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You could put a glass of water on your nightstand to wipe your finger with?
Mind, nothing wrong with using wipes if you like them!
 
Is that when your meant to do your first test of the day before you even get out of bed? I’ve never been told to do that. I get up, go to the loo, get dressed, make my bed, put kettle on, take my dogs out for a wee, do there food and water and then I test.
 
I always scan my libre before I get out of bed then go to the bathroom to wash my hands then walk to spare bedroom & test with a meter & scan my libre again, the libre reading is always higher than it was in bed but glucose meter still lower than the libre, always think it should be the other way round if libre lags
 
Hi what an informative group you are I hadn’t heard of testing before getting out of bed but it’s been a while since I was on this diabetic site anyway I tried it this morning the difference was small 7.7 BG before I got out of bed then surprising 7.4 less than 5minutes later when I got up. I can live with the difference and not disturb my husband by having to put the bedside light on to check BG in the pitch darkness.And BG was actually lower on rising .K
 
As some others have said, I don't do anything in the middle of the night that will add any glucose to my fingers. They were clean when I went to bed and only touched skin and sheets since so I save my water and soap and test before getting out of bed.
 
My full bladder wakes me in the mornings, so my very first job is to put slippers and dressing gown on then empty bladder. Then wash my hands, return to bedroom and test before anything else. That has always been the case.
 
Like sarah69, I test after the morning dog walk, after the coffee that follows it and after I have rested from the walk. I don't eat until midday ish so I reckon there is plenty of time. I don't see any point in annoying myself with DP, and being an old person, once awake, the bathroom calls.

Of course it would be more important for T1 to test first thing, but as T2 I have more flexibility.
 
Bluetit1802 said:
My full bladder wakes me in the mornings, so my very first job is to put slippers and dressing gown on then empty bladder. Then wash my hands, return to bedroom and test before anything else. That has always been the case.
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Me too but at least I tried it out.K
 
Sometimes I prick finger then wipe away first drop of blood hopefully with any contaniments then squeeze out a second drop and test that.
 
My Libre always does a short funny jump right after waking up (independent of the rise I get from getting out of bed). So if I scan + fingerprick directly on waking, my Libre usually reads a bit lower than blood (my sensors tend to read low) but if I scan 5 minutes later my Libre will have gone up but a finger prick won't. After 20 minutes or so, the libre is back to normal.

So no idea what it is in moving from lying down to sitting up, but now I know it shortly confuses my sensor.
 
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