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How to make sure I get accurate readings?

Totto

Totto

Well-Known Member
Messages
2,831
Location
Gotland
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
What should I do to make sure the readings are accurate? Where can I squeeze to get blood, without getting a false reading? Will the different fingers give different results? Are there other parts of the body I can test? Any else I should know?

If I keep off carbs my bg readings are ok, if I eat bread or rice they will rise to 10-12 after an hour and stay high for several hours. Morning values are usually fine, 5.3 this morning.

HbAc1 was 46 in December.
 
Hi

It's quite common to have differing readings in each finger and each machine will test slightly differently and there isn't much we can do at home to make them as accurate as those used in hospitals. we have to allow for a margin of error

However I would say wash and rinse your hands as thoroughly as possible and some wipe away the first droplet of blood.

Bread or rice a prime culprits for high BG, You have to make a mental note which foods are the enemies to low numbers.

Cara
 
Hi Totto, the BG monitors we use are not super accurate and you will get varying readings from different meters. You'll also get different readings from the same meter within minutes or taken from a different finger. They're a pretty good estimation though so if you get a reading way off what you think it ahould be, test again. Try not to look at individual readings ( unless very low or high ), rather look for trends/patterns.


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I read somewhere you shouldn't squeeze the finger as this could cause false readings, but how to get any blood at all this time of year if you don't squeeze?
 
Warm your fingers up a little first ! warm water or one a radiator or something. People say don't squeeze but to be honest, I always have to squeeze to get a drop of blood out !
 
mo1905 said:
Warm your fingers up a little first ! warm water or one a radiator or something. People say don't squeeze but to be honest, I always have to squeeze to get a drop of blood out !
Click to expand...
I think it's usually recommended that you 'massage' your finger to encourage blood flow rather than squeezing. On the few occasions that I've had to test though, I've found that I've needed to squeeze even when I have the finger pricker on the highest setting. Maybe that's just because I have callousy bass guitar player fingers :facepalm:
 
Giverny said:
I think it's usually recommended that you 'massage' your finger to encourage blood flow rather than squeezing. On the few occasions that I've had to test though, I've found that I've needed to squeeze even when I have the finger pricker on the highest setting. Maybe that's just because I have callousy bass guitar player fingers :facepalm:
Click to expand...
I think I suffer with "sausage fingers" !
 
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