Sample from different fingers

I have noticed a couple of times now that the sample I take from my left hand is lower than the sample I take from my right hand. This morning I took some (fasting) blood from the middle finger of my right hand and it was 5.8. I thought that was a bit high, and immediately took a sample from the ring finger of my left hand. It tested 5.1.

I read somewhere that there may be a difference in the blood sugar contents between different fingers, but 0.7 is quite a difference. Why does it test so differently? I had washed my hands before testing so it can't be down to some residue.

Does anybody know the answer or is it one of the mysteries we have to live with?

mo1905 said:

This is common and normal. You can also get different readings from the same drops of blood on the same finger ! Our meters are a decent guide but not accurate.

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Thanks. There must be a reason behind it, but I just find it odd. It'll be tempting now to check the other hand if I find my BS levels a bit high. Easy way to 'cheat' when recording our readings.

mo1905 said:

Be nice if we could just keep testing various fingers until we found a reading we liked

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Problem is, we end up looking like a pin cushion.

Debmcgee said:

That's so weird - I was just thinking the same thing! I just got 10.4 reading post brekkie from index finger (been avoiding that one) for first time for same food as yesterday.

I'm feeling lost!!!


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Deb, that happens to me (and others) also. Sometimes we can eat something with no rise in blood sugar and at other times it spikes us. Sometimes we can eat it in the morning, but not in the evenings.... it's very odd.

The best thing to do is to keep checking it quite a few times and if it ever goes above the recommended limits, have it only occasionally.

I think the general advice is that fasting BS levels should be below 6, one hour after meal no more than 8 and two hours after a meal down to less than 6.5. Anything that reads 10.4 a couple of hours after eating should be avoided or eaten only rarely (even if it didn't raise your blood sugar levels yesterday).

I find that if I don't eat something for a while (say, two weeks or longer) and then have a small portion, it doesn't raise my BS levels, but if I then have it again the next day (or shortly afterwards), it does. I succumbed to some biscuits after not eating any for about 6 weeks and my BS levels were 5.4 after two hours. I thought 'how wonderful....'. A few days later I had some more of the same biscuits and after two hours my BS was still over 9.