Okay, kidding aside ... as diabetics ... testing your blood sugar on your finger tips can be abit of a drag at times. I've been doing this process since home testing was introduced back in the 1980's (you can read more about the history of these blood sucking devices at David Mendosa's link HERE). Even with wearing a CGMS (aka Bowie) which many people think means you won't have to do the old finger prick anymore, I still test on average about 6X a day, sometimes more, depending on what is going on in my life.
Recently, a family member of mine was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes. Luckily, with the help of their spouse, they're are diligently performing 4 tests a day in order to stay in a good blood sugar range to avoid any complications of high blood sugars. The one thing they admitted to me the other day, was how much it hurt. I discovered the "nurse" was pricking the fatty portion of the finger tip, where numerous nerves exist ... that beg <NOT> to be heard when they're mistreated.
Screaming Hands by http://lintza.deviantart.com/ |
I then slowly explained the best way to avoid the pain, by testing on their finger tips, which over the years I've shown nurses how to perform this task on their patients hands. What better person to show them how to treat their patients, and not have them stop testing when they go back home to deal with diabetes on their own.
I even went as far as to post a few pictures on my Instagram account that you see below, since sometimes pictures are worth a thousand words! If you've never tried testing on the sides of your finger tips, then give it a go next time, and be rewarded with no pain or scars.
Here's some of my tips to get the best results out of a pain free blood test:
- Always wash your hands before testing, simple soap and water are fine (alcohol dries out the skin).
- If your fingertips are cold, rub them gently to warm them up and get better blood circulation.
- Use your lancing device on the SIDE of your fingertip to get a drop of blood sufficient for test.
- Then hold the edge of the test strip to the drop of blood and wait for results 😀