painfull fingers???

[maya0606]

Hi evryone!!

I know that bunch of us do out blood test often, but doesn;t your fingers get all brused up and all black dots on it because of the whole, I hate it!!! I am a girl and I have a mans hands lol it looks horrible!!! is there a way of doing something about it?

does anyone have the same experience?? cause i know if you do it repeatably on the same finger it does become soar but i dont !

[d_k_moon]

With some of the newer meters you can test on your palms and forearms.

[maya0606]

well i dont have that mine is the Counter, is there a specifi meter you're telling me about? maybe i could get that one as i get them for free here in Canada Toronto

[d_k_moon]

well i dont have that mine is the Counter, is there a specifi meter you're telling me about? maybe i could get that one as i get them for free here in Canada Toronto

I got the OneTouch Ultra 2 free in Canada. The OneTouch UltraMini's are dirt cheap, even if you have pay for them, and they support palm and forearm testing.

[maya0606]

so you're saying that ultra onetouch is better?

[d_k_moon]

so you're saying that ultra onetouch is better?

No, it's just the one I happen to use. And it was given to me while I was in the hospital in Saskatoon.

[maya0606]

No, it's just the one I happen to use. And it was given to me while I was in the hospital in Saskatoon.

Ohhhhhh ok I see, well I wish I could find a better machine cause I hate also doing it infrton of ppl I wish I could have a machine that u could just pinch iur self and it gives u the results

[SuzySushi]

1) Are you testing on the SIDES of your fingertips? You should not be testing on the pads. It makes a big difference because the sides of your fingers have fewer nerve endings.

2) Wash your hands before testing, but do not use antibacterial soap or alcohol wipes -- they're very irritating to the skin. You can put on a soothing hand cream in between tests.

3) Set your lancet device to the lowest number that will draw a drop of blood.

4) Make sure to alternate fingers.

5) With some meters & lancets, you CAN test on your palm or forearm, but the tests are not as accurate. Also, when my husband tried it, the adapter for the lancet left a bruise on his arm (although the stick itself didn't hurt as much).

[sable_032592]

i use the accu-chek compact plus, which supports forearm, palm, all fingers, toes and thighs... you can get ony free when you get a box of testing strips... just go to accu-chek.ca (accu-chek.ca/ca/rewrite/generalContent/en_CA/article/ACCM_general_article_3194.htm) just add the www before the accu-chek.ca part...

you can get either the aviva or the compact plus, i don't know about the aviva though...

btw, i'm also from canada, i'm your neighboor, from qwebec (quebec) LOL

[sable_032592]

also, i forgot something...

i just checked the site and it looks like the aviva doesn't work with other site testing, plus you have to code the meter and insert a strip... the compact plus is a test strip drum, 17 strips per drum, you drop it in, no handling of strips, no coding either... maybe i'm biased but i like it better than some of the other meters i've used...

[h a]

Hi, we have all felt the pain of testing. Some meters have really Cheap lancet pens and they will tear your fingers up. If you like your meter ,try a new lancet pen with soft touch or a good spring load. Different meters will let you try other places to test, but you did not give your blood sugar levels - fore arm testing is less painful, but if you are 300 or more in levels it may not be as accurate as the fingers or the palm. pRICE THE TEST STRIPS BEFORE YOU BUY A METER AS THEY WILL BE THE BIGGEST COST.

[sable_032592]

i don't know about ontario, but canada has a basic prescription coverage plan, so the cost wouldn't be 100% of the price for the strips... i'm on a plan in quebec where i pay nothing for any of my medication with a prescription... unless it's ketone sticks or lancets, as these items are not covered by the quebec government (they deem them not nessisary, which is half ok and half stupic, what are we supposed to get the blood with, razor blades?!)...

as for accurate, i was told by my d nurse that when you're having a low, the fingers are best, but any other time it's ok to test elsewhere... i tested this out myself with my meter... last night on my arm i was 7.2 (129), on my big toe i was 7.2 (129) and from my index finger, 7.1 (127), so not that big of a difference really...

[shutterbug]

Poke on the sides of finger and not on pads. Poking on pads is often painful and pain can last for hours..

Also change fingers. Use your thumb as well. For me thumb is less painful than other fingers.. don't know why :D

[mortis505]

I use the sides of my fingers/thumbs. If I alternate every test, this means that I have about 20 lances before getting back to the first spot. I use a SoftClix Plus that I picked up at the D expo from the Accu-Check folks(Thanks to Rikki).
Its much less painful than the OneTouch I was using.

[maya0606]

Poke on the sides of finger and not on pads. Poking on pads is often painful and pain can last for hours..

Also change fingers. Use your thumb as well. For me thumb is less painful than other fingers.. don't know why :D

I do poke on the side of my fingers but they do end up hurting me i test my self everytime before i eat which i eat 5 times a day small portions..... and also before bed so thats 6 times and sometimes up to 8 if sometimes I check my sugar because i feek low or just ti check up on it

[CookD]

I use a SoftClix from Accu-Check. I had a generic brand that left my fingers bruised and sore so switched. The SoftClix has many settings ranging from .5 to 5.5 and I set it at .5 or 1. Changing to the SoftClix helped immensely.

[HollyB]

Hey Maya, in Toronto you should be able to get just about any meter free with a purchase of strips. If your doc writes the prescription just for "strips" without specifying what kind, then even if your cost is being picked up by an insurance company you should be able to experiment and see if there's something you like better. (You'll probably have to finish all the strips before trying something else though.)

Some thoughts: My son likes the Freestyle mini because it's really small (he tests in front of people all the time but honestly they hardly notice) and takes a much smaller sample of blood, so he doesn't have to dial up the picker so high. Also it has a strip light you can put on to see what you're doing in the dark. But he doesn't like their lancer -- he uses the One-Touch with "ultrasoft" (ha, ha) lancets instead. Some people say the Softclix is a lot less hard on their fingers so that might be the first thing you'd want to try. Also, some people say testing on the big pad below the base of their thumb works well and hurts less (others say more, so I dunno).

[maya0606]

Thanks a lot HollyB :-)

[sable_032592]

i loved some of the features of the freestyle mini (the light feature especially, lights up the strip so you can put the blood on the strip and then the display area lights up to tell you when there's enough blood absorbed... really cool...) but as far as pain goes, i like the softclix from accu-chek right now but the best lancets i've used were the clear blue ones from BD i think, they could go in almost any lancing device...

i don't know if they still make them, but they were really soft on the skin... another thing to consider, is changing your lancet more often, the blade/needle gets rough and dull after a while and can cause more pain than it should...

change your lancet and then see if it still hurts as much as before... if it doesn't, that just means that you need to change them more often or change brand of lancets...

[Clem]

Hi Maya,

I had exactly the same problem. Thing is, I probably looked an awful lot worse to anyone witnessing my performance as I am a 210 pound ex-American Football/Rugby playing guy, no problem with needles but found the lancets on my fingers hurt like **** and would peform a small ceremony before each finger prick!

I moved to the OneTouch and it supports forearm testing. It can be harder to get blood out of the forearm but rubbing beforehand helps, as does pressing down hard and using maximum depth. The thing is, it does not matter if the first one does not work. You can just do it again because it is literally pain free.

For whatever the marginal extra hassle it is to have to set a code on the OneTouch I would take it every time. I have moved from testing once or twice a day to seven or more because it just hurts so much less.

[sable_032592]

i found some info from my accu-chek compact plus user's manual about where to prick for blood...

"capillary blood in the fingertip and the palm responds more quickly to changes in the blood glucose levels than in the forearm, the upper arm, the calf and the thigh. Blood glucose values tested in blood taken from these sites may therefore differ from values tested in blood taken from the fingertips and palm.
the difference in the blood glucose values is partly because the fingertips and palm contain more blood vessels than other sites.
do not test blood from the forearm, the upper arm, the calf and the thigh:

up to two (2) hours following a meal, when blood glucose values can change quickly,
after exercise,
if you have a temperature or if a medical condition is limiting your mobility (breaking a leg or confined to a bed),
if you suspect that your blood glucose is extremely low,
if you know that you sometimes do not notice when you a low,
during peak action time of short-acting insulin (regular; up to 4 hours after the injection) or rapid-acting insulin analogues (novolog or humalog; up to 2 hours after the injection).
"

there's more info on this in the "think like a pancreas" book by dr. gary scheiner (he's a diabetic too)... in case you haven't guess, i've decided to re-read the book recently LOL...

[drummingfool]

Im currently using a OneTouch Ultra Smart meter.

It RAWKS!

It supports finger, forearm and palm testing. It holds a MASSIVE log of results. You can view a graph of all results or just result within a certain time period during the day. It'll average your result for the past 7, 15, 30 or 90 days. It also gives you the option to input food intake, meds, exercise and doctors visits.

I love it!

I should mention, however, that it was donated to me along with about 10 other meters by my grandmother. Shes a diabetic nutritionist in CA, and she also sends me test strips and stuff... so its pretty cool.