I was in my chemistry lab yesterday and spilled some silver nitrate on my hands. Because of this, my hands are chemically stained for the next week or so. The stuff is fairly reactive so I would rather not poke it into my bloodstream. I'm looking into alternate site testing. I tried my forearm, but the test was painful and it left a fairly large bruise. Are there any other good places?
Which site(s) have yall found that hurt or bruise the least?
Alternate site testing is generally less accurate than testing from finger tip samples. Arms, Thighs, and the palms of the hands are the most frequently-used alternate sites. Of the three, the palms will provide the most accurate readings (after the fingertips). BD has a short but very good article that explains alternate site testing. You can read it here:
http://www.bd.com/us/diabetes/blood-glucose-monitoring/how-to-test/alternate-site/
Lab technicians that work with silver nitrate solutions a lot have reported that using ammonia will often get rid of stains but only if caught very early. Once the stain sets in, it is more or less permanent until new skin grows out to replace the stained layer (a process that normally takes just a few days). Gently rubbing with salt (wetted with water) will often hasten the process.
Forearm is the only other area I've tried, but from what I understand it's not as "real-time" of a reading as the fingers, so it only works well if you've been stable and fasting for a while, such as first thing in the morning. I have heard the earlobe also works...ouch!
Try the new Genteel lancing device as it works well on alternate sites…no pain either!
I had a long drawn out response but decided against it.
Let me just quote BD's site for reference:
"The fingertips and the palm hold the most recent 'memories' of your blood glucose..." "On the other hand, lagging test sites such as the forearm or thigh tell you what your blood glucose was around 20 to 35 minutes ago - not what it is right now."
Im sorry, but this is hogwash. Memory? What? A meter doesnt check the memory of your glucose! It checks for actual glucose in your blood!
And the question you should ask yourself is this: How can an alternate test site provide 30 minutes of lag when it only takes ONE MINUTE for blood to make a COMPLETE round trip through your body?
I wish this old wives tale would go the way of the dodo bird.
Who knows, maybe blood isn't completely homogenous? I know glucose is a fairly large molecule, perhaps it moves around slower in the body than red blood cells? I'm just speculating. I'm personally not finding too much difference between my palm and my fingers. but once this crap wears off my hand I'm probably switching back to my fingertips. I think my nerves there have just given up lol.
Kind of off topic, but I saw a post over on CWD where parents were checking their kid's blood sugar on their TOES! OW!
I almost suggested toes... :P
I mean, part of me is thinking it shouldn't be much worse than fingertips. but I just can't get myself to click myself there. lol
Good news everyone! The stuff has mostly worn off! I still have another week of using this chemical in my chemistry lab, but hopefully I won't spill it any more.
No more alt sites for me! haha.I used my face after a bicycle crash. My teeth went into the pavement, through my lip and my chin also bounced off the ground and had a laceration. The blood was right there with my fingertip.