Guvnah, it's just a bloody mess!

Type 1 and LADA
#1

Got your attention!

No, I don't really mean the brit interpretation of "bloody" -- I'm talking the real stuff.

From Riva Greenberg's article that Richard has kindly shared with us:

There's also time spent wiping residual blood from blood sugar checks off my kitchen cabinets, coffee table and keyboard.
This is puzzling me.

Recently, this has come up a few times here too. People referring to blood squirting all over the place, like a puncture to the aorta. Now I'm not arguing this doesn't happen -- just that I'm profoundly ignorant to it, and can't understand it. I'm eager to learn.

I've been diabetic, and testing my blood, for 15 years. I've always tested on my fingers. Nothing more, ever, than "ooze". Most of the time not even that -- gotta squeeze and force the blood out.

So I'm not getting this business of a near catastrophe of high-pressure blood spray all over the place from testing. What gives?

#2

Some folks blood is just thinner (for medical reasons), and so this happens. I keep a kleenex at the ready whenever and wherever I check my bg. How about you just be thankful that you don't have to deal with this 'business'!

#3

I don't have transfer or squirting (....wow this sounds dirty please get my mind out of the dang gutter) but anyway ...I don't have those despite some other bleeding issues so I don't understand it either D: lol. Granted I've only been a diabetic for almost 9 months . The only weird blood thing I've seen is when I do my very gentle (not being sarcastic or joking here) finger rub to get the blood out and like 4 old test sites started bleeding. It was after a bath so I guess I softened up my fingers and made them too pruny but holy crap that was weird.

#4

Very occasionally, I will puncture and then gently squeeze my finger, and the blood will squirt out. I think I've even hit the ceiling. Maybe once in every 500 times or so? Maybe less. Your body waits for the most inconvenient time to do this. Like when you're ready to walk out the door to go to work. I haven't punctured the aorta; just a capillary.

#5

I imagine this is just a matter of individual physiology, like so many other things. Some people have it and some don't. Personally I have never had a "gusher" in 20 years but it's very clear that some folks do. Just one o' them things.

#6

Happens to me quite frequently. just the other day after I'd cleaned the bathroom. Just like a huge fine spray, covered a rather large area. My husband gently asks me to clean the blood off the light switches and cabinets too

#8

Marie, just to be clear, from a finger tip?

Man, we're all so different. When I prick my finger to test, it's like getting motor oil to come out. If I don't squeeze, nothing will on its own.

Is your heart pumping at 2000 psi or something?

#9

Some of this no doubt has to do with individual variation in skin anatomy on hands.

My skin is pretty thick and tough on my hands... I don't cut very easily. It's just naturally this way -- I don't have a job, or activities, that have calloused my hands.

I was looking at my wife's hands last night, and she definitely has much thinner skin, and more blood flow closer to the surface. Maybe this is generally true for women vs. men?

Anyhow, thanks all for contributing explanation here. It's amazing how our worlds can be so different just over something as simple as a finger BG test!

#10

I've totally had amazing gushers. I have blood on my monitor at work from a recent one. Especially if I do some sort of gonzo weight+cardio workout, I'm usually fried by the end of it but want to eat some protein to get studlier (LOL) so I test my BG and I think that sort of thing raises your BP too, it will blast out quite a bit.

#11

yes fingertip

#12

This has happened to me a few times. Except, because I need to look so close (finger is literally a centimetre or two from my eye) the blood always squirts into my eye or onto my cheek. It makes me yelp, but friends and family always ask what's happened, so evidently blood only goes into my eye and not anywhere else.

#13

Also, docs often prescribe meds that might thin the blood.