I was reading sugar surfing recommended by @MM1 and I came across a part where the author suggests that milking the finger for BG meter test is wrong but doesn’t say why. So I googled it and found this:
It says that milking the finger will be diluted with normal interstitial tissue fluid which has a lower glucose content - hence inaccurate reading.
I’ve been doing this for 20 odd years!!! I’ve never used a second drop of blood (i’ll be lucky to just get one drop) and I cannot get blood without squeezing it.
Does anyone do it the “proper” way? (ie no squeezing and using second drop of blood)
Type 1 for 61 yrs. I have been testing my blood for almost 40 of those years many times a day. I don’t milk my fingers but I have never used a second drop. I am fortunate that my fingers are just fine. Using Dexcom now, but I still test because it is often wrong by too much.
This forum is just a font of information. This is something else that I’ve never heard of in my 30 years of T1D. I guess I’m testing my bg in the wrong way also…!
WOW!! in 40+ yrs of control effort, I’ve never heard of that methodology: 2nd drop use. I’ve always 1st drop ‘milked’, or otherwise. I confess it does make sense from a purist point of view, that ISF ‘dilutes’ the measure.
Haven’t read the report, but what is the delta between: 2nd drop vs. initial ‘milked’ readings method? 0.0001 mmol ( or whatever it is), is pretty insignificant.
If it is closer to a greater than 2.100 mmol delta, that’s a different story.
At some point I was taught to re-prick to get enough blood. And in 1980-90s, much more blood was required!
I probably do minimal “milking”. But do wash hands and shake down on rare occasion if not enough blood from prick.
(Or change the lancet if it’s been awhile!)
I had been told a long time ago to not “milk” my finger tips. If hands were cold, I should warm them up with warm water (also washing hands back in the day was suggested along with alcohol wipes but who does that?) and to hang hand down at side to get blood to “pool” in fingers. I never thought to compare numbers not milking and numbers milking. And now with my Dexcom G6 I just don’t test anymore.
If you are having to milk a lot, might mean you need to change your lancet more often if you aren’t regularly, have your lancet device on a deeper setting, or try for less calloused parts of the finger. I have the most callouses/scarring on the tips, toward either side, so I find going further to the sides yields more readily bleeding finger pricks.
I’ve always taken the second drop. I’ve had nurses roll their eyes at me and I’m like whatever I know it’s the second drop. I don’t wear a sensor but I would think it is not nearly as accurate as a finger and second drop. Esp. if you are in a state of flux like on a lot of fast acting the first drop might not be accurate to the change.
Glucometers are not required to be accurate during these times, they are required to be within ±20mg/DL during fasting… the reason you and everyone should be on a Cgm are the arrows that tell you which direction your glucose will be In The future. There is a slight delay, but I have personally encountered the delay more during the Increase of blood sugar…if my Cgm says I’m low, its always correct which is a huge advantage… Cgms rule
I do use the second drop, but probably for a different reason than I should. I’m a little more careful now that I’m potentially calibrating the CGM off of the result… But historically, I just developed the habit because I got lazy about washing/drying hands. The alcohol wipes thing only lasted a few years at most. I just figured that any number-altering contamination got wiped away with the first drop.
I’m back to alcohol wipes now, but still use second drop out of habit.
I don’t think I “milk”, but I don’t really know. I do squeeze a little for the drop, but I’m not trying to force all the fluid down into the tip.
When they do a fingerstick at the doctor’s, they prick so hard my finger bleeds all on its own for hours to come. The vampire takes half my blood out through my elbow without needing so much as a bandaid… But I walk out with a giant wad of cotton and several wraps of vet wrap around my finger! I’m not making a habit of doing that voluntarily on my own. I’ll take a little milking, thankyouverymuch.
Yep, just wipe it away. But I do squeeze a new drop out.
The way I see it, there’s a difference between a slight squeeze and milking. We’ve all been there… You prick, but BARELY bleed. So you’re frantically trying to force every little bit of fluid in your finger down to the prick. THAT is what I think milking is. I don’t think a little pressure on the fingertip counts as milking.
According to the book, alcohol wipes don’t wipe off any sugar, it just moves the dirt and sugar around the finger. It suggests to toss this out and just wash your hands before doing it.
What are people getting finger pricks for at the doctor’s? I haven’t gotten one in a very, very long time, only venipuncture. I usually decide with my endo what labs I want done in advance of the next appt, get them done the week prior, and then we have the results to discuss. But totally agree with never letting anyone else do it if you do get your finger pricked.
