what can I use to help when I prick my fingers for blood sugar test to stop hurting?
Hi jane! The bg checking shouldn't have to hurt should it!?! But we must do it, so to lessen the hurt and avoid bruising I use the very smallest gauge lancet available which is 33g, change it now and then, put the lance device on the least setting so the prick is not so deep, run the digit under warm water if you are cold, and go for it. I change my lancet every day but I do a lot of checks. I rotate my pricks and use the sides of my finger tips. Thumbs are my favorite digits!
Recently I learned about a 36 gauge lancet called tinyBoy, but I have not tried them. And I have read raves about a product called Delica.
The sides of the finger near the base of the fingernail is the least sensitive.
Steve
x2 on the side of the finger pad, push it over with your thumb to make a bulge
it shouldn't bleed by its self, I need to milk my finger from the bottom to get a drop. the newer strips use less blood.
who is going to make a good youtube? all the ones I've seen are wrong
I have used the one touch delica lancets/lancing device since being in the hospital. This is the best one with the finest lancets as far as I know. Change your lancets once per day as Karen said, wash hands with warm water, not alcohol, sides of fingers, rotated fingers. I can't do my thumbs/forefingers, can't get blood out of them. It will still hurt but this will help to minimize your pain. I also have to do a 3 in the strength otherwise no blood comes out. Sometimes though it's not bad and other times it hurts.
The fastclix is my choice. there's new one called Genteel, it is a little pricey, but I've heard it's wonderful.
Use a test strip that requires as small an amount of blood as possible.
Use fresh lancets regularly.
Use small gauge lancets.
Don't test on the most sensitive, touching surfaces of the fingers, also to avoid building up calluses/scar tissue there.
Warm up fingers before lancing BUT don't rub or squeeze them excessively--as best I can tell, the interstitial fluid seems to have higher glucose levels than blood, though that seems counterintuitive--excessive milking of the finger will boost the BG reading by 10-20 mg/dl for me. Nurses seem to be universally unaware of this.
Do not use ALCOHOL swabs/pads/on cotton balls. It will increase the sting, unless your finger is dry. Plus there is no valid reason to use alcohol any longer, it was once protocol but has not been for many, many years.
I know this is an old topic but I had to interject my 2 cents…I have NEVER checked BGs on my fingers…EVER!!! I have always used my forearms…ALLOT less pain if any and easier blood flow…I’ve been a nurse for 30+ years and this is how we were taught to check BG’s. Whenever I go to the ER for whatever and tell them I am T1D they want to check my BG on my finger I tell them on my forearm or forget it…some nurses get upset but most oblige…I remember one time as an inpatient I told the nurse who was going to check my BG on my finger that I never allow a finger stick…we went round for round which ended up in a screaming match and security being called…she said she was not going to give me my insulin and that If I went into DKA it would be my own fault and she would not help me…Needless to say she didn’t work there the next day and had her license revoked after I reported her to the state Licensing board…(I had a friend on the board)…
I thought bigger was better. 
You need to use a special cap on the lancing device to test from alternate sites. Do hospitals have these? The lancets the hospitals use seem to be one-use devices (that hurt a lot more than a regular lancing device!). Whenever I’ve been in hospital I usually get one blood sugar check and then, once they find out I’m on a pump and CGM, they leave me to manage my own diabetes, even when I’ve been admitted.
Jen, Ive always just used the lancet cap that come with the Meters lancing device…When I went to Nursing School circa 1986, lancing devices were long thin and very cumbersome to use and we never had an issue getting a poke. Some ERs do use onetime lancets but they can be used on the forearm they may just go a little deeper than the regular devices we use at home…I have read studies too that say you get more accurate BG readings if you use the forearms because MOST people will not take the time to wash their hands before doing the poke, alcohol will not always wash away remnants of sugar and other contaminants…so if someone tells you you need a “special cap” on your lancing device to check on your forearm don’t believe it…
It’s not someone who’s told me, it’s the meter companies. I was diagnosed in 1991 and at that time there was no such thing as alternate site testing. I remember in the early 2000s (I think) when alternate site testing became a thing, the meter companies began including a standard cap and a clear “alternate site” cap. Maybe that’s a thing of the past now, I don’t know.
This may be true of washing hands, but the other thing I remember being mentioned ad nauseam when this became a thing was that the blood at the fingertips is more “up to date” than the blood in the forearms. So the manufacturers, at least, recommended testing on the fingers if one suspected a low. Again, maybe this isn’t a thing anymore, but the last time I read a glucose meter manual it was in there.
Actually the true reason why everyone says you should check on your fingers is because the capillaries are closer to the outer Dermis of the skin…I have experimented with both fingers, forearms, feet, buttocks, tummy, etc. and have found that the forearm gives the most accurate reading along side a regular blood draw…a friend is a phlebotomist and he agreed to the experiment I did which proved to me that the forearm is the most accurate place to test…of course if you feel more comfortable testing on your fingers then by all means continue to do so…
I use a Dexcom and dose from the Dex so I only prick my finger 1-2 times a day.