I’m not diabeteic but i am hypo only (it runs in my family) so i test my bg 4+ times a day to track my bg. and i"m wondering witch fingers people prefer to use to test with and how many times a day you test?
I test 5 to 7 times a day. Since I play guitar I avoid my left hand. I use the pinky and ring finger on my right hand because they are the easiest to get blood from. I switched to an Accu-Check Soft Clix poker which seems to produce less callous buildup and enables me to use just 2 fingers.
Depends on the day. I have a CGM; anywhere from 5-10 times a day, the higher for those funky BG days.
I can only use my right hand for testing, so I alternate fingers, one a day.
I test about 10 times daily. I use my left middle and ring finger most but am pretty well equal oppurtunity left and right besides that although I do not use any sort of scheduled rotation. I look at my fingers and find an area that seems fresh and then use it. I use the left middle and ring finger more because this is my automatic place so when I am not thinking about it that is where I poke.
I test about 10 times a day. I begin with the outside of my pinky on one hand, rotate to the outside of each finger on that hand, then start with the inside of the thumb and do the insides of each finger on the same hand. The next day I switch hands. Works perfectly if I only test 10 times/day. On days I test more often, I still use the same hand, just decide which fingers are least sore.
I use all the fingers on my left hand…For some reason its harder to get blood from my right hand, I am right handed…Dont know if that means anything. How many I test depends on the day, lol…Anywhere from 5-10 times a day…
I'm not diabeteic but i am hypo only (it runs in my family) so i test my bg 4+ times a day to track my bg. and i"m wondering witch fingers people prefer to use to test with and how many times a day you test?
When I was in my "testing like my life depends on it" phase - which it did - I tested up to 20 times a day. Pretty quickly that came down as I discovered my peak times and learned which predictable results I could drop, but for quite a while it was at least ten times daily.
At that time I rotated through both sides of all the fingers of both hands (I prefer not to use my thumbs). I test near the tip of the finger, on the side. That has two advantages; it doubles the number of test points, giving more time for a test hole to heal before I return to that site, and avoids the pads of the fingers where there are more sensitive nerve-ends than the sides. I go into a bit more detail here: Painless Pricks
These days I don't test as much, because most of them are predictable. I mainly test for "maintenance" to see if things have changed or if I am adding new foods to the menu. I generally use the outer three fingers of either hand, but I still rotate through them and use both sides.
Cheers, Alan, T2, Australia
Everything in Moderation - Except laughter
I'm not diabeteic but i am hypo only (it runs in my family) so i test my bg 4+ times a day to track my bg. and i"m wondering witch fingers people prefer to use to test with and how many times a day you test?
As a separate matter, would you mind expanding on that?
Over that past nine years on various diabetes forums, the majority of people I have met who were diagnosed with hypoglycemia turned out to be pre-diabetic. To me, it seems be semantics. They are both early stages of diabetes and usually benefit from very similar treatment.
Cheers, Alan, T2, Australia
Everything in Moderation - Except laughter
I also have a question Diane on people who only have hypo’s…is getting to low as deadly as it is for us who take insulin or does your body eventually correct itself???
it runs in my family that we devlople hypo but we do not have pre-diabetes nor of the 3 of us in my family that are known hypo ( 2 of my uncles & myself) has it been a sigh of diabetes. as far as it goes for my family those of us that get hypo’s we are almost alway low as in the 2.0 mml/l to 3.0 mml/l range on the low end & and around 4.0 mml/l to 5.0 mml/l on the high end on arvagee i have personaly diped as low as 1.0 withc is scarey and yes if me stay low for extended periods of time
I have been told t hat with my meter I can use the large muscle on my hand rather than my fingers. ONe diabetic educator told me that you don’t get an accurate sample from anywhere except the fingers. When I use the middle finger or ring finger of my left hand, four times a day, they are black and blue for days and very stiff. What am I doing wrong? too much pressure of the needle, too long a stick? I’ve tested both places and they are within one to five numbers apart,t hat’s not that much…and I don’t see why a muscle in my hand couldn’t be used. Any ideas?
Haven’t used my fingers in a long time!! I use the freestyle meter that is in the omnipod and you can use other spots other than your fingers. I use my forearms and it works great. Sometimes i’ll do a finger stick to verify the accuracy and it is always VERY close. It hurts my fingers and I go through enough pain with this crap already. Try your arms its pain free and works great for me!!
What I have always read is that the blood supply to the “alternate sites” is not as freely flowing as the blood at the tips of the fingers. This would mean if you blood glucose is dropping or raising fast the “alternate sites” will not give as accurate result. If your blood sugar was stable at the time you did your own test then a similar value would be expected.
As for me, I do not use alternate sites because I have to poke so deep to get any blood it ends up hurting me worse than if I just use my fingers which I cannot usually feel unless I have a quite dull lancet.
I tried my arms a couple of times and couldn’t get blood. I’ll stick with the sides of my fingers.
MossDog, doesn’t pain mean it’s time to change the lancet? Like… every daylight savings time? LOL
I test 6-8 times a day and usually practice equal oppurtunity with all fingers (and thumb) of the right hand. I’m left handed so pretty much leave it alone unless the right hand is feeling abused.
I test 5x a day and I actually use all fingers, on each side except for my thumbs. I use my left hand first, then right, and then use the other side of the finger on my left then right.
My average seems to run around 14 times/ day and I prefer my middle and ring fingers but use them all. I exercise a lot and recently trained for and ran my first marathon and spread out to include thumbs too. I play guitar Like Bad Moon but I don’t bother skipping my left hand and just sort of avoid the ends most of the time.