Alternative testing sites

[Deleted member 19555]

I have heard that you can use alternative sites for blood testing... do any of you use anything other than fingers, and other than first and second ones?

 

[grovesy]

I never use first finger,I use middle, ring and little finger.
To test other sites most devices need an adapter. Never used my self.

 

[Ljc]

It depends on your lancing devise whether or not you can use alternative sites. Those that can come with a clear replacement cap ie the bit that covers the lancet.
Personally I never tried this.

 

[rebrascora]

I tend to use ring and little finger the most. I have the clear plastic head for use on alternative sites and just tried it on the edge of my palm mid way between wrist and little finger and that worked pretty well. You need somewhere that you can apply a little pressure to squeeze the blood out. 3 inches up the arm from the front of my wrist worked fine too.

At the end of the day you just need a drop of blood. There is nothing magical about the blood in fingers except that it is quite convenient to access.

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

I use the sides of fingers keeping away from the ‘fingerprint’ bit so I get fronts and backs of all 4 fingers. Judging by the callouses I tend to use 2nd and 3rd more than 1st and 4th, and I definitely use fronts more often than backs.

I got the impression (from an old meter manual I think) that AST monitoring was not felt to be as reliable and accurate as fingertip capillary glucose, though I!’m not quite sure why that would be.

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Found this, which suggests it may be to do with lower blood flow in the alternative sites, so results may lag behind fingertips

Alternate Site Self-Monitoring of Blood Glucose: Right for Everyone?

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