Blood glucose meter and finger pricking

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CoolShot44

CoolShot44

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Type 2
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hi everyone
i recently purchased a accu- chek meter and fastckick finger pricker i seem to be having problems getting the best out of this am going through the lancet barrels very quick as i cant seem to use the device properly i have it set at 3 ,its hit n miss at the moment as to wether i manage to use the pricker properly , any advice i seem to be able to get sum blood from my middle finger only at the moment so at least im getting sum readings to go by anyway from a newbie this is the first time ive used one so i can try to see my levels is there a knack to using one or is it just me :(
 
I use the same kit and it needs a bit of practice to make sure that the hole in the end where the lancet comes out is firmly on the skin. You can think you have got it properly located on your finger but if the hole is over the edge of your finger, the lancet will prick fresh air.

It is a bit of a standing joke on the forum that you only need to change a lancet once a year, on St Swithins Day. What this really means is that it is not necessary to change lancet every test. While you are practising you can bang away with the same lancet time after time until you get the nack and that way you don't use up all your lancets before you get blood regularly. Then you only need to klick onto the next lancet when using the old one gets beyond your pain threshold. For me, I change barrels every couple of months or so having then used all six lancets.
 
Docb said:
For me, I change barrels every couple of months or so having then used all six lancets.
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What a lightweight you are Doc! 🙄 😉
I genuinely adhere to the St Swithin's day membership rules, I am shocked to learn that others don't. I could probably go several years with the same lancet especially now I have Libre, if I wanted to be really frugal...... but since I have a box of 200 that will take me several lifetimes to use up, I dutifully change it on 15th July..... and I am not talking fancy Fastclix drums here but just cheapy single lancets.
 
Are you struggling to get enough blood out of your finger or struggling to get the blood onto the testing strip?

I had all sorts of nightmares to start with but handy hints and tips from here really helped:

Shake your hands BEFORE you do the finger prick. This will encourage the blood into your fingers. Don’t do it afterwards, or your kitchen will look like a murder scene!

Run your hands under the hot water first.

Use the side of the finger tip, not the pad. It’s less painful and bleeds more.

When you have blood, hold the machine horizontally and allow the blood to gradually be absorbed up the testing strip. I was trying to force the blood onto the strip, which doesn’t work.

Good luck xx

P.S. I’m a fully paid up member of the ‘always use a new lancet every time’ brigade 😱
 
rebrascora said:
What a lightweight you are Doc! 🙄 😉
I genuinely adhere to the St Swithin's day membership rules, I am shocked to learn that others don't. I could probably go several years with the same lancet especially now I have Libre, if I wanted to be really frugal...... but since I have a box of 200 that will take me several lifetimes to use up, I dutifully change it on 15th July..... and I am not talking fancy Fastclix drums here but just cheapy single lancets.
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I can confirm you can do two years. With only occasional ones now I am in Libre might hit five years. When I last had a prescription for lancets I had not gone grey! :rofl: Opps, low glucose alarms 3.4!
 
thank you very much for all the advice and its been good to see for myself what my glucose levels are as before using this i only got checked once a year by my GP
Are you struggling to get enough blood out of your finger or struggling to get the blood onto the testing strip?
Yes struggling to get blood from small finger but seem to get enough from my middle one , the hints and tips on here really help thank you everyone 😉
 
richard.m said:
thank you very much for all the advice and its been good to see for myself what my glucose levels are as before using this i only got checked once a year by my GP
Are you struggling to get enough blood out of your finger or struggling to get the blood onto the testing strip?
Yes struggling to get blood from small finger but seem to get enough from my middle one , the hints and tips on here really help thank you everyone 😉
Click to expand...
I don't now test very often but only ever use my middle fingers. I just hold the lancet in my fingers and give a quick stab. I put my thumb on the pad and prick just the the side of it than you can use the thumb to put gentle pressure to produce the small drop needed.
I recently have had error messages as I have been putting the strip to the blood drop too soon before the monitor is ready. What a dimbo!!
 
I've never used lancets I tried to keep all the kit to a minimum. I've used the needle on my syringe for finger pricking.
 
When I first started using the Accuchek lancets I had a bit of a hard time with them as well, it takes a while to find which setting worked. At first I thought I must have no blood because I couldn't get any out! :rofl:

Highly recommend running your hands under hot water first as suggested above, this really helped me.

I also thought you had to use a new lancet every time, so learning that you don't is news to me! Right now I feel like I'm buying so many I might as well take shares out in the company haha!
 
Ah ,,, after 40-ish years of finger pricking, my own Fastclix that I've been using now in it's latest forms over the last 20 ish years has been gradually turned down from 1.5 to 0.5 as my delicate fingertips have also gradually recovered their overall sensitivity whereas I never bothered all that much trying to protect my hands in general. I still don't do as much as I ought to and freely admit that - but I certainly do don a pair of Thinsulate gloves when I need to, or pref before going outside in the cold these days. And then of course the bloke I'm married to wants me to pay for summat cos he's turned into the Queen/King and Oh dear, they don't accept payments via the Banking App on my phone, what cash have you got Jen? Have they got change for a £20 note for your £0.15 purchase then, dearheart? So blood flow along the sides of my fingernails is very rarely compromised - and I no longer tend to use much sandpaper at all in comparison to when we first bought the house and did it up!
 
Ah ,,, after 40-ish years of finger pricking, my own Fastclix that I've been using now in it's latest forms over the last 20 ish years has been gradually turned down from 1.5 to 0.5 as my delicate fingertips have also gradually recovered their overall sensitivity whereas I never bothered all that much trying to protect my hands in general. I still don't do as much as I ought to and freely admit that - but I certainly do don a pair of Thinsulate gloves when I need to, or pref before going outside in the cold these days. And then of course the bloke I'm married to wants me to pay for summat cos he's turned into the Queen/King and Oh dear, they don't accept payments via the Banking App on my phone, what cash have you got Jen? Have they got change for a £20 note for your £0.15 purchase then, dearheart? So blood flow along the sides of my fingernails is very rarely compromised - and I no longer tend to use much sandpaper at all in comparison to when we first bought the house and did it up!
 
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