FINGER PRICKING - TYPE 1 - MDI

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mum2westiesGill

mum2westiesGill

Well-Known Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 1
Does anyone still do finger pricking and if so how often?
 
Because I have Libre and I find it pretty accurate for me, I very rarely finger prick. I scan approx. 30X a day with the Libre and most days I don't finger prick at all, so I use the Libre to bolus for meals and to do most corrections unless it shows I am way out (ie mid teens) in which case I would check with a finger prick.
I do use a finger prick if the Libre says I am low whilst driving which I believe is a legal requirement and to show when I have come back up and am fit to drive again and if it says I am hypo when I don't feel it.
Otherwise I rely almost solely on Libre. I often go 3, 4 or even 5 days in a row without a single finger prick.
 
I mostly use my Libre 1 but do some finger pricks , mostly for highs ,lows when ill or if it’s an iffy sensor .
I suppose I finger prick no more than a dozen time a week .
I also like to check out a new sensor once a day for a few days .
I occasionally use it to bolus.
Sadly atm only a percentage of people entitled to a Libre is prescribed one .
 
On days I am not working I test three times a day.(4 days/week) On days I am working I test every two hours(3 days/week) . This meets the DVLA requirements.
 
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I finger prick
- first thing when waking and last thing at night to check my Libre accuracy
- if my Libre reports high or low
- if I don't feel as my Libre is telling me
- if I my Libre failed and the next one does not have 3 days to bed in before activating

For the rest of the time, I only use my Libre for insulin dosing and checking trends.
 
I might actually set myself a test and see what is the longest I can go without needing a finger prick.

@mum2westiesGill
If you prefer to finger prick (and there is nothing wrong with that) and you are not using the Libre to collect all the data or using the data it does collect to help you manage your diabetes more effectively, then I wonder if you would be better telling your DSN that you don't get on with it and perhaps enabling someone else who desperately wants one and will use it to it's full potential, to have it on prescription instead of you. Some people are self funding it at £100 a month because they can't get it on prescription but you aren't really using yours. It seems a terrible waste of resources which is why we have tried to encourage you to use it more and to learn how you can benefit from the information it gives you.
 
rebrascora said:
I might actually set myself a test and see what is the longest I can go without needing a finger prick.

@mum2westiesGill
If you prefer to finger prick (and there is nothing wrong with that) and you are not using the Libre to collect all the data or using the data it does collect to help you manage your diabetes more effectively, then I wonder if you would be better telling your DSN that you don't get on with it and perhaps enabling someone else who desperately wants one and will use it to it's full potential, to have it on prescription instead of you. Some people are self funding it at £100 a month because they can't get it on prescription but you aren't really using yours. It seems a terrible waste of resources which is why we have tried to encourage you to use it more and to learn how you can benefit from the information it gives you.
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@rebrascora I am going to be doing both - every time I do a finger prick ie on waking, before meals & before bed I will be doing a scan
 
Yes! I’m not sure if I’d have a Libre if it was offered but that’s irrelevant anyway as my b^*#% local trust have made them almost impossible to get.

I fingerprick lots as needed, anywhere from 7-12 or more times a day.
 
Inka said:
Yes! I’m not sure if I’d have a Libre if it was offered but that’s irrelevant anyway as my b^*#% local trust have made them almost impossible to get.

I fingerprick lots as needed, anywhere from 7-12 or more times a day.
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When are the 7 - 12 times a day please?
 
First thing, 2 hrs after breakfast, before exercising, before lunch, 2 hrs after lunch, before evening meal, 2hrs after evening meal, before bed, plus before driving and other random times eg if I feel low or off in any way. I also test in the night sometimes if I wake up.
 
Inka said:
First thing, 2 hrs after breakfast, before exercising, before lunch, 2 hrs after lunch, before evening meal, 2hrs after evening meal, before bed, plus before driving and other random times eg if I feel low or off in any way. I also test in the night sometimes if I wake up.
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Thanks @Inka. Re the first thing one is that also your before breakfast one or do you do first thing then breakfast a bit later?
 
Yes I still do fingerpricks. I need to do at least three a day to keep my pump and sensor happy.
I still finger prick
  • First thing in the morning
  • Before each meal so that my bolus is based on a blood glucose reading
  • Before bed
  • If I feel hypo or my sensor reading does not match how I feel.
Whatever you choose to do @mum2westiesGill that is what suits you.
You can already see that there is a wide variety of responses.
There is no right answer especially as we are managing our diabetes in many different ways.
What advice has your DSN given you?
 
SB2015 said:
Yes I still do fingerpricks. I need to do at least three a day to keep my pump and sensor happy.
I still finger prick
  • First thing in the morning
  • Before each meal so that my bolus is based on a blood glucose reading
  • Before bed
  • If I feel hypo or my sensor reading does not match how I feel.
Whatever you choose to do @mum2westiesGill that is what suits you.
You can already see that there is a wide variety of responses.
There is no right answer especially as we are managing our diabetes in many different ways.
What advice has your DSN given you?
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Thank you for your reply @SB2015 and thank you for saying when you do your finger picks.

My DSN hasn't given me any advice on this it's just me that has asked on here out of curiosity plus maybe to see if I'm the only one who still does finger pricking.
 
When my daughter was first diagnosed we didn’t have sensors and could only do finger pricking, so we used to do breakfast, lunch, dinner, bed time and then any in between if she didn’t feel right. (Breakfast pretty much corresponds with getting up for us so we don’t do a separate “first thing in the morning” one.). Then 4 years in we got the Libre. Had to do finger pricks for meal times as that was the only way to get BG level into the pump to calculate the food bolus, they served as a useful check that the sensor was working ok so apart from that we just used to scan and not finger prick, UNLESS recovering from a hypo, as we often found the Libre would still be reading low when the finger prick was giving a normal reading. Now we’ve got Dexcom which links directly to the pump, so pump always knows what BG is without needing a finger prick (although you can override it if you want to), and we are finding the Dexcom so accurate that we hardly do any finger pricks at all now. Every time we have done one to check it is always within 0.2 so now we only do them if daughter doesn’t agree with the Dexcom reading, i.e if she feels different from what it says, or if we are in the two-hour gap between sensors when the new one hasn’t started up yet.

You have to do what works for you, but I’d say if you are doing occasional finger pricks just to check the Libre or to calculate food doses, you don’t need to do them every time, scanning is so much easier!
 
Yes I do. I have the Libre 2 and while it’s mostly accurate it can get a bit enthusiastic either end of the scale...for me. I finger prick for bolusing...ie before meals.

I guess as I’ve set my meter to advise on doses and as I’ve been going by this for many years I know where I am with the numbers. If Libre is 1 or 2 different it would make all the difference to how much insulin I jabbed and obviously could be too much or not enough. So I guess we all do what we’re comfortable with.

I don’t finger prick anywhere near as much as I did pre Libre so quick and easy to scan🙂
 
mum2westiesGill said:
Thank you for your reply @SB2015 and thank you for saying when you do your finger picks.

My DSN hasn't given me any advice on this it's just me that has asked on here out of curiosity plus maybe to see if I'm the only one who still does finger pricking.
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I notice you have been a member for 10 years but you do not seem confident about managing your diabetes, is this because you are have not been given consistent advice from your DSN or insufficient information to base your decisions on. In that time you must have had a number of different DSN's and I suppose the thoughts on how people are expected to manage their condition has changed from being prescriptive to hopefully now giving people the tools to self manage.
Sometimes it is easy to be overwhelmed by info glut, the internet has a lot to answer for in that respect and it is challenging to sift the reliable from the bull s..t.
 
Leadinglights said:
I notice you have been a member for 10 years but you do not seem confident about managing your diabetes, is this because you are have not been given consistent advice from your DSN or insufficient information to base your decisions on. In that time you must have had a number of different DSN's and I suppose the thoughts on how people are expected to manage their condition has changed from being prescriptive to hopefully now giving people the tools to self manage.
Sometimes it is easy to be overwhelmed by info glut, the internet has a lot to answer for in that respect and it is challenging to sift the reliable from the bull s..t.
Click to expand...
Probably a touch of info overload!
 
NICE recommend at least 4 times a day for type 1 (befor meals and before bed).

I use finger pricks when hypo as the lag brtween BG level and libra reading make it difficult to see what is going on.
 
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