Hand washing before testing

[Barbie1]

Until the last three months I was never a great hand washer, apart from before eating, cooking and after gardening and toilet visits, that is. Never actually washed hands before pricking fingers at all
Yesterday got my come uppance.
Felt a little hypoish towards lunchtime (broke into a sweat) so scanned and 5.7. So fine, must have been the heat, prepared myself a sandwich and sat down to do a proper test for my bolus. Came up with 26.3!
Eek - panic stations all round!
Eventually realised I still had some chutney on my fingers from constructing the sandwich (the merest smidgeon, nothing visible) so gave my hands a good washing and tested again, there 5.7 - perfect.
Unfortunately my pump does not allow me to delete the first too high reading so it is there in black and white for all the trends and averages for a little while yet!
Note to self - try to wash hands before testing in future! Especially after preparing food!

 

[Sally71]

LOL I think we've probably all done that at some time or other! Or had a hypo, ate glucose, then retested still with glucose dust on the fingers... 😱

 

[eggyg]

I once did my before bed blood test and came up with over 17, never had a reading that high ever and felt fine. It was then I remembered I’d just coated my hands in royal jelly hand cream! Gave them a wash and was back to my usual bedtime reading! Whoops!

 

[trophywench]

Whoever would have imagined that anything so directly connected to a hive of honey bees, could do that!

 

[eggyg]

Whoever would have imagined that anything so directly connected to a hive of honey bees, could do that!

I know! 😛

 

[rebrascora]

I'm not a great hand washer either and a lot of the time when I was testing, I didn't have access to washing facilities (up at my stable yard or out with the horses, so I just wipe away the first drop (usually on the back of my other hand) and test the second drop. So far I haven't had a rogue test but only a year down the line so plenty of time yet.

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Ugh! I hate those rogue false results as part of your records!

All meter (and sensor) handbooks say to recheck any reading that doesn’t match how you feel, or seems unexpected and out of the ordinary.

Of course I have had seemingly inexplicable results in the past that i have rechecked... only to have it confirmed that, yes I AM in the high teens! (eg undelivered bolus)

 

[Sally71]

I've just remembered an incident a few years ago when we were visiting my parents. Sat down to eat tea, daughter chose her food, I totted up the carbs and got ready to do her bolus. Finger prick came out at 27, normally this would ring instant alarm bells but I must have been not thinking clearly as I just typed in the carbs and did the bolus, which of course included an extra amount to correct the 27. Only then did I scan her Libre, and that was showing a much more healthy 6.8! Ummm.... washed hands and did another finger prick, and that came out at 8.2 I think, a bit closer to the Libre than the original blood test, oh dear I’ve just given my daughter a massive correction dose that she didn’t need 😱😱 So after she'd finished her savoury food I just presented her with a plate full of cakes and told her to eat what she liked, she quite enjoyed that! After tea we headed home, it's a 3 hour drive and we did lots of scans on the way, amazingly she stayed pretty stable. Needless to say I kept a very close eye on her that night, I think she did go high after a few hours but not horrifically so and that was easily corrected. Phew!

 

[trophywench]

Gosh, have you only done it once? I'm the world's worst for doing what Mike described. Why the heck is my BG high before my evening meal? Mmmm, could it perchance be the 37.5g carb scone I so carefully noted the value of before I brought it back into the lounge with my cup of tea 2 hours ago and then completely omitted to bolus for, cos I was watching something I was really interested in on telly, d'you imagine?

 

[Sally71]

Yes we've probably done that loads of times!

 

[SB2015]

Forgotten Bolus. Yup (cake mix, engrossed, talking too much ...)
Unwashed hands. Yup (newsprint, JB dust, ...)

I now usually wipe away the first blob (‘washing’ the finger) and test the second one.
This is especially good if a hand wash is not possible.

At diagnosis my DSN suggested that I should carry a sellable bag with wet cotton buds in and another with dry ones to wash and dry my finger before testing!! I know the theory but then there is life. Admittedly we are now out about a lot less and keen to wash hands regularly. Perhaps I will now be a ‘better diabetic’.

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Or my other classic....

Ugh! why is my silly sensor alarming. My lunch was perfectly standard! perhaps it’s defective?

Oh. It’s because I bolused for *that thing*, and then got sidetracked, and didn't actually eat it 🙄 😱

 

[Sally71]

My daughter has just reminded me that she used to faff around and be such a slow eater that she would go hypo in the middle of a meal, just because she wasn’t eating fast enough! And then we'd treat the hypo, and then she would go high because she wouldn’t have needed the extra sugar if she had just eaten her meal a bit faster! Thank heavens for pumps - for a while we had to do all meal boluses on multiwave 50/50 split over an hour, just to give her time to eat 🙄

 

[KARNAK]

Don`t wash hands, do pick my nose, pull the sleep off of my eye lashes
and forget to buy toilet paper.

Hello @Barbie1, you will always remember me.😱
Smile while you have time, stay safe.