testing

[lanzlady]

Hi all,

as I am fairly new to D type 2 what are the reasons for not testing on the fore
finger or the thumb and which are the best fingers/area to test?


Lanzlady

 

[am64]

hi ...i was told to test on the sides of my fingers away from your body so to speak ....and also to change the spike level until i got the minimum i needed ..still get it wrong tho and bleed everywhere !!
re testing on forefinger thumb i dont recall being told about that but dont anyway ....I think its to do with the blood vessels or nerves or something...Good luck and use your testing to find out what effect the different things you eat effect your Blood sugars so you can make the necessary changes to you diet to stabilise it x🙂

 

[AlisonM]

Don't know why not the forefinger or thumb, no-one's mentioned that to me. I generally use the middle or little fingers though and the side (not too close to the nail) rather than the pad it's less painful and you get a better drop of blood.

 

[Monica]

you're not supposed to use those 2 fingers, because they are the most used fingers throughout the day. As you maybe already know, sometimes your fingers hurt after having done the finger pricking. So you wouldn't want your forefinger and thumb to hurt.

 

[Steff]

I was told to avoid as testing here may not be as accurate as the finger.

 

[richardq]

I was told to avoid testing on the thumb and the index and middle finger as they are the finger that you use most, and therefore testing on those fingers will lead to callouses which can make things difficult, like holding onto a cup of tea...

 

[RachelT]

I think it's because there's more nerve endings in the fingerprinty bits of your fingers. This means a) it's more likely to hurt and b) jabbing sharp objects into nerves tends to kill them eventually, and your thumb and forefinger would be where you need to be able to feel stuff most. I tend to go for either of the middle fingers, on the side. If i'm bruised from a series of tests i might try my little finger, but that one hurts if i'm not lucky. Also if you have an ajustable pricker/lancet device then dial the lancet depth down to the minimum, for the first 24hours i had mine most of the way to the max, and the nurse exclaimed
"My god! No wonder your fingers hurt! We only use that setting for brickies!"

 

[Andy HB]

I can concur with those who have said ...

1) The thumb and fore finger should be avoided because they are the ones most used.

2) Avoid the pads, but prick the sides to avoid the most sensitive parts of the finger.

That is what I was told when first diagnosed.

Andy