Tips To Make Testing Less Painful

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When I wrote the series on testing, Icompletely forgot that I had this tucked back for use. So ratherthan leave this for another blog on testing I will complete it now. There are other tips people should make use of when blood glucosetesting to make the experience a little less painful and possiblyhelp in setting the lancet device to a less deep setting.
Pain is caused when the lancet deviceis triggered and the lancet is released and it penetrates the skin. The deeper the lancet penetrates, the more pain it will generallycause. Also, this is necessary to produce enough blood for the teststrip. The following tips may help reduce the pain and possiblyprovide enough blood for testing. I have covered this before, but itis still worth repeating. Always, if you are able, wash your handswith soap and warm water. This cleans the testing site and helpsdilate (make larger) the blood vessels in the finger to increaseblood flow. Always dry your hands and fingers carefully to nothandle test strips with wet fingers.
The next step is to massage the fingerdownwards to the tip of your finger. The purpose for this is helpingthe blood move toward the fingertip and making more blood availablewhen the area is pricked. While doing this, if possible have thehand pointing downwards below your waist. This helps gravity keepthe blood in the hand and more importantly your fingertip.
If you use the tips to this point, tryresetting the lancing device to a lower setting that you have beenusing or maybe set to the lightest setting. When you have enoughblood, this should be your setting if you follow the above tips.
Many people say to find the correctmeter that does not require much blood, but I will only say that youshould contact you medical insurance company to find out which metersand test strips they cover. A free meter and only ten test stripsdoes not go very far if the insurance company will not reimburse forthe strips. If you are given a list of strips and meters that willbe covered, then research the meters for the one you want to use.
Alternate the areas on your fingers and thumbs. Please do not use the same finger over and over. Usingyour fingers and thumbs, this will give you 20 areas to use, yourfingers will recover rapidly, and blood flow will not diminish likeit will when you use one finger over and over. Now if you havemissing fingers from an accident, you will have less for testing. Ifyou are a person with type 2 diabetes and your diabetes management ifgreat, then you may wish to read the next blog about usingalternative sites as well.
This tip is one I do use quitereligiously. In the wintertime especially, my fingers can becomeharder on the surface and blood flow can be reduced. Therefore, Itry to use a skin moisturizer on both hands at night and the hand Iwill not be using during the day. This softens the skin and createsbetter blood flow.
I have covered using the sides of yourfingers near the fingernail (see this blog) so I will move on to thesuggestion of using a new lancet each time. Many people do suggestthis and this is generally less painful that doing like I do andchange maybe three or four times per year. Fact is, I am changing toonce a week just to see how it affects me.