| One of the most difficult facts of life as a type 2 | | | | by the way, the more "ouchless" the finger stick. |
| diabetic is when you don't know your blood sugar | | | | Most diabetics prefer 30 gauge lancets. You can also |
| levels you can't control your condition. While it might | | | | avoid painful finger sticks simply by testing in |
| be tempting to call a psychic hot-line to get that | | | | different spots on your finger tip. Testing in the |
| information, the reality is the only way a diabetic can | | | | same place often, will give you a callus... then it gets |
| know their blood sugar levels is by finger sticks to | | | | harder and harder to draw a drop of blood there. |
| draw blood samples to be read by their home | | | | And at some point you will give yourself real pain |
| glucometer. | | | | when you try to break the skin or callus. |
| Test strips are expensive, but even diabetics | | | | 4. Continuous Glucose Monitoring: they may seem to |
| enjoying excellent insurance coverage often avoid | | | | be the way to go to avoid pain but actually it hurts |
| testing. Often it's because the diabetes educator who | | | | more. Continuous glucose monitors consist of a |
| explained how to self monitor did not show them the | | | | sensor implanted beneath your skin; these need to |
| right way, the less painful way. | | | | be replaced every few days. The implantation of the |
| 1. Stick here: a strong jab in the fleshy end of your | | | | sensor is not painless, and it has to be taken out. |
| finger or thumb will produce a super drop of blood | | | | The sensor has to be calibrated twice a day against |
| that's easy to get onto the test strip. The problem | | | | a blood sample, and that requires a finger stick. |
| with this is the fleshy parts of your fingers are | | | | Moreover, there is a greater risk of infection with a |
| where you have the most nerves and you feel the | | | | continuous glucose sensor than with a simple finger |
| most pain. It's a lot better to draw blood on the | | | | stick. |
| sides of your finger or thumb... away from your nail... | | | | 5. Accurate results: washing your hands before |
| where there is far less sensitivity to pain. | | | | testing helps you get accurate results. You don't |
| 2. Stay sharp: although it's possible to draw blood by | | | | want to do a finger stick only to get a measurement |
| just jabbing yourself with a sharp object, it's always | | | | of the sugar content of the dirt, grease, or |
| better to use a spring-loaded lancet. After a few | | | | moisturizer that is on your finger. It's absolutely |
| tries, you can find the setting that gets a drop of | | | | essential to wash hands, especially if you have |
| blood the size you need... with very little or no pain. | | | | recently handled sugar. |
| The maker of the lancet will advise you to use a | | | | 6. Don't share: using a lancet belonging to another |
| fresh sharp every time you test, and there's a | | | | diabetic can, and often does, transmit infection. It's |
| reason for that. Sharp lancets cause less pain than | | | | utterly essential to your blood sugar level testing that |
| dull lancets. You can actually use the same lancet | | | | you, and only you, use your lancets and sharps. |
| over and over again for up to 100 tests... but after | | | | Letting someone else use one of your test strips, of |
| short time, testing will begin to hurt. | | | | course, is not a problem. |
| 3. Lancet gauge: the higher the gauge of the lancet | | | | |