Re: Clean hands [was: Hypo signals (was : Daughter's HbA1c

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 10/23/2000 8:51:41 AM Eastern Daylight Time,

RainbowFarm@... writes:

> ***An excellent point, . We all need to be have really clean hands or

> other areas before we test.

>

I agree, its so easy to do, I use a bottle of the hand sanitizer, no water or

towel needed, I keep it near my meter.

carol

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 10/23/2000 12:00:45 PM Eastern Daylight Time,

lists@... writes:

> . It takes a little more

> time but we have plenty of that whereas in a clinic, having the

> patients wash their hands first would delay the entire routine too

> much. The glass tube system is not so prone to contamination errors

> as the test strip method.

>

LOL, I've checked with my dr, cde, and tested without washing then the

sanitizer, there is no glucose in it whatsoever, my readings are not affected.

I know its strange getting used to new ideas, some things should't seem so

easy, but they are, and they really are ok to do :-)

carol

[Guest guest]

> I agree, its so easy to do, I use a

> bottle of the hand sanitizer, no water or

> towel needed, I keep it near my meter.

Over here anything other than water for this purpose is tabu. And

especially hand sprays, alcohol wipes, etc. The absolute amount of

sugar in the 2-4 microliter drop is very small and it doesn't take

much of some chemical to produce a false reading on a test strip.

This is one of the reasons why hand meters are not used in clinics

here - blood is drawn straight out of the hole into a small glass

tube which is then sent to the clinic's laboratory for testing.

I put my trust in fresh water. The advantage of the towel is that

rubbing the hand hard with it brings more blood into the capillaries

and produces a drop with minimum penetration. It takes a little more

time but we have plenty of that whereas in a clinic, having the

patients wash their hands first would delay the entire routine too

much. The glass tube system is not so prone to contamination errors

as the test strip method.