Question About Testing

[Guest guest]

Hi,

I'm a new member and I've been learning a tremendous amount by reading

through the archives. I came across a comment or two that said it's

not a good idea to clean the test site with alcohol before glucose

testing. Is that the general opinion, and if so, why? My doctor gave

me alcohol wipes to use - good or bad idea?

Thanks,

[Guest guest]

>

> I came across a comment or two that said it's

> not a good idea to clean the test site with alcohol before glucose

> testing. Is that the general opinion, and if so, why?

,

Here is what I was told.

It's unnecessary to wipe your test site with alcohol as long as you have

washed your hands because the puncture is causing blood to flow out which

'cleans' the wound. Also, frequent exposure to the alcohol can dry out the

skin (dry skin is a problem for many diabetics). On a related note with dry

skin, hand lotion can make your testing incorrect, so always make sure your

hands are clean and dry.

They told me the same for giving myself injections for insulin too. Unless

your immune system is compromised wiping the injection site with alcohol is

unnecessary and can cause dry skin as well. The only use for the alcohol

pads is to wipe off the top of the insulin bottle before drawing your

injection (prevents you from introducing contaminates to the bottle of

insulin that you may keep using from for the next few days or weeks)... and

to clean your keyboard ;-) those pads work well to clean off your computer

keyboard!

Mike