Painless Testing

[Guest guest]

> Helen, thanks for the advice about poking two holes in the same

finger in the mornings. I will try that tomorrow morning.

>

> Sandy

Hi Sandy, and all of the other newbies.

This seems like a good moment to post my standard " painless pricks "

message:-)

Wash your hands in warm water first, and shake them to get the

circulation going. Check your lancet - it should be adjustable. Mine

is Soft-clix, made by Roche and is usually painless. I get an

occasional tiny sting, and it lets me know if it's getting blunt

sometimes, but I've tested over 4000 times in the past 3 1/2 years

without any trauma. That's from a guy who was, and is, needle-phobic.

Start with the second lowest setting (1 or 1.5), hold it firmly

against your skin on the side of a finger near the tip. Don't flinch

when you release the button. The button releases a spring-loaded tiny

needle which makes a tiny hole in your skin and instantly retracts.

Incidentally, using the sides has two advantages - there are less

nerve-ends than on the pads, and it doubles the number of test-points

so you can rotate through the positions.

Massage gently (milking a cow) until a drop of blood forms sufficient

to put on the test strip. If this setting doesn't provide an adequate

quantity, move the lancet setting up one notch for the next one. If

you got a large sample and it hurt a little, go to the lower setting.

And that's all there is to it. Sometimes it helps to shake your hands

a little more, or warm them up if it's cold. The manufacturers advise

changing the lancet needle every time; I change mine when I remember

or if it gets a bit blunt - that's about once a month or every 150

tests :-) You do what you are comfortable with.

Cheers Alan, T2, Australia.

--

I have no medical qualifications beyond my own experience.

Choose your advisers carefully, because experience can be

an expensive teacher.

Everything in Moderation - Except Laughter