Are any of you skilled at using a lancet that is not in a device? Once again, I just watched my son hold a lancet (not in a device) and jab his finger with an accurate amount of force to get just enough blood for his test strip. We've talked about this before. Where is his device? Idk, right now. And he's got some kind of wretched virus that my other son and I both had last week that causes a horrible constant headache and vertigo for about three days. So I didn't mess with him. I kept my mouth shut. I just wanted the blood sugar tested (we had awoken him for lantus) before he went back to sleep for the night.
On different sites, I have read about people testing their blood sugar that way like if they were at work and forgot their device at home and then either using a lancet or a needle. I would only test that way as a last resort. I would be to chicken that I would poke in too deep and it would be painful.
One time we got the wrong prescription for my son's lancets and when I called to get it changed his nurse said, "Oh yeah, I forgot he uses a lancet device." It turns out that most of the kids at our endo office just use those BD lancets with the really fine gauge needle. I tried it once on my son and he DID NOT LIKE IT. Oops.
I think I'd rather try to re-squeeze open a previous hole in my finger, than to jab it by hand!
It just has the potential to hurt more if he pokes to deep. If he is OK with doing it that way, I wouldn't worry. Maybe he's more likely to use a new one everytime that way - which rarely happens at our house with the device.
BTW, I have found that lancets are GREAT for removing slivers - much easier than a needle or tweezers - cuz you actually have the little plastic part to hold onto. Sterile too. Yay!
I've done it before when some how the top to my lancet device fell off while I was taking it out and i couldn't find the top. I've also lost my lancing device when I was being less careful about supplies.
It's not fun, but it can be done. I really couldn't say it runs any more of a risk of infection than using the mechanical device, so if he's good with it then let him go.
I used to do it a lot as a child before the devices were more popular. I definitely prefer a device because I know how deep it will go. But, if he's testing, I'd say whatever works!
It is definitely a skill. I have resorted to doing that too when I misplace my "poker." Sometimes I've even forgotten my device to insert my insulin pump site and have done that solo too. It will be handy for him to have that skill if he ever needs it, but it's not the smartest thing to do. Truthfully, I have jabbed too hard and far and have ended up with bruises and over bleeding, so it's not the safest thing.. but if you're ever left without a poker and really can't get ahold of one, it's worth it (to me at least) to try and jab to get a test done. Sorry your boys are sick! I hope they get better soon :)
I definitely prefer to use a lancing device, but I have done it without one if I had to. If he's ok with it, I don't think it's a big deal.
I also inserted my pump infusion set manually for quite a while. Honestly, the idea of using the inserter scared me...I'm not completely sure why, but I guess i was afraid that the needle would go in too hard and it would hurt more. Now I have been using the inserter for many years and the thought of doing it without one is scary! It's all what you get used to, I guess.
I used to do that all the time- I still do if I can't find the device quick enough!
I am accually doing that now because my device was in another bag and i am just too lazy to go get it!! LOL It works fine for me with a nice sharp lancet. And for all thoses who put the pump needle in with out the device.....ouch...I would be so scared to do that!! I am always so paranoid to loose that thing cause I dont ever want to have to do that!!
Ouch sounds kinda painful. How do you even manage to do that?
I've been diabetic for 24 years and I only just started using a device in the past two!! I had a fear of them forever and found them painful. So I used uncapped syringes because they at least used to be finer than lancets but not anymore. Honestly, it's not a big deal - there's no rule book that says it has to be in the device. And I'm quite proud of my precision jab skills!
And just to add to my previous post: I NEVER had calloused fingertips using the syringe method.
I'll agree with those who say that there's no harm in using lancets without the device. I've definitely done it, and I didn't notice (and can't imagine) anything that could go wrong, although it does hurt more... But that's probably just me, because I overthink everything and there's no getting me to not insert a lancet much more slowly and methodically than an automated device would do it.
I am curious, though, about what Trish said about the brand of BD lancets that a lot of people use without a device. I'm pretty sure that that just means this particular lancet is of such a thin gauge that a lot of people use them without the device, because you don't feel them as much? I can't find anything on BD's site about a lancet that's actually made to be use without a device; if there were, though, I think I'd like to be using it!
On the other hand, RE: what people said about inserting a pump set without the sertion device, in my experience that can be problematic, at least with my Medtronic Quicksets. If the needle gets bent because you stick it in at an angle (or even if the cannula gets bent, somehow, even though you pull out the needle and it's still straight), there can be huge problems with insulin absorption and, again in my experience, there's no real way to tell until several hours later when it starts showing up in blood glucose levels. By that point, for me anyway, it can also take many more hours to bring the glucose level down again, using the insulin/blood sugar ratio that I typically use for a correction bolus, after effectively no active insulin for so long.
On a side note, I've noticed that this has been happening more frequently with the Quicksets, in the past year or two. For years, I would keep spare infusion sets anywhere and everywhere, in case I ever needed to change a set, including in spare coat pockets where I would never be able to fit an insertion device as well. But, a year or two ago, I started noticing that my blood sugar would go way up on the rare occasions when I changed a set without the insertion device, and when I would finally give up and change the set again, the cannula would invariably be bent/twisted in some way. I don't know if I'm getting worse at sticking myself or if Medtronic has changed the way they make the infusion sets, but I have not been able to successfully do this in ages, and gave up long ago and just ordered lots of spare insertion devices to have in different places. Anyone else notice that? I recently asked Medtronic to send me a couple of samples of the Sure-T, the infusion set that you're supposed to be able to change without an insertion device, but I've not actually tried it yet... Frankly, the instructions look confusing, and I had not realized that it requires adhering the infusion set to the body not only where the needle/cannula goes in, but also in an additional site an inch or two away, which I'm not eager to do (isn't connecting a medical device to one's body in one spot enough?). I'm tempted to ask them for more samples, this time of the Mio(sp?) model - the one with a disposable insertion device built into each set - but it seems kind of wasteful to go through some version of a disposable insertion device every time I change my set. Why is it that psychologically, at least, being dependent on an insertion device makes me feel more powerless than relying on the pump itself?