Try the sides of your fingers, not the tips. I never use the fingertips (or the pads) because it hurts and they will get numb or calloused after awhile. The sides hurt less, I get plenty of blood and there's no loss of feeling. I also don't have any callouses and I test over 10 times a day.
I have found that testing in fingers, no matter where, hurts. The Red Cross gets you on the side of the finger when they test the iron level in your blood and I've found that still hurts. I would assume that testing in your toes would hurt the same just because of the nerve endings.
That being said, I'm still a fan of testing in the forearm. Relatively pain free depending if you get it close to the bone or not. I thought arm testing was the way of the future?
Hi Amanda,
As with any advice...you know the drill check with your doc first,
with that said; toe testing isn't the best idea.
Diabetics need to be careful with their feet,
and a cut or sore that does not heal on the foot can lead to even more problems.
Some alternate sites to finger tips you might want to try; the part of the finger below the knuckle,
forearm, or the side of your stomach (commonly referred to as love handles).
Hope this helps, stay well.
HEY AMANDA!!!
Like Gina said, try moving a bit lower to test and it should work !
HOPE I HELPED !!
-ally <3
[quote user="Savs"]
I just tested my bloodsugar from BOTH my toe and my finger. They both showed up with close results (finger: 129, toe: 135), so i figure its accurate and its as painless as testing your finger.
Also, heres a figure from Dr. Bernsteins Diabetes Solutions (the shaded parts are good places to test)
[/quote]
I've actually been testing on my toes for a few weeks now, and every few days I do both my finger and toe to check the difference, and usually they are within 10 pts. So seems accurate to me...
Thanks for the diagram, never seen this before. The probblem I have with testing on the middle section of my finger is that I can't get the blood to squeeze out. I'm going to work on arm testing this summer though now that I have more time on my hands.
[quote user="HappyVegan"]
Some alternate sites to finger tips you might want to try; the part of the finger below the knuckle,
forearm, or the side of your stomach (commonly referred to as love handles).
[/quote]
Hmmm. Have you personally tried the stomach area? Definitely never heard of that before! Interesting...
I've been testing solely on my fingers tips for the last 13 years. I have tried testing on my arm but have not been able to get much blood, and it leaves unsightly bruises and red marks on my arms. The best advice I can give is to keep in mind which finger you use and try to just go down the line and alternate as much as possible. I won't lie to you and say I dont have scar tissue forming but I use all 10 fingers except for my thumbs<it was a sad day when I started using my pinkys> and for the most part I have no issues, and at this point I barely feel my fingerpricks anymore.
Oh and above all SWITCH TO THE FREESTYLE if you havent already! This meter uses so much less blood then anything else I have seen!
also I would NOT advise testing on your toes, as a previous poster said we must take good care of our feet and intentionally cutting them up sounds like a bad idea to me :(
HI amanda,
No, I personally just use my fingers, it has always worked the best for me :)
Alright, I'm not sure if this has been covered on the post yet, but I would run the idea of pricking your toes by your doc first if I were you. I was told that T1 diabetics prick their finger because that is the area where there is the quickest response to blood sugar, if that makes sense, so it is the most accurate reading. This is also why I was trained not to prick my arm to test a low blood sugar (or probably even high now that I think about it) or while on the CGM because they want it to be as accurate as possible. Just a note.
I did ask my cde and she said that using my toes would be fine, as long as it is accurate (which I check every few days against my finger readings to make sure) and that I test on my finger when I feel low/high. And my toes seem to be healing fine, but if I have any problems I'll be sure to get it checked out right away. So far toe testing seems to be working well. But I use my fingers when I'm out in public, because it's kind of weird to test on your toe when you're around people who don't know what you're doing, so I'm not using my toes 24/7.
haha yea, Amanda that would be a little weird
and disrespectful in a Chinese resturaunt (they say its disrespectful to show the bottoms of your feet)+
Instead of using alternative sites, I change my lancet frequently and then take a fingernail clipper or a pumice stone and pick at/sand off my calluses.
Sometimes I also use the palms of my hands, especially the base of my thumb or that fleshy part between wrist and pinky towards the outside of the hand. I get bruises from that though, so I alternate between that and fingers.
[quote user="Savs"]
haha yea, Amanda that would be a little weird
and disrespectful in a Chinese resturaunt (they say its disrespectful to show the bottoms of your feet)+
[/quote]
Haha I didn't even think about that-- I don't eat chinese food. But thanks for the warning!!