I was always taught that you can use alcohol to clean your finger just before testing, OR you can just wash your hands with soap and water. The main purpose of having clean hands was to decrease risk of infection at the finger stick site (i know you also need to get the sugar from that jam off your hands too:-).
Okay, so a little background. I have three different hand soaps in my house: Lavender and Chamomile, Green Tea and Aloe, and Pomegranate and Mango. When I wash my hands (with any of them) they smell like the soap afterwards which means that there's some that soaked into my skin. What I want to know is if the different "flavor" soaps can have different effects on BG readings? For example: the pomegranate and mango has natural fruit extracts in it, wouldn't that increase BG readings?
My guess is no the soap does not increase your blood sugar. The meters that we use are only giving us a close guess to what our sugars are anyway. If you want try an experiment. Wash your hands take your sugar then use an alcohol swab and check your sugar.
i am pretty sure the 'natural fruit extracts' are still pretty far removed from say rubbing your hand with fruit. ;) Agree with Happy Vegan's experiment design and would expect to see no difference.
Ha! I always wondered the same thing. Whenever I visit my parents, my mother always has "vanilla sugar" and "yogert vanilla honey" hand soap in the kitchen/bathrooms. I am afraid that it may mess with my blood sugar readings, so I always use the dish soap which I feel is a bit safer.
However, I've learned that it's just better to just keep alcohol swabs with you to use!
I placed 2nd in the science fair during middle school for an experiment like this; as it turned out having stuff on your hands like lotion, soap, etc., doesn't really affect the blood sugar too much (though I found this odd as I have had the odd reading that's affected and has that 300 point difference).
I asked my endo about this and they said we're told to wash our hands before testing, or have clean skin, not so much because the blood sugar is affected - but because of little kids who tend to have thick layers of sticky candy on their fingers, etc. So I was told it was more precautionary than an actual concern.
I use alcohol pretty much every time time I test unless I just washed my hands. When I was first diagnosed I was taught to do this and it just became habit. I did stop doing it for a while I must admit, mostly during college when i was on the go a lot but I am definitely back in the habit now.
Really? I almost never alcohol swab it unless there's something visable on my skin - other than that I either wash or I don't. But I never really pay attention to it, and if I feel my hands are dirty I'll poke my arm but that's only because/if I'm concerned about germs (I don't know, something just doesn't seem clean about poking a dirty finger lol), but that's it for me. I was never really taught, I don't think, to clean my finger before testing...
Really? I almost never alcohol swab it unless there's something visable on my skin - other than that I either wash or I don't. But I never really pay attention to it, and if I feel my hands are dirty I'll poke my arm but that's only because/if I'm concerned about germs (I don't know, something just doesn't seem clean about poking a dirty finger lol), but that's it for me. I was never really taught, I don't think, to clean my finger before testing...
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Like you said earlier it could be an age thing maybe. Since I was diagnosed at a younger age maybe I was one of the kids they thought might have massive crap on their hands. Which I wouldn't have because I have never been a candy person.
I've wondered the same thing before, especially with lotions, but I doubt it really does anything.
I used to wash my hands before every test, but now I almost never do, unless my hands are really dirty. I also used to use a new lancet for every test. Haha. Yeah, like that happens anymore...(=
I always use an alcohol swab b/c that's how I wipe the extra blood off after. I guess it's a habit from always using the al. swabs. But, where do you wipe the extra blood? Tissue? I know some people lick it off, but that really makes me feel worried about germs. (:
I always use an alcohol swab b/c that's how I wipe the extra blood off after. I guess it's a habit from always using the al. swabs. But, where do you wipe the extra blood? Tissue? I know some people lick it off, but that really makes me feel worried about germs. (:
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I just lick, I just don't let other people, just kidding, but I do lick always have with any wound.
I never think about whether my hands are clean or not before I test. I guess I should considering the fact that I am using a computer at school and a million dirty hands have probably touched this keyboard! Now that I think about it I should carry hand sanitizer! Ewww
I also lick, Sarah. I haven't always done this- I thought it was disgusting when I saw kids do it at diabetes camp my first year- but then I started doing it, and I don't even think twice about it now. It's such a small drop, that it doesn't bother me. I wouldn't do it for any wounds or anything though.
I also lick, Sarah. I haven't always done this- I thought it was disgusting when I saw kids do it at diabetes camp my first year- but then I started doing it, and I don't even think twice about it now. It's such a small drop, that it doesn't bother me. I wouldn't do it for any wounds or anything though.
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Hi Sarah'
I am a mech. so I get just a few little cuts and such, I put my finger in my mouth to keep blood from getting on everything.