![]() ![]() Don’t rely on these areas if your blood sugar is likely to be changing rapidly such as right after eating, in the morning when your sugars might be rising naturally, or anytime that you feel low. The best times to use these areas would be before a meal and more than two hours after eating when your sugars are likely to have stabilized. But, because these areas are less accurate and tend to give lagging readings, you only want to do so if your blood sugar is relatively stable. If you are interested in looking beyond your hand for even less painful testing sites, keep in mind, you can still use your forearms, legs, and stomach. Use the fleshy ridge that runs between your pinky and wrist and or the fleshy pad at the base of your thumb, to avoid the pain of fingertip testing without compromising your diabetes management. And scientific studies, like this one published in Diabetes Technology & Therapeutics, show that the BG readings taken from these areas are in the clinically acceptable range when compared to simultaneous fingertip readings. The fleshy areas of your palm are full of the same kinds of capillary beds as your fingertips, but with far fewer nerve endings. If you dread pricking your fingertips, you don’t have to look far to find an alternative draw site that is just as accurate for BG testing. And beyond this, some recent studies have shown that there are alternate, less-sensitive areas of the body that do produce accurate BG readings. Similarly, if your BG is dropping, your leg measurement is likely to be higher than your actual levels.īut that doesn’t mean these areas can’t be used for testing under certain circumstances. So, if your blood sugar is currently rising and you test a blood droplet from your leg, the amount of glucose in it is likely to be less than your actual BG level. This is because these areas have a lot more interstitial space than they do capillary beds. Studies that have looked into using alternative blood draw spots for BG testing have mostly found that areas like the leg, forearm, and stomach do not produce the same readings as the fingertips. Your fingers also have the benefit of being easy to squeeze, which makes it possible to get just the right amount of blood out without having to use a larger needle. Your fingertips are full of capillaries that can easily be tested with an at-home blood draw. To get a measurement of your current blood sugar levels, you want to test the blood in the veins or capillaries, as the amount of glucose in the interstitial fluid always lags what is in the veins. This glucose moves out of the bloodstream and into the interstitial areas around cells where it can then be taken up by the cells and used. This blood travels through your veins to various organs and areas of the body. When carbohydrates are eaten at a meal, they are digested in the stomach and absorbed into your bloodstream as glucose. This has a lot to do with why the fingertips were chosen for use in the first place. Most diabetics and even most doctors aren’t aware that you can get an accurate BG measurement from anywhere else but your fingers. If you’ve never been told that you can use other areas on your body to test your blood sugar, don’t worry, you’re not alone. Why Doctors Traditionally Recommend Testing Your Fingers? If stabbing a lancet into this ultra-sensitive flesh makes you shudder, or worse yet, causes you to skip your BG testing altogether, then it is time to consider using an alternate blood draw area. They are packed with nerve endings meant to help us detect changes in textures and temperatures. After all, the fingertips are one of the most sensitive areas of the body. Testing your blood sugar multiple times a day is already a pain, even before you consider the literal pain of stabbing a needle into your fingertips over and over. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |