![]() She also advised a conservative approach for people who are uncertain of their blood sugar levels. But she pointed out that, at least in Michigan, where it is cold for a significant part of the year, most people do not use their legs for testing because of the hassle of taking off clothes. Uelmen has had patients who tested using their arms and one patient who successfully used his earlobe - “a good option if you can do it,” she said. "This is important because if a patient is testing for a possible low blood sugar reaction and if they use alternative site testing, their meter may display a normal value and not a true blood sugar result, which may delay treatment.” So if you’re concerned about the timing of testing, it might be best to stick with finger testing. “A blood glucose result taken at the fingertip will not reach the forearm capillaries for 20 to 30 minutes," he said. He also tells people to be aware of the timing difference in blood glucose between forearm and fingertip. ![]() “Most patients that I teach alternative site testing will say that forearm testing is less painful but difficult to obtain a blood sample, and most patients will return to fingertip testing,” Verastigui said. However, there are disadvantages to this method as well. However, sites other than your palm are recommended only if your blood sugar is stable at the time of testing.Ĭertified diabetes educator Hector Verastigui, RN, clinical research coordinator at the Texas Diabetes Institute in San Antonio, said he teaches patients to test using their arms as an option if they are interested in alternate site testing. Other possible locations include the thigh, calf, upper arm, and forearm. Your thumb is another option if you’re tired of using fingers. “The palm of the hand is good because it’s capillary blood and it’s going to be current blood sugar,” said certified diabetes educator Sacha Uelmen, RD, program director of the outpatient diabetes education program at the University of Michigan Health System in Ann Arbor. ![]() Managing Diabetes With Alternate Site Testing: The Choices However, they also found that testing on their palm with regular lancing supplies didn’t always provide easy access to get enough blood for a test strip. They found that people who test their blood sugar levels four times a day like the idea of using alternative site testing approaches. In a study published in the Journal of Diabetes Science and Technology, researchers compared patients’ satisfaction with fingertip blood sugar testing and testing using an alternate site, in this case the palm of the hand. If you’re tired of the pain of finger sticking and the calluses that can develop over time, alternate site testing could be an option for blood sugar testing, especially for those who want to do frequent checks. ![]()
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