About Alternate-site Testing
Time to give your fingertips a break?
If you’re like many people with diabetes who are bothered by the pain of blood glucose testing, you may be looking for alternate test sites that could be less painful than your fingertips. But don’t stop testing altogether! Research shows that when people with diabetes test and control their blood glucose levels, they can reduce their risk of eye, nerve and kidney damage by as much as 60 percent, so it’s very important that you continue to test regularly.
There are blood glucose meters available that enable you to test from alternate sites, such as your forearm or palm–where there are fewer nerve endings than in the fingertip—including the OneTouch® UltraMini®, OneTouch® Ultra®2 or the OneTouch® UltraSmart® Blood Glucose Monitoring Systems. Before beginning to test on the forearm or palm, patients should read their Owner’s Booklet and talk to their health care professional.
A clinical study concluded that testing at the forearm when the blood glucose is in a steady state (e.g., fasting and before-meal) could be a dependable alternative to the fingertip site. Be careful about when you test on an alternate site. The fingers contain a more concentrated network of blood vessels than the forearm, which allows the blood in the finger to adjust more quickly to rapid changes in glucose. This means that accurate readings can be delayed at alternate sites during times of rapidly changing blood glucose, making it more difficult to identify hyperglycemia or hypoglycemia.
Before testing on an alternate site, talk with your health care professional and keep these guidelines in mind:
When to use alternate-site testing
- Before a meal
- More than two hours after a meal
- More than two hours after exercise
- More than two hours after taking a rapid-acting insulin injection or an insulin pump bolus
Times you should use fingertip testing only
- Within two hours after a meal
- Within two hours after a rapid-acting insulin injection or insulin pump bolus
- During or within two hours after exercise
- If you are concerned about your blood glucose becoming too low
A few things to remember
Alternate test sites include the forearm or palm (at the base of the thumb and at the base of the pinkie finger).
If you have problems getting an adequate blood sample on an alternate site, see your health care professional for help with the technique. If you’re using a OneTouch® Brand Meter, be sure to change the cap on the lancing device to a clear cap for alternate site testing. This provides a deeper setting.
Beth Volz wrote this article when she worked as a consumer health writer for LifeScan, Inc.
