Press your finger hard when measuring sugar at home: Maybe your reading is not coming out wrong by 30-40 points?
When most diabetic patients check their blood sugar with a glucose meter at home, they press or squeeze the fingertip with full force to extract a drop of blood after the needle pricks. This is a common habit, but according to medical science, it can prove your entire reading wrong.
The medical truth behind it:
When you press or twist the upper part of your finger after the needle pricks, only the thin vessels of the blood do not come out. Due to excessive pressure, the fluid present between the skin cells (interstitial fluid) also collects and mixes with that drop of blood.
In addition, when pressed hard, red blood cells burst (Hemolysis). When water and interstitial fluid mix, the blood becomes thinner. When you place this thin blood on a glucose meter strip, the actual glucose concentration has already changed.
The result is that your sugar reading drops to between 20 to 40 mg/dL below or above the actual level. Based on this incorrect reading, patients often take the wrong dose of insulin or sugar medication, which can suddenly lead to very low sugar (hypoglycemia), posing a life-threatening risk.
The correct medical way to check with a glucose meter:

1. Wash your hands with warm water: Wash your hands with warm water and soap before checking. This naturally increases blood flow in your fingers.
2. Hang your hand down: Hold your hand down for 10-15 seconds before piercing the needle and gently shake it so that the blood reaches the tips of your fingers through gravity.
3. Prick on the edge of the finger: Never prick the needle in the exact middle (on the pad) because it causes more nerve damage and more pain. Always prick on the side edge of the finger.
4. Give a light support, not press: If the blood does not come out immediately, give a light support from the lower part of the palm towards the finger with very light hands. Never press the nail bed of the finger hard from near the nail.
5. Use natural drops: Touch only the blood globule that rises on its own without any force, only that.
   Pressing or twisting your finger hard while checking sugar with a glucose meter can make your reading up to 40 points wrong. Wrong reading increases the risk of taking the wrong medicine or insulin. Share this correct medical method with all diabetic patients at home so they don’t fall victim to wrong reports.
   #DiabetesCare #SugarTest #Glucometer #HealthAwareness #DrDPSingh