Why do we need to prick our fingers for glucometers. Can we get blood from somewhere else on the body?

Question

I don't know if it's for convience or because the blood through our fingers has the most accumulation of glucose because of where it's siutated relative to the heart, but why can't we prick another part of our body that is less sensitive than our fingers to get blood for a glucose test? Blood is blood right? And there should be the same percentage of glucose through our bodies regardless if we measure it at our fingers or blood from our arms. Does anyone have a good answer? Thanks!

Answer 1

the vessels are shallow in the fingers with no risk of hitting a major artery.

Answer 2

You certainly CAN test on her arm. There are glucometers that use a teeny tiny speck of blood and you can use the arm, rather than a finger. There are far more nerves in the fingertip than the forearm, so the finger hurts much worse! That poor little girl, I cannot BELIEVE you weren't told about arm testing!! That's terrible.

Walgreens sells the glucometer that allows for arm testing, they sell one that's their own Walgreen's brand and it's around $20. Please see the Pharmacist at any Walgreens and ask them to assist you. They will help.

If you don't have a Walgreens around, go to Target. Or try Wal-Mart, and see a Pharmacist for help. It's all over the counter so you do not need a prescription for any of it. There are directions for the units, be sure you buy enough testing strips, too.

Best of luck to you and your daughter. Those poor little fingers! I just feel so bad for you all, it's just a crime that you were not told about the other means of testing. Take care Mama.

Answer 3

Almost every glucometer is calibrated to read the blood sugar levels of capillary blood. The fingers are a fantastic area to get a good amount of this sort of blood and are not located near any major vessels. Older glucometers needed larger amounts of capillary blood so the fingers were an ideal area to stick. Now there are glucometers coming on the market that can use a stick from your forearm.