Lancet Size?

[chaconne]

I'm getting a new InRatio monitor after the New Year. I purchased some lancets on Amazon (Unistik 2 Normal) and tested them on my finger. They don't seem to stick me hard enough to get a drop of blood that falls within a few seconds. Will the Unistik Extra 21 Guage 3.0mm depth work more effectively, or are there other more "aggressive" brands? I'd be willing to endure a little more pain to get quicker samples.

 

[AgilityDog]

I use the 21 gauge, myself. I think it's Reli-on. I get CVS to order it for me. The unisticks are 26 gauge, and they don't work well on me, either.

 

[Protimenow]

I use 21 gauge, with my lancing device set to maximum depth. I have a lifetime supply of these lancets -- send me a private message if you need any, and I'll send you a box.

FWIW -- I recently got an Autolet Impression lancing device as part of a 15 strip lot that I bought on E-Bay. It has a special tip that is supposed to make lancing relatively painless (four or five points press into the finger, supposedly confusing the part that is actually being incised). It didn't seem to work all that well - I still feel the incision (though it's really not a big deal).

The most important part about getting the blood and the incision deep enough is being sure that you've pressed the lancing device well enough against the finger, and already have the fingertip fairly well filled with blood.

For my money, 21 gauge is the only way to go (unless you have single use lancing devices that are designed to get a big drop)

 

[pellicle]

They don't seem to stick me hard enough to get a drop of blood that falls within a few seconds. Will the Unistik Extra 21 Guage 3.0mm depth work more effectively,.

in my case the 'droplet' seems to not form before the timeout but then runs like a tap for ages aftwards...

 

[Protimenow]

In my experience, the droplet doesn't just form. I don't just incise and wait for it to happen.

It helps to do a bit of preparation before incising the fingertip -- running warm water over the hand for a minute or two helps. If you have the room, you can dry your hand by swinging it around a bit (over your head, side to side, even shaking may help.) Squeezing below the knuckle so the blood pools in the tip, while you wait for the strip to warm up, also gets more blood into the fingertip. Once you can see that the fingertip may be slightly engorged with blood, it's ready for incision. (I recently started putting pressure on a finger on my left hand, using my right hand -- this seems to work a bit better than trying to use a bit of pressure on a finger on my left hand using my left thumb). If that doesn't get you a big enough drop, right after incision, you might try just a bit of pressure, moving the blood from your knuckle up towards the incision. (The manufacturers of the CoaguChek XS and InRatio meters don't want you to 'milk' the finger, but just a bit of movement towards the incision, if necessary, may not skew the results too much).

The point here -- waiting for the drop to form may not be an entirely passive process. You usually have to prep the fingertip before incising the finger to improve the likelihood that an adequate drop will form.

 

[chaconne]

Thanks everyone. This gives me an idea of what to expect. I may try the same brand in the more aggressive "Extra" model. Thanks for your offer Protime. I will let you know if I want to try some of yours.

-Steve

 

[tom in MO]

I don't know the size of my lancets, but I used to have problems. I got mine from Alere, and they give three sizes, but the bigger ones bled too much. I asked my trainer and they told me to do pretty much what to what Protimenow says but w/o the hand swinging.

Stick point location is important to me. I put it in the side about 1/4" down from the tip. I now use the smallest guage but at the greatest depth. I wash my hands in hot water until they are warm, dry vigorously. I then put the strip in, hold my hand down at my side (beneath the chair seat) and massage the tip of my middle or ring finger, below the knuckle with my thumb of the same hand. After about 20 seconds (about 10 secs into the countdown I stick in the side of the finter.