Capillary Blood Glucose Testing for Diabetes Monitoring

Capillary blood glucose testing is one of the most common ways used by diabetic patients for diabetes monitoring.

Capillary blood glucose testing is a byword for people with diabetes as part of diabetes monitoring. Blood is taken from the patient in order to monitor the level of blood glucose - an important regimen for diabetic patients to determine if diabetes is at work or not.

Diabetic patients can even do the testing and the extraction of blood themselves at home or at any setting. Collecting blood from the fingertip is the simplest and most common method used.

While diabetic blood sugar testing can be done in many ways such as urine, wound swab, stool, etc, capillary blood glucose testing is the most common, wherein blood is extracted from the body’s capillaries and put in a metering machine.
Getting blood from the capillaries or capillary blood glucose testing is done by piercing the skin with a small needle and put it in a glucose meter for diabetes monitoring. It is done by diabetics frequently. Whatever the result will be of the reading, diabetics can control the blood sugar rise and fall through exercise and diet. There are some meters which allow for testing on the arm, most of the time using finger-sticks.

Ways to extract blood safely

Getting blood from the body for blood sampling is very important. Most of all, the blood sample should be worth the test as it will represent the health status of the entire body’s blood. Remember the following when taking blood sample from the capillaries for effective capillary blood glucose testing and diabetes monitoring:
Disinfect the puncture area with an alcohol and let it dry.

Ensure the blood is freely flowing from a warm, dry and clean body part.
The first drop of blood should be wiped away. It can only be used in some testings like haemostasis.

Slowly squeeze and rhythmically grip the first finger and thumb base to ensure that the patient won’t be hurt or rupture red cells.

Monitoring of blood glucose can be done at any location – at home, clinics, hospitals, laboratory and anywhere.