Quick question about test strips

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artrageous

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If you put a strip in the meter but can't get blood out of the kitty's ear (argh....) is it okay to just put the strip back in the container with the other strips?

So frustrated.... Yesterday (at the vet's office) I was able to get more than enough blood out of Riley's ear using a 25-gauge needle. I hadn't had success at home using the ultra-thin lancets that came with the meter I got.

I made the appointment for yesterday because I KNOW it's important to see where he is (he's been on 1 unit of Lantus 2x a day since October 20th), plus I wanted to check my meter against the one used there. The vet sent me home with some of the 25-gauge needles--which I used this morning--but I STILL wasn't successful (but certainly not for lack of trying....poor kitty...)
 
Nope, once it is exposed to air, it's toast.

Are you heating the ear? That was the important part for us - using the rice sack and really warming the ear. It's true, 25 gauge lancets are usually easiest for new diabetics. You can also double poke to make the hole a little larger. It also helped us to take the clear cap off our lancet so we could really see what we were doing. Do you have something you are poking against, behind the ear? We used a small makeup sponge; others use the rice sack or folded kleenix.

To minimize bruising until you get this down pat, hold the ear for a second after poking. You can also use neosporin (with or without pain relief)
 
Sue and Oliver said:
Nope, once it is exposed to air, it's toast.
Click to expand...

Ugh. Not good. Thanks for the info.

His ears seemed quite warm to start with and I rubbed them for a bit before trying. This morning I held a folded piece of paper towel on the inside of his ear and poked a couple of times--on both ears! Yesterday at the vet's I used a piece of folded gauze and while I didn't poke through his ear, a LOT of blood came out and I had to hold pressure on it for quite a while to get it to stop bleeding. The vet said I was doing it right, so I don't know what the problem was this morning.

I really do need to get a pre-insulin level in the next day or two, so I guess I'll try the warmed rice sock this evening. I was so hopeful that maybe he didn't need to be on insulin anymore (we think he developed diabetes after being on steroids for a while for other problems) but now it looks like we might have to be adjusting his dosage. It's essential to get the hang of this...

Maybe I'll go practice on my other cats. ;-)
 
I still use the 26 or 28 guage lancets. I was never able to get the hang of the lancing pen so I freehand the poke with just the lancet. I have better aim that way. Also poke at a 45 degree angle (if free handing) to avoid going straight through.

The heated rice sock still helps us alot. Their ears do learn to bleed, have you seen the pictures of the sweet spot?

Good luck.
 
Sue and Oliver said:
Nope, once it is exposed to air, it's toast.
Click to expand...


Really? I didn't know that. I drop things so often, one of the reasons we use Lev not Lantus. I've dropped test strips from the bottle and put them back in. Am I not supposed to that?

One time I left the test strip vial open over night and all the strips were garbage and I had to toss them all.
 
Have you tried using a flahlight under the ear to help you see the vein? And do you "milk" the ear if the blood doesn't come? I find sometimes I get a lot of blood, but other times I really have to milk it. I use a medicine vial filled with hot water to hold under her ear. It warms it and gives me a firm surface to press against.
 
judy and squamee said:
Have you tried using a flahlight under the ear to help you see the vein? And do you "milk" the ear if the blood doesn't come? I find sometimes I get a lot of blood, but other times I really have to milk it. I use a medicine vial filled with hot water to hold under her ear. It warms it and gives me a firm surface to press against.
Click to expand...

Yes, when I was trying this before (using the small lancets) I used a flashlight and I know where the right "spot" should be. I like the idea of using the medicine vial full of warm water... And yep, I'm trying to do it at a 45 degree angle (just using the needle and not the lancet device).

After the first couple of pokes, Riley got really squirmy (understandable) and he yelped at one point--which made me feel pretty awful. I was trying to "milk" his ear, too. Just can't figure out why it was so easy yesterday and impossible this morning....
 
If test strips were toast from exposure to air, then by the time you got to strip 25 or 50, would it be any good?
If air affected strips, each time you opened the container, all the strips would be less and less valid.
Maybe you are thinking of keto stix?
 
I have had some strips, I think for the precision meter, that each strip was individually wrapped... I hated it. If one is wrecked, I have to stop and open up another packet?
Maybe those strips need to be wrapped but I don't know for sure.
 
I am sorry for the misinformation. Guess it is just mine. They were PrecisionXtra and individually wrapped. They lasted only a few minutes after they were opened.
 
Try a very thin smear of vaseline on the ear to keep the blood from running into the fur. It kind of beads up on top of the vaseline.
 
That's great news. Now if you get his ps tonite, you will know how the end of his cycle is on this dose.
 
The strips go bade when exposed to moisture. The container of strips contain a desiccant to help keep the moisture out of the strips. It will absorb any moisture tat gets into the contained from opening the container. When that happens to me I put it in that last container I empties and use it up the next time. If I just put it back in the container I would never find that strip again.
 
I tested this morning ps and his reading was 391. I've forwarded the 2 readings to the vet so she might want to adjust the amount of insulin he's getting. He's been on 1 unit of Lantus for a month, 2x a day.
 
Sharon,

It is important to get a mid cycle reading also. It could be that he goes down pretty low at nadir, and then bounces back up. You don't know until you see that reading around 6 hours after the shot. I don't use Lantus, but I know they recommend adjusting the dose by .25 units or .5 units, not a whole unit. You might go over to that forum and post. They have seen all kinds of situations and should have some advice for you.

Have you managed to get your crew on wet?
 
Congrats on the successful testing! But I'm in agreement that those two numbers don't tell enough of a story for you or your vet to know whether the dose is right or how to increase...

Jen
 
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