Oh FGS its impossible to get blood out of my finger for the stupid home blood test micro containers - help!!

[knackeredoutmum]

I've used 5 of the stabbers lancets and spent a whole hour squeezing blood out one drop at a time into the stupid container. There is no way on earth that thing is 0.5ml, seems more like 2.5ml to me.

I finally finished it, my fingers are in utter agony 10 hours later, and I discover I took so long to do it my blood has clotted in the container.

So now I've got to do the whole [expletive] performance again.

Except Ive got no [swear word] stabbers left and the ones I had were obviously useless.

So can you link me to something I can buy, that wont hurt anymore than theirs, but which will quickly and painlessly release a steady tricky into the container???

They only reckon you should need one, so why wasnt I getting a river of the stuff?

Warm your hands up a lot before doing it and try and be super relaxed. Having someone else do the pricking/squeezing would be helpful in regards to that!

Yes, wasn't as warm as I could be but felt relaxed, how about after a shower? Is it supposed to just trickle into the container then or squeeze out every single painful drop - because if I try again like that its surely going to clot again?

Pop your hand on a radiator or hot water bottle first to make your veins dilate and get all juicy. Prick the side of the end of your finger rather than the flat finger pad as it doesn't hurt as much there. Squeeze the and if the finger in a rolling almost milking gesture towards the cut. INR junkie

If I do the milking how do I avoid knocking that little pot over - maybe I will use plasticine?

Warm your hands and dangle your arms by your side for a while beforehand. Pick a spot on your ring finger - it hurts the least. You don't want the puncture to be directly in the centre of the pad, but slightly to the side.

Press as firmly as possible with the lancet (it can help for someone else to do this as your natural reaction is to pull away your finger.)

Leave for a few seconds. Blood should settle. If you aren't getting enough don't squeeze the finger but do one running squeeze along your forearm to the wrist.

Not sure which lancets you were using but the easy touch ones are fairly good.

The blood donor place use spring-loaded lancets - not sure if that's the kind you had? I think its easier to get a good stab with them!

Yes, lots of spring loaded stabby ones, I opened one up and there's a miniature scalpel blade in there!! Are the unistik 3 extra ones any good? They sent 2mm ones out with the kit and these look like they should be similar.

The instructions say to warm your hands under hot water for example first. Makes a big difference imo

The instructions say to warm your hands under hot water for example first. Makes a big difference imo