Hello all!

I was reading a post at www.tudiabetes.com and found a fun topic to discuss.  When you poke your finger to do a BG test, what do you do with the extra blood once you have put blood on the strip?  When I was testing a couple of times a day, I always had a piece of paper towel in my meter case to dab the extra blood onto.  Once I started testing more each day, the paper got too gross looking for me to handle so I started licking the blood off instead.  Now that I test 12+ times a day, I always do this.  I guess I am part vampire now, haha!

I have a friend here in Atlanta who is also type 1 and he religiously gets a new tissue or paper towel every time he tests.  It freaks him out that I don't do this!  So it shows we are all a bit different.  What do you do?

I only test four times a day right now, but what I do is scrape off the extra blood on the strip and then throw it away. I guess thats kind of eccentric too, huh?

I gotta say, I don't even think twice.  I lick it and toss the strip....

I'm a licker!  I think after all the bloody tissues just got too messy!

Eww. Disgusting.

yes I am a vampire too

I keep the gross, bloody, balled up napkin in the meter case.  Totally yuck, but I can't handle the licking thing.  

I lick unless I have a huge drop or a napkin handy.. It the drop is small enough (Freestyle Strips) there is nothing to get rid of, it soaks it all up

i lick if i don't have a tissue near me

I haven't been able to lick yet.  I usually wear dark clothing, so I just wipe it on the seam of my clothing,  especially if I am in my sweats or 'lazy' clothing at home.  At work, [Iam a nurse,] I usually have a 2x2 handy plus wash my hands afterward.

I have licked in the past - but I'd rather not! I rip a tissue into 4 strips and use roughly one strip a week to blot my fingers. It gets pretty gross - but I'm also aware of waste and would rather not use a fresh strip of tissue - or even worse, a whole fresh tissue - every time.

I lick and press my fingers together. ( This doesn't always work) .Blood has a metallic taste.

I rub the extra blood into my hand .

Since you are not supposed to use it, I wipe off the first drop, usually on the back of my other hand, then I lick that off.  After I get the blood on the strip, I lick the rest off of my finger.

Before I was diagnosed and lived all this myself, I would have been soooo grossed out by what we're all doing!

It's amazing what we get used to, isn't it!

I'm a vamp too.

lol... wow i'm a newly diagnosed diabetic.  it looks like i'm going to be a vampire soon :)... but i usually clean my finger with an alcohol swab... so after i test i wipe it with the alcohol swab