Arm? Finger? Pick Your Poison.

I am a PWD (person with diabetes) that tests exclusively on my arm.  The very notion of testing on my fingers literally makes me nauseous.  And you may say, hey, don't knock finger testing till you've tried it... and to that I say oh, I have people, oh I have.  Out of the 11 years I have been managing my diabetes, approximately 5 were spent poking my poor fingers.  When I discovered arm pokers, I made the switch without a second thought.

Interestingly enough, when I told a fellow dia-bad ass about my love for arm testing over fingers, she looked at me like I was crazy.  Turns out, we share completely opposite feelings about where to test.  To each his/her own.  While I do understand that testing on your fingers is the most accurate in terms of blood testing results, I simply say I need quality of life.  I test upwards to ten times a day, and I'm NOT going to subject myself to the yucky feeling I get while testing my digits, or the aftermath of a throbbing finger.

Whether you test on your arm, your fingers, your toes (you KNOW you've tried it!!) the one thing all individuals with diabetes can attest to, are the marks left over from testing.  Here is a not so lovely shot of my arm.  I especially love the contrast between the cute bracelet/watch my mom got me to the gross red marks.  The huz is constantly rubbing blood marks off my arm because at this point, I'm far too lazy to do it myself.  That's love huh?  Just another minor aspect that people without diabetes never have to think about.

Every person's diabetes and how they manage their disease is different.  How often do you test a day?  Where do you test?  Are you an arm or finger kinda person?  Let me know.  And as always, if I can test up to ten times a day to keep myself healthy for myself and for my loved ones, so can you.