493 does not equal 128

You’ve probably heard this advice many times: wash your hands and dry them before checking your blood glucose. Most of us would admit we don’t always do it. Sometimes we wipe our hands on our jeans; other times we figure “they’re clean enough” and go for it.

How many of you have experienced a false high blood glucose because you had jelly or some other substance on your finger? It happens. In fact, it just happened to me. I checked my blood glucose just minutes ago and it was 493. I had even rinsed my hands prior to checking. I was puzzled by this number, since it really made no sense: I hadn’t eaten anything in approximately 4 hours.

I had, however, just cut up several apples and made applesauce. I figured my hand-rinsing job wasn’t sufficient, so I washed them, dried them and checked again. This time I was 128. So glad I didn’t take insulin to bring down that 493! I’d be eating all the applesauce (and more) in one sitting.

Wash your hands and dry them before checking your blood glucose. Good advice.

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