Why you should wash your hands before testing

[Guest guest]

I tested at lunch today and got a reading of 15.9 (286 mg/dl). I was

surprised because I had tested less than two hours ago, before a meeting, at

5.4 (97 mg/dl). About the only thing that can make me shoot up that high

that fast is forgetting to bolus for food or a major pump delivery problem.

I retested on a different finger and got 15.7 (283 mg/dl).

Since I don't usually wash my hands before testing, I went and washed with

soap and water and retested again, this time I got 6.2 (112 mg/dl) which is

more like what I was expecting. Just to make sure, I tested a final time and

got 6.3 (113 mg/dl). It's a good thing I thought to wash my hands first

rather than going ahead and correcting that high reading or doing an

unnecessary infusion set change!

Jen