[Diabetes-talk] Problems drawing blood

[Julie Kline]

Good afternoon,

I'm kind of perplexed about a problem I am having and am not sure what to
do, so I thought I'd ask since I would think other people on here have
experienced this.  On Friday, my doctor increased my medicine I take because
my A1C was a little high, 8.6 to be exact.  This morning while I was at the
store, I ate something and then shopped afterwards for about an hour.
Coming home from our shopping, I started feeling really clammy.  It was like
I wasn't sure if I was hot or cold but I was sweating and feeling a little
nauseous at my stomach.  I felt something else too, not quite sleepy but
that's the closest thing I can think of to describe it, maybe droopy?
Thinking I might have been having a sugar issue, I tried taking a sample so
I could see what my reading was, and couldn't get any blood to come out.  I
had run my hands under hot water both times before I tested.  I also milked
the finger.  Nothing worked.  I know my lancing device is set to maximum
penetration at 5, and I tried 4 spots on different fingers and had no luck
getting anything.  I never was able to do the sugar check, but I did eat
something and the problems I experienced wore off for the most part.

Is there something I'm doing wrong for the sample?  Can your fingers get
callused enough to where blood won't come out anymore?  I changed lancet's
too thinking that the one I was using wasn't sharp enough, but to no avail.
Could the spring on the lancet just wear out and I'm not getting stuck
enough?  I felt the sting, but nothing at all came out.  During my last lab
visit, they had a lot of difficulty drawing blood out of me then too so I'm
wondering if something's going on more than the equipment failing.

Any ideas I could try for how to fix this and get a blood sample would be
helpful.

Thanks.
Julie