Using Alcohol Swabs/Wipes

I read on a guest post on Six Until Me that using alcohol swabs/wipes to disinfect before BG testing and injecting is "no longer recommended."

What do you do?

 

We do alcohol wipes most of the time. But our case manager told us it could dry out his skin. She recommended just washing his hands well with soap and water and then making sure they were completely dry before testing.

 

At dx, we were told it was unnecessary as long as skin was cleaned with soap. The clinic actually put on his school orders that K was not to use alcohol wipes when testing. We have done it from time to time, but alcohol dries his skin out so much that it causes irritation and rashes.

Sometimes, the cleanest his fingers get is a good spit and polish!

 

We use alcohol wipes for pump sites and cgms sites. Not usually for injections and never for bm tests. I don't know if the alcohol would alter the readings of a bm?

 

I don't think it does.

We only size swabs odd site changes. If I had a very young child, and sticky fingers were a constant problem, I might swab for bg sticks sometimes, when I didn't have access to a sink/water. But I have never used alcohol wipes for bg. Well, maybe once or twice in four years.

 

As an adult, I don't routinely use anything. I wash my hands if they are sticky or dirty. I will wash my hands and retest if the first reading was unexpectedly high. I also stopped using alcohol or skin prep for pump sites several years ago as I usually change my site after a shower.

 

We use alcohol wipes sparingly, mostly to clean the Dex transmitter, and to disinfect the site where the Dex sensor goes. For finger sticks it is soap and water, and if the number looks different from the Dex we test again.

 

with matt, we are lucky enough to get him to test, and as far as I know, dirt has no carbs we make him wash if he has sticky sugary hands, that's about it. We use IV prep wipes for his pump sites.

 

We use a wet paper towel for Dex sites and pump sites. Often we use nothing for a BG check, but if his fingers look suspicious, I'll use a wet paper towel on them too.

 

I am one of those who wipes with alcohol swabs 99% of the time, but who knows? I may realize through posts like this that it is not as necessary as I thought. I bet I still do it for a very long time though lol.

 

We just wash her hands before testing. We use Skin Prep for pump sites & Dexcom

 

for testing we use alcohol wipes or baby wipes which i always have on hand for my 2 year old.
we used alcohol wipes for injections because it was a control thing with my daughter- she had to be the one to clean the area, and it helped make the shots go easier for her. this is also true for her pump site changes.

 

We've been at this almost 8 years...and at diagnosis we were told to not worry about it. They wanted us to wipe off the top of the insulin vial regularly but that was their biggest concern. We've never done alcohol wipes and have no protocol or supplies or anything. They wash hands when there might be something on their fingers or when a number is a lot higher than expected.

However...skin is wiped with alcohol before sites are changed. Trial and error showed that sites stick better and allergic reactions are lesser when we include that step first so it's just become a habit.

 

Currently if the kids will not be "washing their hands", I have two alcohol wipes that I have run under water and in a little zip lock. I like the thick alcohol wipe because they don't fall apart. SO with 2 of them togeather I have 4 sides to wipe a finger clean and then dry with a tissue, tissue to clean up what ever was not sucked up with the test strip. No vampires here.

 

For testing, nothing except maybe wiping any significant dirt off using his pants first. He's a teen though. Have never used an alcohol wipe outside of a hospital or MD environment.

Site changes get IV prep.

 

Looks like we're going to go with soap, water, butt wipes, wet paper towels, or spit from now on (except for IV prep for site changes for the pump and Dexcom).

 

We did non scented baby wipes for years, just one in a ziplock bag in the kit, we started that shortly after DX and verified that it did not mess BG reading up before fully adopting it.

 

We use them almost every time. It's not that I really think it's necessary, it's just what they taught my daughter in the hospital so she insists on it. The nurse at school actually told her not to use them and we had some issues. That was only becasue it was about two weeks after diagnosis, DD was just getting used to the routine and someone she didn't know came in and told her something completely contrary to what she had been taught at the hospital.

 

We are only six months in, but we use an alcohol wipe for every BG meter test and injection. And then a little gauze square around the finger for the extra blood.

 

Almost 5 years in and we're still on our first box of them. And most of those were in the last year to clean the dexcom transmitter. She mostly licks her fingers which is gross.