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Visit to Reflexologist (For alternative medicine)
Hello Doctor,
I asked this question in a forum which i guess was not doctor forum so i am asking again.
Yesterday i went to visit a reflexologist for neurogenic leg pain treatment. He asked for my medical history, then took my weight, height, blood pressure. Finally, he pulled out a long lancet device which looked like a high lighter and said he was going to test my blood sugar. At this i told him i did not want to be poked by a lancet as it felt unsafe. He assured me that a new lancet needle will be used. He then took off the cap threw out the old needle and inserted a new lancet needle and closed the CAP, he did not use a new CAP. He then poked my finger next to my pinky which drew blood which he smeared on a strip and placed into what looked like a stop watch and tested my blood sugar.
This has left me very worried. I can say that the lancet device for sure was not used for 15 mins before i got poked because i was only person in the office 15 mins prior to getting a lancet testing. I am not sure how lancets work exactly and i have read information by Health Canada which requests people that multi use lancets are not to be shared but only to be used by a single person for multiple testings. Please see link from Health Canada.
http://www.gov.mb.ca/health/publichealth/cpl/lancing.html
My questions are:
1. Is the information from Health Canada because of people getting HIV from this type of behaviour of sharing lancets?
2. Does it even matter that the lancet needle was replaced with a new lancet?
3. Could blood have been left inside the actual lancet device or CAP which would have touched the new lancet needle and then i could have been poked and infected?
4. Does the 15 mins of non use inactivate the amount of blood which could have been on or inside lancing device?
Thanks.
I asked this question in a forum which i guess was not doctor forum so i am asking again.
Yesterday i went to visit a reflexologist for neurogenic leg pain treatment. He asked for my medical history, then took my weight, height, blood pressure. Finally, he pulled out a long lancet device which looked like a high lighter and said he was going to test my blood sugar. At this i told him i did not want to be poked by a lancet as it felt unsafe. He assured me that a new lancet needle will be used. He then took off the cap threw out the old needle and inserted a new lancet needle and closed the CAP, he did not use a new CAP. He then poked my finger next to my pinky which drew blood which he smeared on a strip and placed into what looked like a stop watch and tested my blood sugar.
This has left me very worried. I can say that the lancet device for sure was not used for 15 mins before i got poked because i was only person in the office 15 mins prior to getting a lancet testing. I am not sure how lancets work exactly and i have read information by Health Canada which requests people that multi use lancets are not to be shared but only to be used by a single person for multiple testings. Please see link from Health Canada.
http://www.gov.mb.ca/health/publichealth/cpl/lancing.html
My questions are:
1. Is the information from Health Canada because of people getting HIV from this type of behaviour of sharing lancets?
2. Does it even matter that the lancet needle was replaced with a new lancet?
3. Could blood have been left inside the actual lancet device or CAP which would have touched the new lancet needle and then i could have been poked and infected?
4. Does the 15 mins of non use inactivate the amount of blood which could have been on or inside lancing device?
Thanks.
MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL
My "expert opinion" is unchanged by the additional information. Regardless of whether the cap was switche out, you were not at risk for HIV.
Thanks Doctor. If it was a single use lancet which cannot be pressed once used I would not have worried but this was a multi use lancet device.
Maybe I was unclear, the actual device as confirmed by the reflexologist is used on multiple patients but the actual needle inside is changed (he did remove the old needle from the device in front of me and inserted a new one from a box). The CAP is never replaced with a new one for each patient he stated.
My only concern was that the CAP as stated by the Manitoba Health Dept could have traces of blood, how about the inside of the lancet could it have some blood which touched the new needle?
Sorry for asking a question you feel is laughable but i just wanted an expert opinion based on these facts. Can you advice based on my latest details.
No further questions will be asked.
Maybe I was unclear, the actual device as confirmed by the reflexologist is used on multiple patients but the actual needle inside is changed (he did remove the old needle from the device in front of me and inserted a new one from a box). The CAP is never replaced with a new one for each patient he stated.
My only concern was that the CAP as stated by the Manitoba Health Dept could have traces of blood, how about the inside of the lancet could it have some blood which touched the new needle?
Sorry for asking a question you feel is laughable but i just wanted an expert opinion based on these facts. Can you advice based on my latest details.
No further questions will be asked.
MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL
Welcome to the HIV forum.
You had accurate responses on the community forum. I cannot understand why you "did not want to be poked by a lancet" or why you would consider it unsafe. Nobody reuses sharp instruments of any kind and surely that did not happen here.
1) I see nothing of concern in the Health Canada statement. You were tested in a single-patient setting (one patient at a time). Multiple-person setting means settings with several people being tested at the same time in the same room, as might occur if 10 people had group counseling about HIV and then were all tested at the same time.
Your other three questions imply you are way overthinking this situation. Do you have OCD by chance? These questions assume such unlikely scenarios as to be laughable. I'm not criticizing you -- just hoping you can understand their basic irrationality.
It is likely that in the past 20 years not a single person in North America has become infected with HIV, hepatitis, or any other blood borne infection because of the way a blood specimen was collected. You aren't going to be the first. Just forget about it.
Regards-- HHH, MD
You had accurate responses on the community forum. I cannot understand why you "did not want to be poked by a lancet" or why you would consider it unsafe. Nobody reuses sharp instruments of any kind and surely that did not happen here.
1) I see nothing of concern in the Health Canada statement. You were tested in a single-patient setting (one patient at a time). Multiple-person setting means settings with several people being tested at the same time in the same room, as might occur if 10 people had group counseling about HIV and then were all tested at the same time.
Your other three questions imply you are way overthinking this situation. Do you have OCD by chance? These questions assume such unlikely scenarios as to be laughable. I'm not criticizing you -- just hoping you can understand their basic irrationality.
It is likely that in the past 20 years not a single person in North America has become infected with HIV, hepatitis, or any other blood borne infection because of the way a blood specimen was collected. You aren't going to be the first. Just forget about it.
Regards-- HHH, MD
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