How to Monitor Your Diabetic Blood Glucose Levels and What the Readings Actually Mean
As discussed elsewhere, having good control over your blood glucose levels is one of the main things you need to do to stay healthy and avoid complications later in life. If you are a Type 2 Diabetic you should discuss with your care professionals and doctor about how often they think you need to monitor your glucose levels. For your own peace of mind, you may wish to test yourself more often. Small portable testers are available over the counter in many pharmacies.
Juvenile Diabetics must test their blood glucose several times a day. At a minimum before each meal and before going to sleep. Under special circumstances, eg pregnancy or if you change medication, you may be asked to monitor more frequently.
How To Test Your Blood Glucose Levels
- Switch on your blood glucose meter
- Get a new blood glucose test strip out of its protective packaging
- Load the test strip into the glucose test meter according to the manufacturers instructions
- Make sure you have clean hands, or at least make sure the area you are taking blood from is clean. If it has food or drink residue on it, you could get a false reading.
- Using your Lancet, (finger pricking device), make a small, shallow pin prick to allow you to obtain a drop of blood.
- Put a drop of blood onto the test strip sensor
- Most Glucose test meters will now automatically give you your reading
Keeping a Log
As with most things, if you keep a log of your past performance, you can fine tune your future performance and improve it. So for example if you test at night and get a reading you have seen before, you can check to see what insulin dose you gave yourself previously and what your waking reading was.
Generally you should be sticking to the same or very similar doses every time, but there may be circumstances where you have unusual levels (perhaps you are ill) and checking back can be invaluable. Be honest with yourself, if you have high levels, write them down, your doctor can help you understand why they are high if they can see a full set of your records. Give your Doctor false good readings and you should prepare for later medical complications.
What the Test Meter Readings Mean
Your Test Meter will give you a reading in either mmol/l or mg/dl depending on where you live. Multiple mmol/l by 18 to get the mg/dl figure. The table below gives you an idea of what your readings mean.
| mmol/l | mg/dl | Comment |
| 4 to 7 | 72 to 126 | Ideal pre-meal level |
| < 10 | < 180 | Level around 1 and a half hours after a meal |
| 7 to 9 | 126 to 162 | Bedtime range |
If you are outside these ranges, it is probably a good idea to speak to your health professional about changing your insulin doses or your diet / lifestyle. If you are pregnant or trying to conceive, you should aim to have tighter control to minimise any risks to your unborn child. This table is predominantly for Juvenile Diabetics, Type 2 diabetics should test their blood glucose levels less frequently, as specified by your Doctor, typically once or twice a week.
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More Resources
[ www.caringfordiabetes.com ]
[ www.lifescan.com ]
[ www.drgreene.com ]
[ www.diabetes.org
]
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[ Introduction ] [ Glucose Monitoring ] [ Hb A1c ] [ Alternative Treatments ] [ Pregnancy ] [ Type 1 and Type 2 Pregnancies ] [ Gestational Diabetes ]
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