Monitoring Your Diabetes
Before you knew you had diabetes you never thought about your
blood sugar. Now you seem to think about it all the time.
Taking care of yourself with diabetes is difficult. Knowing
what your blood sugar is will give you information you can use in
making choices about your diet and exercise and medications.
How do I know if my blood sugar is in normal range?
You may know that your blood sugar is out of range because you feel bad.
However blood sugar too high can feel about the same as blood sugar too low.
The way to really know what your blood sugar is, is to do self testing.
What is the normal range of blood sugar?
Fasting blood sugar is tested in the mornings before breakfast. The
range is 70 - 115 mg/dl. Most people with diabetes will feel better
when their blood sugar is close to this range. Also you will have a
much lower risk of diabetes complications if you keep your blood sugar as
close to this as you can.
How can I measure my blood sugar?
There are several different testing meters for home and personal use.
To check your blood you will need a lancet to pierce the skin and then place
a small drop of blood on the test strip in the meter.
Download a blood sugar log
Basic in doc,
Basic in pdf,
Small in pdf, or
Small in doc.
When do I need to test my blood sugar?
Blood sugar testing is for you. You will use the information to
understand how your diabetes treatment is going. Your doctor will want
to review your testing results, but the result is mainly for your use.
There are several different testing plans or schedules. Some are:
- once a day before breakfast (fasting) (pdf
or doc)
- twice a day, once fasting before breakfast and once after a meal (pdf
or
doc)
- twice a day, once fasting and once before a different meal or at
bedtime (pdf
or
doc)
- four times a day, before each meal and at bedtime (pdf or
doc)
- three times a day, fasting, before and after exercise (pdf
or
doc)
- random (pdf or
doc)
You can always test any other time you want to. Such as any time
you feel bad, or if you think your blood sugar may be too high or too low.
How do I use the test result?
Over time you will start to see patterns in your blood sugar. You
will learn how your exercise affects your sugar. You will learn that
certain foods may always send your blood sugar higher than some other foods.
You and your doctor will use this information to adjust your treatment plan.