Boston,
If you have diabetes, you must monitor your blood sugar levels every day. Sometimes, testing once a day is fine, while other times, your doctor will recommend testing more often throughout the day, at particular times.
To test your blood sugar levels, you will need a glucose monitor, testing strips, a lancing device, lancets, and alcohol wipes. Of these supplies, you will spend the greatest amount of money on testing strips.
Read the instructions for your glucose monitor, and the test strips, to ensure that you know how to use it properly, and how to read the results of the test properly. You can use the lancing device, with the lancet installed, anywhere on your body — but it is easiest to use it on the tip of one of your fingers. You then allow drops of blood to drop onto the testing strip, which should already be inserted in the glucose meter, to the appropriate place on the strip, and the results will be measured.
In most cases, your doctor will have told you the normal range for your blood sugar. You will know what is and is not acceptable. The key is to track the foods that you eat, and the activities that you do, and then test to see how those foods and activities affect your blood sugar level. With that information, you can easily make better choices for the management of your diabetes.
In most cases, your doctor will want you to call him/her if the blood sugar level rises above a certain number, or drops below a certain number, as this is an indication of a problem that requires medical treatment. Make sure that you write those numbers down!
Keep a log of your test results, and bring that log with you to your next doctor’s appointment. This is information that your doctor will find useful in the treatment of your diabetes.
Diabetes and Your Blood Sugar Level
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