All About Diabetes Testing

It is imperative that you perform diabetes testing of your blood glucose levels at regular intervals. This testing can help reduce your risk of having long-term complications from diabetes. There is no official recommendation for blood sugar testing frequency for Type 2 Diabetics who control their diabetes through diet and exercise alone. However the ADA (American Diabetes Association) states that self-monitoring of blood glucose may be appropriate in order to achieve your targets.

Testing helps you to see how certain foods, activities, and situations impact your blood glucose levels. It can also help you evaluate the effectiveness of a new treatment routine. For people who take insulin, blood sugar testing allows for more accurate dosage adjustments. Anyone with Type 1 diabetes or taking insulin injections or using an insulin pump, and women with Gestational Diabetes should test three or more times per day.

Ways to Test Your Blood Sugar

Meters - The traditional method of testing your blood sugar involves pricking your finger with a lancet (a small, sharp needle), putting a drop of blood on a test strip and then placing the strip into a meter that displays your blood sugar level. Your health care provider should be able to assist you with choosing an appropriate Glucose Meter. There are several different meters available. Considerations for the right one may be:

• Fast results
• Small blood sample size
• Size and color of meter
• Easy-to-read numbers
• Ability to check blood sugar in other places besides finger
• Ability to track date and time of blood sugar results
• Cost
• Ease of use

Click here for honest reviews of the different monitoring systems that are available.

Meters That Test Alternative Sites - Some of the newer meters make it possible for you to test sites other than your fingertip – such as the upper arm, forearm, base of the thumb and thigh. Be aware, though, that testing at alternative sites may give you results that are different from the blood glucose levels obtained from the fingertip, because glucose levels in the fingertips show changes more quickly than other testing sites.

Lasers - The laser device produces a precise beam of light that penetrates the skin on the finger instead of pricking it, reducing pain and discomfort.

Continuous Glucose Monitoring System - This involves a small plastic catheter that is inserted just under the skin. It collects small amounts of fluid and measures the glucose content over a 72-hour period.

GlucoWatch - A watch-like device that helps people with diabetes measure their blood glucose via tiny electric currents. It draws small amounts of fluid from the skin and measures blood glucose levels three times per hour for up to 12 hours.

Some conditions that may interfere with an accurate reading of blood sugar are:

• Anemia
• Gout
• High air temperature
• Humidity
• Altitude


When Should I Call My Doctor About my diabetes testing of my Blood Sugar?

If your fasting blood glucose level is more than 180 mg/dL or less than 70 mg/dL, or if you are having symptoms of low blood sugar, and you have more than one unexplained low blood glucose reaction a week, you should call your health care provider.If you are having symptoms of high blood sugar, or if your blood glucose is greater than 180 mg/dL for more than a week, or if you have two consecutive readings greater than 300 mg/dL, you should call your health care provider.