Blood Sugar Testing Tips For Diabetes Care

Blood sugar testing is a key aspect of diabetes care. The test helps you plan your treatment better and prevent long-term complications caused by the disease. In fact, you can buy glucometers and test your blood sugar at home. It’s a portable device designed to work as a glucose monitor so that people can check the level of sugar in the body or blood.   

Blood Sugar Testing Tips For Diabetes Care : Wiki Health Blog

Further, this device checks sugar level with a small drop of blood and hence, brings a great deal of ease and convenience to diabetes patients. The purpose of the device is to facilitate self-monitoring of blood glucose levels so that the task of diabetes management can gets easier. You do need to visit hospitals quite as often to know the sugar level in blood as you can measure this right at the home.


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Plus, a glucometer helps in gathering a lot of helpful information regarding your diabetes and lets you meet your treatment goals easily. You can easily monitor any ups and downs in the blood sugar levels and then plan the treatment accordingly. This is how you get to know whether the blood sugar level is high or low, and based on that, consult a specialist.    

When to test your blood sugar?

Many diabetes patients are not sure about when to test their blood sugar and face some inconvenience because of it. They should however know that without measuring their sugar levels, they won’t be able to achieve their treatment targets.

Let’s understand when to test your blood sugar level -

·       Your doctor will tell you how often to check the blood sugar level

·       This testing will depend on the type of diabetes and treatment plan

·       You need to test four to eight times a day if you suffer with type 1 diabetes

·       Type 1 patients need to test themselves before and after meals, snacks as well as exercise

·       You need to test yourself more frequently in case of illness, change of diet, medication or exercise schedule 

·       Two times a day testing is for those suffering from type 2 diabetes

·       If you take insulin, then also twice a day testing is often recommended

·       The testing will also depend on the amount of insulin one takes

Tips for blood sugar testing

So, you already have a blood sugar monitor and are now ready for the testing? You will have to take a small sample of blood, preferably from the fingertip (by using the taste strip) and check the readings. There are no predefined precautions only tips to take before doing the test.

Let’s look at some of these tips:     

·       Before taking the test, wash and dry your hands thoroughly

·       Now, insert a test strip into the device

·       The test kit will come with a needle and you have to prick the side of the fingertip with it

·       Massage the finger so that a drop of blood is produced for sampling

·       Now, take the edge of the test strip to the drop of the blood

·       Wait for a few seconds and let the meter show your blood glucose level