When to Test Glucose Levels As a Diabetic
When is the right time to test your glucose level? To begin with let me encourage you to talk with your doctor and other medical personnel for help in determining when the best time is for you to test yourself. There are, of course, some standard times when you should test your sugar. However, before you test it is imperative that you make sure your glucose meter is calibrated correctly or you will not get an accurate reading. Follow the manufacturers instructions for your particular monitoring meter and run a control on it thus making sure your device is in good accurate working condition.
As long as you are not taking insulin you should test before meals and two hours after meals at least three or four times a week. I have found it beneficial to use those test strips and test when not feeling well and after a while with diabetes we can just about figure out if we are high or low by how we feel. I think that is always a good time to pull out the glucose meter and give it a check.
When you check your blood sugar level before a meal and then two hours after the meal the difference between the two tests can help you to figure out what kind of foods you should be eating. Maybe even better it may help you in determining how much food you should eat during a single sitting. I have found that to be one of the most important aspect in my eating habits and sugar issues.
Some of the other times you could check your sugar levels is when you are sick just realize that your levels may be higher when you are sick. If you change your diabetic medicines or you add another medicine for any type of illness. If you change your eating habits, whether good or bad habits. Without a doubt your levels will fluctuate when you are dealing with stress form any and usually any source. If you get the feeling of either hyperglycemia or hypoglycemia then you need to check immediately.
Obviously you could be checking your glucose levels three to six times or more a day. That can get rather expensive since both the lancets and the diabetes test strips are throw away items and the test strips are not very cheap. Lancets are less expensive but you will still go through them rather fast. Check out the Test Strip Reviews page for less expensive test strips.
By the way, make sure that you wash your hands with soap and water prior to testing you glucose levels. Always use warm water or even a little hotter than warm since it will draw the blood to the surface making for easier and shallower skin pricks.
