Questions Diabetic Patients Have During Blood Glucose Test At Home?

Diabetes is a life long journey, from the moment you are detected with the one, you have to put your health as a priority for a better living.

With routine control on diet, daily exercise and medication, and you are halfway through smoothly sailing the up and downs of your blood sugar levels.

But from the moment you are detected with Diabetes, your medical practitioner would prescribe and advise you with a range of blood glucose monitoring devices, accurately determining sugar levels with an accurate glucometer, medication, tips on how to handle your diet, your blood sugar and so on. 

While your medical practitioner might have guided you with the use of these blood sugar monitoring devices, However as a newly detected diabetic patient, these questions start building up from the moment you step out of the doctor’s cabin all the way to your home.

The most common being the use of blood glucose tests and daily monitoring of blood sugar levels?

In this article, we will do our best in helping to resolve the looming questions around blood glucose monitoring devices.

Here are the few which are the most common questions every newly diabetic patient has:

1. Why should I test my blood sugar daily?
   
   

Daily testing of your blood sugar helps with useful updates that help track your diabetes progress, making your diabetes management process easier. It gives the patient a clear view of whether the diabetes medications are working and having an effect on the blood sugar levels. If my daily blood sugar is too high or too low and manages accordingly with diet, exercise and medications. A perspective of whether these changes in my lifestyle are having any impact on my blood sugar and overall treatment.

2. How Accurate is a Blood Glucose Monitor?
   
   Most of the time of inaccuracy in results with the blood sugar meters is user-dependent, there could be many reasons for that ranging from the incorrect use of blood glucose test kit to not properly inserting the glucose meter strips into the device. So make sure to the guidance of a medical practitioner for accurate use. Most meters nowadays come with a control solution that allows you to measure how accurate your meter results and strips are.

3. What's the right schedule to check my blood sugar?
   
   

Every diabetic patient is different metabolically, that’s why confirming with your doctors always helps. Plan a daily tracking routine with your Doctor, while fasting, before and after meals, or before bedtime.

Reading are as follows:

• Morning fasting reading: Information on your blood glucose levels before a person eats or drinks anything in the morning. Taking blood sugar readings helps provide a blood sugar baseline for the day.

• Pre-meal reading: Also known as preprandial blood glucose, that happens before a meal which is usually on the lower end, so if you observe a high blood sugar, there could be some irregularities in your routine.

• Post-meal reading: Also known as post-prandial blood glucose, which checks 2 hrs after a meal, it gives information on how the body reacts to food, also helps monitor and control blood sugars in Gestational Diabetes.

Once your schedule is set make sure to make checking up your blood sugar a part of your daily routine just like having a fixed schedule for lunch or dinner, and be consistent with it. 

Most modern blood glucose monitoring device kits come with an in-built reminder to help you stick with your daily testing.

4. Is testing blood sugar at home painful, and how can I reduce it?
   
   

With the evolution of biomedical technology, blood sugar testing has become less painful, with minimal pain-causing lancets. However, frequent testing can cause sore fingertips, which we can avoid by not reusing a lancet, as they become dull with repeated pricking. Instead, opt for individual packed blood sugar test strips to enhance the shelf life of the other glucose strips. 

The front pad of our fingers has more nerve endings than the side of our fingers causing more pain, so make sure to prick the side of your finger, not the pad. 

To extract blood from fingers quickly, make sure to wash your hands with warm water to increase blood flow and try not to squeeze your fingertip too harshly. Instead, let gravity do the work. All you need to do is hang your hand and arm down, allowing blood to reach and pool on your fingertips. Alternating your fingers when testing daily also helps.

5. What should be my normal blood sugar range?

The general American Diabetes Association's (ADA) recommended blood sugar levels are

• Between 70 and 130 mg/dL before meals
• Less than 180 mg/dL after meals
• Low blood sugar (hypoglycemia) is usually below 70 mg/dL, and high blood sugar (hyperglycemia) is well above 140 mg/dL.

6. What Insights should I gain from my blood sugar test?

Okay, so now that I have my blood sugar results, what should I make out of it?

Well, day-to-day blood sugar checks can give you a good idea about your progress, they also help determine your overall blood sugar trends, checking if there are any major fluctuations.

• If your daily blood sugar is on the higher side, try cutting down on the sugar and carbohydrates from your meals.

• If your daily blood sugar is on the lower side, try having foods rich in carbohydrates, proteins, and cut down on the excess physical activity and make sure you have not missed your medications and insulin.

We hope these questions and solution will help you with a better understanding and approach when it comes to managing your diabetes.