Before we get into specific glucose meters and their functions, a basic explanation of what they are, their purpose and how they work is in order.
Glucose meters are designed to estimate the amount of glucose in whole blood. If you suffer from diabetes or hypoglycemia, frequent testing MUST be a critical part of your health program. The level of glucose in your blood is crucial to your well being.
The device works by placing a small drop of your blood on a disposable testing strip. The blood is obtained by pricking your finger tip with a sharp lancet designed to be quick and painless. The blood glucose meter uses the sample on the testing strip to record and calculate the level of glucose in the blood.
The principal health goal for diabetics should be to manage their blood sugar levels themselves on a daily basis. Since your doctor cannot always be available to advise you, you need to be the person on the front lines keeping your blood sugar within targeted limits. This is simply not possible without a portable glucose meter.
Your pancreas usually has this responsibility, but for diabetes sufferers, this is no longer possible. Manual control is required, and blood sugar meters are essential for this purpose.
Flying Blind
Without regular testing you are flying blind and will have no idea whether your medications and therapies are working or not By maintaining close control over the amount of sugar in your blood you can, reduce the occurrence rate and severity of long-term complications from hyperglycemia and experience a reduction in the short-term, possibly life-threatening complications of hypoglycemia.
Although the operation and functions of blood glucose meters will be very similar from meter to meter, there will be some differences in the models that you are offered.
With some exceptions, glucose meters are pretty much all designed to rest neatly in the palm of your hand. They're most often powered by batteries for portability allowing you to test wherever and whenever which is important to the proper management of your sugars. It's possible that you'll need to test the level of glucose in your blood before or after every meal, or perhaps whenever you abruptly start to feel sickly for no apparent reason.
Testing Strips
Glucose test strips are disposable and can only be used for one test You need to ensure that there's a steady supply of these strips for your consumption. Glucose meters are unusable without them. Testing strips are usually made of plastic and are embedded with chemicals that cause a reaction when they come in contact with the sugar in your blood. The meter measures this reaction and displays the result as a number that represents the amount of sugar in your blood. This number is displayed as either mg/dl (milligrams per decilitre) or mmol/l (millimoles per litre). The standard for the U.S. is mg/dl and most of the rest of the world uses mmol/l.
Some meters use discs or containers instead of individual strips, which permits multiple readings from a single strip holder and results in less frequent handling of test strips. This feature is very handy and can improve the accuracy and storage life of test strips. Handling and contact with air reduces their effectiveness.
Regardless of whether you use individual strips or containers, the over-riding concern is that you have reliable access to a continuous supply for your meter.
How to Test
The amount of blood needed to take an accurate meter reading can vary between brands and models, so check with the manufacturer or supplier before you use the device.If necessary, confer with your physician or diabetes educator to be sure that you're using your meter correctly. False readings will undermine the effectiveness of your treatment.
Blood sugar can be obtained from various parts of your body. However, some parts of the body reflect changes in glucose faster than others and your doctor can help you choose the site that's best for you. Usually the finger tip is used but this is a sensitive area for some people and they may wish to try an alternate testing site . If for any reason you decide to test blood from another part of your body, make certain that you understand how long it will take for that part of the body to reflect fluctuating blood sugar levels. Advice from your doctor should ensure that you're fully informed before you start to use your meter.
Testing times required to produce a result will vary from model to model. They can be as little as 5 seconds and as long as 30 seconds. Most modern units complete the measurement in 10 seconds or less. Read the manufacturer's instructions carefully to ensure that you're fully informed about the operation of the meter. Some makes and models also require a numbered code to be entered into the meter, which is obtained from the batch of test strips that you're using. This allows your meter to fine-tune itself with the strips to ensure the accuracy of your results.
Charts and Graphs
A record of your blood sugar tests should be kept in a log book. These usually come with your meter and your doctor will no doubt ask you for it on your appointments. The log will provide a history and can indicate either a rising or falling trend. These trends will show whether your treatment is being effective or not and your physician can then recommend appropriate actions and adjust dosages of insulin of other medications.
The use of diabetic testing software can enhance these reports even more by providing graphs and charts that will clearly show your blood sugar profile within specific time periods. In addition to regular A1C tests, they will provide a comprehensive and accurate "snap-shot" of your health.
These graphs and charts are so effective, that if you're not getting this kind of reporting, you're simply not getting the best health care that a glucose meter and your physician can provide. The better the information you can supply your doctor with, the better your treatment will be and your complications from diabetes will be greatly reduced and even avoided in many cases.
So use your glucose testing meter often and provide as much useful data as you can to share with your doctor.
