Welcome to Diabetes | Diabetes Information | Diabetes Risks, Symptoms,Causes, Diagnosis,and Treatment


Thursday, September 06, 2007

Your Glucose Meter And You

Having a blood glucose meter allows you to test your blood sugar levels at the comforts of your home. Aside from a sensible diet and exercise, your blood glucose meter is essential for you to be able to practice proper diabetes care. If you don't have the means to test your blood sugar levels, you may not realize that you should do something about your condition. Regular testing with your blood glucose monitor will be able to help you determine whether you need to do something to normalize your blood sugar levels or not.

Depending on the experience of physical symptoms to be able to tell whether there is a fluctuation in your blood sugar levels is highly inaccurate. For one thing, most people with diabetes rarely ever experience symptoms that come with having either low or high blood sugar levels. Most people who have been living with diabetes for a while can get accustomed to the symptoms and lose the ability to tell whether they are experiencing indications of blood sugar fluctuations or not. Therefore it is better to depend on a blood glucose meter to correctly monitor the levels of sugar in your blood.

Remember though that the result from your blood glucose meter is not absolute. There can be many factors that can affect your test results and therefore making the readings from blood glucose tester incorrect. For instance, if your fingertip from which you have drawn a blood sample from is dirty or covered in some small amounts of food and other substances, the reading of your blood glucose monitor will be incorrect. You may also accidentally use the wrong test strip on your blood glucose meter and in which case, again, your results will be inaccurate.

You will have to do your part in ensuring that your blood glucose meter is able to give you the proper results every time you do a test. If you do not take the time to be meticulous in this process then the fact that you have a good reliable blood glucose tester is pretty much irrelevant. You will need to learn how to properly use your blood glucose meter and you will need to learn all the dos and don'ts in using it as well. Getting accurate test result from your blood glucose monitor is important. The right results can mean the difference between losing your sight and keeping it as well as many other serious complications that can arise from irregular blood sugar levels.

In this sense, your blood glucose meter can be your best friend or your best enemy. Be sure to learn all about how to use this device properly as well what to do and not to do when doing tests at home with your blood glucose tester. Things like proper calibration, proper conversions and the like are essential to learning how to use your blood glucose monitor correctly.

Remember that your continued health depends on your ability to manage the risk of fluctuations in your blood sugar level. The blood glucose meter and the proper use of it is the right tool to help you monitor blood sugar levels correctly and manage risks. However, you still should have regular lab testing scheduled to ensure the accuracy of your device.