Self Blood Glucose Monitoring System

Posted on December 14, 2009 in Living with Diabetes

Around 20 million people are prediabetic in the US and this number is growing very rapidly every hour. Approximately 50% of them are likely to develop Type 2 diabetes. Prediabetes is a condition where the patient has a blood glucose level higher than the normal but is not enough to get classified as diabetes. But the patient is prone to get diabetes soon if untreated. The threshold value of fasting blood sugar level is 100-126 mg/dl is a prediabetes condition. Blood sugar value more than 126 mg/dl is diabetes. The blood sugar level in a prediabetic after 2 hours of carbohydrate eating sould be 140-199 mg/dl. A sugar level of 200 mg/dl or more is diabetic.

It is called as ‘Borderline Diabetes or Chemical Diabetes’.The beta cells start undergoing damage in a prediabetic condition. So an early diagnosis is very helpful. People who are overweight with high fat accumulation in their abdominal area, people with a diabetic family history, gestational diabetics, people who are hyperglycemic due to use of steroids, people with hypertension symptoms are most likely to develop diabetes.

So it would be very helpful to get yourself and your family checked for blood sugar levels regularly. You can prevent your diabetic complications; prevent rise in blood sugar levels at night or after meals; decide over the usage of insulin and its doses; decide for ketone tests; help you manage diet, exercise, stress and illness; and reduce your risks against other severe diabetic damages like – eye damage, nerve damage, kidney damage etc. The most important thing is it will provide you with a motivation to fight against your unhealthy body condition.

A Blood Glucose Meter:
Most people are using this device to test their own blood sugar. Even blood sugar strips are available which changes color to give you results. But the only thing you need to do is follow any one of the meter always instead of experimenting and comparing results with more than one types of glucose meters. While visiting your physician, take your meters with you always. The results are always displayed in mg/dl (in the US) or mmol/l (Europe and Canada).
1 mmol/l = 18 mg/dl
1 mg/dl = 0.055 mmol/l
Meters are pre set at their factories in the units of diaplay. It can either display in mmol/l, mg/dl or both. These units cannot be changed after.

Advantages over Using a Home Blood Glucose Meter:

Prominent features to look for in a Glucose Meter:

Lancets or Finger-pricking device:
Use a sharp and clean device to prick to prevent any injury. Various lancets are available basing on how deep you want to prick, how tender is your skin and many more.

Test strips: Use test strips that use very small amount of blood sample, so that the number of pricks can get less. Generally a hanging drop of blood is ideal. Do not forget to cover your glucose meter under insurances, which will bear your test strips or discs cost.

Procedure for a blood test:

Take out your test strips to bring it to the room temperature. Wash the are to be pricked with warm water to avoid any interference of other undesired things with the blood sample. These can change your test results. Do not wipe the area very often with alcohol. Because any traces of alcohol can change your results. Alcohol free travel wipes may be used to clean when you are on trips. Air dry the pricking area. Place your finger on a table before starting puncturing to avoid any movements or shakes during pricking. Table would act as a support. Prick a side of your finger instead of the fleshy tip part with the lancet to avoid more pain. If you are not getting a free flow of blood drop, hold your hands down to the side of your body. This will increase the blood flow. Put the blood drop on the strip. Cover with blood over the required area completely. Do not put too small drop.

Use your meter as per the direction in the manual. If you are using a color-changing strip. Compare it with the chart provided. Check level after exact time as per the manual.

Blood sugar levels at different time periods:

Do not forget to keep record, even though your device stores them for you. Try keeping a record in some documented format.

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