Blood Sugar Testing – What Every Diabetic Should Know
Friday, August 12th, 2011Everyone, even the non-diabetics need to check their glucose level once in a while. So as to study your blood sugar level, you could need to have it checked by an expert or you can also perform it all by yourself. Keeping track with your glucose or sugar level gives you the advantages of maintaining it to the normal level, lowering the risk of having a long term diabetic complication, and it allows you to alter your approach if your blood sugar level is not in your target range.
Your health practitioner will be the one to set your blood sugar target range. Here are the common target levels : for fasting blood sugar or FBS, an 8-hour fasting, it should be between 90-130 mg per deciliter ( mg / dL ) or 5-7 millimoles per litre ( mmol / L ). If you perform your blood sugar testing before meals, it should be between 70-130mg / dL or 4-7mmol / L. If one to two hours after meals, it should be lower than 180mg / dL or 10mmol / L.
When to check your blood sugar level may alter dependent on the factors which may include the type of diabetes you have, your treatment plan, and how your blood sugar reacts to treatment.
If you’ve got the type 1 diabetes, your physician customarily may advice you to check your glucose level at least three times per day, probably before and after meals, after an activity or exercise, or before bedtime. If you have type two diabetes, your physician may advice to check your glucose level 1-3 times each day.
Here are some ways on how to test your blood sugar level :
Conventional method- in this strategy, you may utilize a lancet ( a small, pointed needle ) to prick your fingertip, dropping a small amount of blood into a testing strip and then placing the strip into a glucometer ( a device that measures the blood sugar level. Fingertip reading is more accurate and trusty than any blood from other bits of the body.
Wearing a gizmo or a device that continually monitors your blood sugar levels. This device will send miniscule electrodes that may take out blood thru the skin. This may continuously measure the blood glucose level all during the day. This strategy is less intrusive and rather painless. But this test is still unproven to be as accurate as the conventional method of drawing blood from the fingertip.
Another system by is inserting a catheter into the skin that extracts a small amount of blood thru the skin from time to time. It is then hooked up to a gizmo that gives continual interpretation of your blood sugar level. This is helpful for a patient who must have a close monitoring of blood sugar.
If you’ve a fairly sustained reading of your blood sugar, your physician may advise you to determine your blood sugar level seldom, and may endorse for an once a day checking of your sugar level, or schedule it earlier in the morning before breakfast, and then later in the day.