Time to Test

Not every one with diabetes has to test their blood sugar regularly, but it can play an important role in your diabetes care. For people on tablets it can be helpful to clarify certain situations, and for those on insulin it provides essential information on a daily or even hourly basis.

For you

•  Makes you aware of when your blood sugar's too high (10mmol/L) or too low (4mmol/L)
• Tells you how your body reacts to changes in your exercise/diet

For your doctor or nurse

• Establishes control when starting/changing medication
• Tracks the effects of your treatment
• Gives information to adjust your treatment

For your insulin treatment

• Ensures your dose meets your body's needs
• Checks your blood sugar is controlled after a meal
• Helps detect low blood sugar at night (hypos)

Ask Yourself "Why?"

If you discover a pattern in your blood sugar level that is above or below your target range, problem-solve by asking questions:

• Did I change my meal plan or eat any unusual food?
• Did I change my exercise routine?
• Did I forget to take my medication, take too little or too much, or take it at the wrong time?
• Was I stressed about something?
• Do I have an infection or illness developing?
• Did I drink alcohol?
• Did I take a new medication that may affect blood sugar?

Answering these questions will help you avoid extremes in future blood sugar levels. Keeping your blood sugar levels within your target range will help prevent or slow the development of complications that affect the kidneys, eyes, nerves, heart, and gums.

Ask Your Diabetic Specialist Nurse How You Can Improve Blood Sugar Control

How well are you managing your diabetes? Of course, you also need to work with your diabetic specialist nurse to monitor your blood sugar control and make improvements. Questions you may want to ask include:

• How often and under what conditions should I test my blood sugar?
• What should I do with the results?
• What patterns in my blood sugar results should I try to achieve?
• What is my hemoglobin A1c (a test that measures average blood sugar level over the past two to three months)?
• How can I get my hemoglobin A1c in the normal range?
• Do I have microalbuminuria (detection of tiny amounts of albumin in urine indicating early diabetic kidney disease)?
• When should I get together with a dietitian to review what I eat?
• What exercises are best for me?
• What adjustments to my food or medication should I make if I plan to exercise?

Choosing the right monitoring system for you

Fumbling around with test strips? Trying to get a large enough sample? Having to wait for results? Sometimes testing your blood sugar can be a little frustrating and inconvenient too.

By and large, the meters available today are all pretty reliable. When comparing meters, you are really looking at the features and how easy they are to use. You need to choose your meter based on what features are most important to you.

Here are some features that you may want to consider when selecting a new meter:

• No handling of individual test strips. The Accu-Chek Compact Plus features a preloaded drum of test strips that are dispensed automatically.
• Alternate site testing capability. Not all systems are approved for testing areas of the body other than the fingertip. If your doctor agrees that alternate site testing is right for you, be sure to choose an AST-approved system.
• Fast and easy to use. If you lead an active life, you will want a meter that is quick, portable and requires no coding.¹
• Small sample size. The smaller the sample size, the more likely you will succeed in getting the right amount of blood, especially if you are testing from an alternative site. Most systems today need only a small amount of blood to provide a test result. The Accu-Chek Aviva, as seen on the right, only needs tiny 0,6ul drop of blood
• Data management capabilities. Many meters can store hundreds of test results, so you can track your progress over days or weeks. Others can download data to your personal computer.

Before deciding which meter is the right one for you, talk to your healthcare team and find out what type of meters they recommend. Because having a meter that fits your personal needs and is convenient to use will help ensure that you are testing as often as your doctor prescribes.

Getting the most out of your blood glucose meter

It is a good idea to review the instruction manual for your blood glucose meter from time to time. You may find features that you did not even know were there or realize that your technique could use a little refinement.

Getting accurate blood sugar test results can help you fine-tune your self-care plan. That kind of knowledge and empowerment can help make testing that much easier for you to do.

Test properly

Since you are testing anyway, you definitely want to make sure you are getting accurate results. There are a few things you can do to help ensure reliable and smooth testing.

• Keep your meter clean. Most meters are easy to keep clean, but you should always consult the instruction manual for proper cleaning tips and procedures.
• Make sure your meter is coded correctly, unless you are using a system that does this automatically.
• Never use expired test strips.
• Do not expose test strips to extreme heat or cold.
• Keep fresh batteries in your meter.
• Have some spares ready too.

Log your results properly

Using every bit of data you gather is to your advantage. You can keep a written log, track information in some meters, or maintain data on a personal digital assistant (PDA), computer, or Web-based system.  There are tremendous advantages to using an electronic system, such as saving time when logging results, calculating averages and out-of-range readings instantly, and reducing the chance of human error when copying data.

What is more, electronic data can be a great resource for your healthcare team too. You can share your results regularly via email, so your doctors know just how well your self-care plan is working.

Keep the proper perspective

Remember, it only hurts for a second. Do not let the pain of a finger pricker raise your anxiety before a test or keep you from testing as often as required. Just do it, log it and learn as much as you can from each test. Every finger pricker today will pay off tomorrow as you continue to feel your best.

Becoming a Blood Sugar Detective

When it comes down to it, what is it that you are actually getting each time you prick your finger? Information. Sure, it may look like an ordinary blood sample, but what you are really seeing are numbers.

These numbers work like a connect-the-dots drawing to give you a view of how your self-management is working out for you. One number alone will give you a sense of how your body is doing at that moment, but for the whole image, you have to look at lots of numbers together.

This information can tell you if the changes you have recently made are working or not. For example, you may have been stressed about a particular situation. Or perhaps you have not been eating enough to support your activity level.

That is why any well-rounded self-care plan includes recording every blood sugar test that you perform in a logbook or tracking results with a diabetes management software program along with information such as what you have eaten, whether you have been exercising or if you feel like you may have a cold.

One out-of-range test should prompt a few questions, such as:

• Did I have too much or too little to eat?
• Did I forget to take my insulin or other medications
• Am I starting to feel ill?
• Should I treat a low blood sugar result now or wait and test again a little later to see if my blood sugar is rising or falling?

A series of out-of-range results over the same time for a few days in a row, or every Sunday evening for example, should prompt other questions, such as:

• What is different about Sunday nights? Am I getting stressed out about the upcoming work week?
• What part of my plan is not working? Do I need to eat a snack before exercising? Am I eating too much at dinner? What else could it be?
• Should I call my doctor or dietitian to talk about making modifications to my plan?

Out-of-range results should not, however, evoke questions like:

• What am I doing wrong?
• Will I ever get this right?
• Is it worth it?

Getting an out-of-range result can cause some pretty strong feelings, but you should never use blood sugar results to judge yourself. Instead, judge your self-care plan. Work with your healthcare team to question and critique all aspects of your routine, and then determine a solution that will work for you.

Time to Test Booklet

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