Why, when and how often to self-monitor: Meaningful blood glucose monitoring for type 2 diabetes

Meaningful Monitoring is carrying out blood glucose monitoring in a purposeful way, You may have also heard it referred to as structured blood glucose monitoring. Checking your blood glucose for the sake of it won’t help you manage your type 2 diabetes, it is only when you do something with the information that what you have done becomes meaningful.

28 January 2023

Why, when and how often to self-monitor your blood glucose levels

Knowing when, why and how often to check your blood glucose levels is really important for self-monitoring. By checking regularly at various times of the day, you can keep a record of your levels and build a picture of how your blood glucose levels vary with what you eat and do. Regular checks also allow you to see if your blood glucose levels get too high or drop too low.

Different people will need to check their blood glucose at different frequencies, some people may need to check more often than others and some people less. Your healthcare professional will help you to decide how often you need to check and when the best times for you to do so are. These times will likely be the same every day as this can help you to see patterns. To read more on this topic visit Diabetes UK to read the article on checking your blood sugar levels

By keeping a record of your blood glucose levels along with what you eat and drink, as well as all of your activity and any medications, you can start to see how these different things impact your blood glucose levels. You can share this information with your healthcare professional, who can use it to discuss your diabetes with you, how you are managing and if there are any changes needed to your therapy. For example, they may make a change to the dosage you take, or may change your medication to something different that might work better for you. Your healthcare professional may also suggest some other factors that can impact blood glucose that you may find helpful to record, for example when you are unwell.

If you drive, there is a legal requirement for you to frequently check your blood glucose levels, you can find out more using these links, depending on your location: DVLA (UK), DVA (Northern Ireland), RSA (Republic of Ireland).

 

Before making any changes to your lifestyle or medication, please speak to your healthcare professional to check it is suitable for you

This content is provided for general information only. It is not intended to amount to advice on which you should rely – you must obtain professional or specialist advice from your healthcare professional before taking, or refraining from, any action on the basis of the content. Although we make reasonable efforts to ensure that the content is up to date, Roche makes no representations, warranties or guarantees, whether expressed or implied, that the content is accurate, complete, up-to-date or that it should be relied upon. 

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