Monitoring, Testing

Blood glucose monitoring is a way of testing how much glucose is in the blood (glycemia). more...

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This is important in the care of diabetes mellitus. Most people with Type 2 diabetes need to test at least once per day (usually before breakfast) to assess the effectiveness of their diet and exercise for controlling their blood glucose levels. Many people with Type 2 are using an oral medication to combat their insulin resistance, and must test their blood glucose before and after breakfast to assess the effectiveness of their dosage. All people who need to inject insulin, both for Type 1 diabetes and Type 2, need also to test their blood sugar more often (3 to 10 times per day) to assess the effectiveness of their prior insulin dose and to calculate their next insulin dose.

Improved technology for measuring blood glucose is rapidly changing the standards of care for all diabetic people. There are several methods of blood glucose testing currently available.

Chemical Test Strips

Chemical test strips are a low cost method for monitoring blood glucose. A fairly large drop of blood, usually taken from the fingertip, is placed on a chemically prepared strip, called a blood glucose testing strip. The strip chemistry will cause it to change color according to the amount of glucose is in the blood. One can tell if their level of blood glucose is low, high, or normal by comparing the color on the end of the strip to a color chart that is printed on the side of the test strip container.

These are recommended only for people who are occasionally monitoring their blood glucose level (prediabetic or type 2) and are not using insulin.

The Betachek Diabetes Test Strips

Pamphlet for Use of Chemical Test Strips

Blood Glucose Meters

A blood glucose meter is an electronic device for measuring the blood glucose level. A relatively small drop of blood is placed on a disposable test strip which interfaces with a digital meter. Within several seconds, the level of blood glucose will be shown on the digital display.

While more expensive, blood glucose meters seem a breakthrough in diabetes self care. As the drops of blood needed for the meter become smaller, the pain associated with testing is reduced and the compliance of diabetic people to their testing regimens is improved. Although the cost of using blood glucose meters seems high, it is believed to be a cost benefit relative to the avoided medical costs of the complications of diabetes.

Read more at Wikipedia.org