Diabetes and Glucose Monitoring

Diabetes of both types 1 and 2 require regular daily blood sugar monitoring. Testing helps you to see how stress, foods, your exercises, may affect your blood sugar levels. It helps you and your doctor monitor how well your treatment plan is working for your diabetes. At each office visit, you should take your meter in and discuss results with your doctor. From there, you can make the proper treatment plans if your current plans are not working for you.

The Diabetes Association has stated that people taking multiple insulin injections or using pump therapy, need to monitor their glucose all the more carefully. There is no suggested number of tests per day for people with type 2 diabetes, but essentially, it depends on the progress of your diabetes, and how you are treating it.

There are many blood glucose meters to choose from out there. My personal favorite is Accu-Chek Aviva or Accu-Chek Compact. I find that these meters are the most accurate and seem to match my lab results. When you choose which glucose meter you would like to use, think about what features you would benefit from on the monitor. If you like to see your trend data or past 7, 14, 21, or 30 day readings, then Accu-Chek products are really the best. People with visual impairments for example, may find that meters with a large display, or a VoiceMate meter, put out by Accu-Chek may be the best choice.

Most of your meters now read plasma glucose, while others read both plasma and whole blood glucose numbers. When you are buying your testing meter, think about the following items before you purchase it:

Size of the meter Does it fit into your purse easily to take along to a restaurant?

Time for readout How long before you will get a reading?

Memory of the meter Does it store a lot of test results? Will you get your average results?

Blood sampling size required? Does the meter require a small or larger amount of blood?

The battery life Will the battery power last awhile or not? Can you easily get batteries at your local store?

Alternative site testing There are meters that allow you to test on your forearm, thigh, or palm of your hand for example. This saves the fingertips. I personally like to test on my palm!

Cost of the meter? Think about the cost when you purchase and how about the cost of test strips? Try and do this as cost-effectively as possible!

Can the meter multi-task? There are blood sugar meters that test more than blood sugar if this is important to you. One of them I know of is the Precision Xtra.

Does the meter have adaptive technology? Do you need backlighting features or not? Something to think about before purchase if this is important to you. I believe that the Accu-Chek Complete has this feature to give you an idea.

So there is a lot to consider before purchase of your meter. Consider all of the above and what you really need to have.

For most accurate testing, be sure you use alcohol swabs and wash hands thoroughly before testing. Dirty hands make for inaccurate results!

Some meters also have helpful software that you may buy with it. Both of my Accu-chek meters have Accu-chek Compass software that I have installed on my computer through their cable devices. This is really not that costly to obtain, and is a big help for me and my doctor when overviewing my current treatments every three months. I think that out of all meters, I rank Accu-Chek most highly of all. But your personal choice and needs are up to you.

The information at Health Related Fitness is helpful for anyone looking to implement a safe and effective fitness program that involves monitoring symptoms of diabetes..

Health Related Fitness

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Brittle diabetics may need continuous monitoring to lead better lives.

Diabetes of both types 1 and 2 require regular daily blood sugar monitoring.