If you rely solely on hemoglobin A1C tests, you'll never know if higher-than-normal test results are due to the plates of pasta, the stressful job promotion, a bout of the flu, or the fact that your diabetes is progressing and your medication is not doing its job.
That's why it's so important to test your blood sugar (though discuss with your doctor or diabetes educator how often you should be testing). If you're frequently monitoring, you should vary the time of day that you test. If blood sugar is too high first thing in the morning, it can mean something different from when it's too high after you eat or at night.
"If you test at the same time every day, you don't know how to manage your diabetes," says Donna Rice, immediate past president of the American Association of Diabetes Educators.
"Perhaps corn raises your blood sugar," she says. "You'd only know if you knew your level before a meal with corn, and after a meal with corn, and compared it with non-corn meals. That's the level of specificity that necessary for tight control."
And tight control—checking blood sugar and adjusting behavior or medicine—is necessary to prevent complications.
Because you have diabetes, you need to know when your blood sugar level is outside the target range for your body. Fortunately, you can see what your blood sugar level is anywhere and anytime by using a home blood sugar meter (blood glucose meter). Using the meter, you can find out what your blood sugar level is within a minute or two.
Knowing your blood sugar level helps you treat low or high blood sugar before it becomes an emergency. It also helps you know how exercise and food affect your blood sugar and how much short-acting insulin (if you take insulin) to take. Most importantly, it helps you feel more in control as you manage life with diabetes.
Three keys to success in monitoring your blood sugar anywhere are:
- Keeping your meter and supplies with you at all times so that you always have them when you need them.
- Making it a habit to check your blood sugar level by building it into your routine.
- Checking your blood sugar meter's accuracy when you visit your doctor by comparing your results with your doctor's results.
What is home blood sugar monitoring?
Why monitor your blood sugar?
How to test your blood sugar
Where to go from here
More information about diabetes can be found in these topics:
- Type 1 Diabetes
- Type 1 Diabetes: Recently Diagnosed
- Type 1 Diabetes: Living With the Disease
- Type 1 Diabetes: Children Living With the Disease
- Type 1 Diabetes: Living With Complications
- Type 2 Diabetes
- Type 2 Diabetes: Recently Diagnosed
- Type 2 Diabetes: Living With the Disease
- Type 2 Diabetes in Children
- Type 2 Diabetes: Living With Complications
- Gestational Diabetes
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Last Updated: September 24, 2008 