Your Best Friend Is the Glucose Meter

Blood glucose meters are one of the most important advances in diabetes management in recent decades. And they're also smaller, faster, and require less blood than in the past. To use the tiny devices (generally the size of a cell phone), you prick your finger and put a drop of blood on a test strip that is inserted into the meter. By testing your blood regularly, you can look for patterns to see if blood sugar is in the safe range. If not, you can change your diet, increase exercise, or see your doctor for medication to lower blood sugar—and your risk of complications. What's more, the device can tell you if you have hypoglycemia—a potentially dangerous situation in which insulin or other medication causes blood sugar to go too low.