An important tool in managing your treatment plan and preventing long-term complications of diabetes
Find synonyms Find exact match. BLOOD SUGAR TESTING OVERVIEW. If you have diabetes, you have an important role in your own medical care, and testing your blood glucose (also called blood sugar) is an opportunity for you to take control of your health. Although diabetes is a chronic condition, it can usually be controlled with lifestyle changes and medication.  Blood glucose levels. Self-monitoring of blood glucose can be a beneficial part of diabetes management. As part of the day-to-day routine it can help with necessary lifestyle and treatment choices as well as help to monitor for symptoms of hypo-or hyperglycaemia.  People may not be aware that they have type 1 or type 2 diabetes because they have no symptoms or because the symptoms are so mild that they go unnoticed for quite some time. However, some individuals do experience warning signs, so it's important to be familiar with them. Blood glucose levels are higher than normal but not high enough to be diagnosed as diabetes. This condition puts you at increased risk for developing type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and stroke. 126 mg/dL or more. Diabetes mellitus (type 2 diabetes). Diabetes can and will kill you if you let it, and your first line of defense is keeping your blood sugar under control. The more you test your blood sugar, the more your opportunity to control it. The more you control it, the longer and healthier your life will be. It’s a pretty simple formula, when you come right down to it. So how many times a day do you test your blood sugar now? It may surprise you to learn that amongst diabetics who bother to test at all (yes, a great many of our kind do not test, period) the most common frequency is once per day. If you use insulin, you really should be checking six times per day at a minimum. Out of control blood sugar levels can lead to serious short term problems such as hypoglycemia, hyperglycemia, or diabetic ketoacidosis. In the long run, uncontrolled blood sugar can also damage the vessels that supply blood to important organs, like the heart, kidneys, eyes, and nerves. This can occur even when you feel OK. That's why it's so important to take action as soon as you're diagnosed with diabetes.  There are two aspects to monitoring your diabetes – the monitoring you do yourself at home, and the monitoring that your diabetes team will do for you. This section of the website will give you information on both of these two aspects. Monitoring your diabetes is crucial to preventing some of the possible complications associated with diabetes. If you have diabetes, self-testing your blood sugar (blood glucose) can be an important tool in managing your treatment plan and preventing long-term complications of diabetes. You can test your blood sugar at home with a portable electronic device (glucose meter) that measures sugar level in a small drop of your blood. Blood sugar testing: Why, when and how. Blood sugar testing is an important part of diabetes care. Find out when to test your blood sugar level, how to use a testing meter, and more. Controlling Your Diabetes Subscribe to our Controlling Your Diabetes e-newsletter to stay up to date on diabetes topics. For patients with diabetes to be in control of their diabetes, constant blood glucose monitoring must be done to ensure levels are not too high (hyperglycemia) and do not go so low that the diabetic risks hypoglycemia. Blood Glucose Monitoring. Diabetes is a chronic condition that has no cure. However, it can be controlled through Blood glucose monitoring title= Blood glucose monitoring: done on a daily basis. Self-monitoring is an integral part of diabetes management because it puts you in charge. Regardless of how you manage your diabetes — through diet and exercise alone or combined with oral medicines or insulin — regular blood sugar monitoring provides immediate feedback on how your program is working. For example, if you take insulin and your blood sugar is high, you may need to bolus, or take more rapid-acting insulin, to bring your levels down into range. If you manage your Type 2 diabetes with diet and exercise, you might treat high blood sugar with a walk around the block. Type 2 diabetes is a silent disease. Although you can feel thirsty, tired, hungry, or have frequent urination or blurry vision when blood sugar creeps into the danger zone, often there are no symptoms at all. That's where home blood glucose monitoring comes in. There are two key elements to testing
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why are frequent monitoring of diabetes important