Blood Glucose Monitoring :: Diabetes Self-Management

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Keeping your blood glucose levels in a healthy range may require checking your blood glucose several times a day. The articles in this section discuss the ins and outs of blood glucose monitoring. Learn how often to check, how to do it properly, and how to interpret the numbers. Our authors also give tips for reducing the pain of finger sticks, getting accurate results from your meter, and keeping logs and records of your readings.

Blood Glucose Monitoring by Virginia Peragallo-Dittko, A.P.R.N., M.A., B.C.-A.D.M., C.D.E.

“I must admit that I stopped checking my blood sugar,” Dave said. “I used to stick myself and write the numbers in a book, but I had no idea what they meant. I’d eat the same thing and get different numbers. Finally, I just…

Also inside: Blood Glucose Meter Averages: Don't Be Fooled

Blood Glucose Monitoring: When to Check and Why by Rebecca K. Abma

Managing diabetes is one part investigation and two parts action. Unlike some other diseases that rely primarily on professional medical treatment, diabetes treatment requires active participation by the person who has it. Monitoring your blood glucose level on a regular basis and analyzing the results is believed by many to be a crucial part of the treatment equation…

Also inside: Getting Accurate Readings, When Your Fingers Have Had Enough

Continuous Glucose Monitoring by Laurie Block, R.D., C.D.E.

Blood glucose monitoring has gotten easier, more accurate, and less painful over the years, but it still provides only snapshots of a person’s blood glucose level. Even a person who monitors several times a day really only knows what his blood glucose level…

Continuous Glucose Monitoring by Linda Mackowiak, M.S., R.N., C.D.E.

Even with regular blood glucose monitoring, one of the big unknowns in diabetes self-management is what happens to glucose levels between blood glucose checks. In recent years, however, the development of continuous glucose monitors that check glucose…

Also inside: Devices on the Market

Continuous Glucose Monitoring: Making Sense of Your Numbers by Gary Scheiner, MS, CDE

A1c. HDL. LDL. Fasting blood glucose levels. Postprandial blood glucose levels. Grams of carbohydrate. Insulin-to-carbohydrate ratios. Correction factors.

Ever feel like you”re drowning in numbers? Diabetes care is chock full of numerical data…

H-B-A-1-C by Mark Nakamoto

You’ve pulled out your logbook and are taking off your jacket to bare your upper arm for the blood pressure cuff, when the nurse walks in and asks you to hold out a finger. “Does it matter that I had breakfast this morning?” you ask…

Making Your Meter Work for You by Laura Hieronymus, M.S.Ed., A.P.R.N., B.C.-A.D.M., C.D.E.

It is well documented that keeping blood glucose levels as close to normal as possible can reduce the risk of the chronic or long-term complications of diabetes, including eye disease (retinopathy), kidney disease (nephropathy), and nerve damage…

Managing Your Blood Glucose Ups and Downs by Stacy Griffin, PharmD, RPh, and Diane Ballard, RN, BSN, CDE

High blood glucose is the defining characteristic of diabetes: It’s what leads to a diagnosis of diabetes, and it’s what can lead to long-term diabetes complications if sustained over time. Consequently, the medicines prescribed to treat diabetes lower blood glucose in one way or another. Exercise, too, usually lowers blood glucose, which is one of the reasons it’s an important part of a diabetes treatment regimen. But too-low blood glucose, or hypoglycemia, is no good, either, since it can cause you to lose consciousness.

Also inside: Continuous Glucose Monitoring

Talking Meters by Ann S. Williams, Ph.D., R.N., C.D.E.

Self-monitoring of blood glucose is one of the areas of diabetes self-management that is deeply affected by severe visual impairment. When people with diabetes learn they have permanent visual impairment, one of the first questions they often ask a…

Also inside: Insurance Coverage for Talking Meters, Resources, Strips: Which End is Which?

The Benefits of Tight Control by Wayne Clark

It has been 16 years since the results of the landmark Diabetes Control and Complications Trial (DCCT) were published. Despite its continuing legacy of proof that maintaining blood glucose levels as close to normal as possible reduces the risk of…

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1. Insulin
2. Blood Glucose Monitoring
3. High Blood Glucose
4. Nutrition & Meal Planning
5. Diabetic Complications