When Do You Check Your Blood Sugar

Dont Inject The Insulin Too Deep

Insulin is supposed to be injected into the fat layer under the skin using a short needle. This is referred to as a subcutaneous injection.

If you inject the insulin too deep and it enters your muscle, your body may absorb it too quickly. The insulin might not last very long and the injection could be very painful.

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How Can I Measure My Blood Sugar Levels

You can measure your blood glucose levels with a glucometer. First, you prick your finger with a small device called a lancet to get a drop of blood. Your blood goes on a test strip which you put into the glucometer. Then, the device tells you your blood sugar levels.

You can also use a continuous glucose monitoring device, which uses a sensor that’s placed under your skin to automatically check your levels every few minutes.

How Do You Feel When Your A1c Is High

If your blood sugar level is too high, you may experience symptoms such as:

• blurred vision that doesnt go away when you look at something else
• drowsiness to the point of feeling like being drunk. If this happens, do not drink alcohol because it will make things worse. Drink water instead! Alcohol can cause your blood sugar levels to spike up even more by slowing down how quickly your liver processes food as well as breaking down carbs in high amounts due to many sugars . Drinking too much coffee while high on insulin may also lead to a dangerous drop in blood sugar levels so try avoiding caffeine if possible until you get back into balance again with medication dosages.

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When Should I Test My Blood Sugar

You may need to check your blood sugar several times a day, such as before meals or exercise, at bedtime, before driving, and when you think your blood sugar levels are low.

Everyone is different, so ask your doctor when and how often you should check your blood sugar. If you’re sick, you’ll probably need to test your blood sugar more often.

Before During & After Exercise

Checking your blood sugar around exercise is especially important for people who take insulin or other diabetes medications that can cause low blood sugar. Remember to always carry fast-acting carbohydrates with you while exercising.

Especially if youre new to exercise and fitting it into your diabetes management routine, its extremely important to check your blood sugar before, during and after exercise to identify and prevent low blood sugars.

A low blood sugar level before, during, or after exercising:

• Youre getting too much of a certain diabetes medication .
• Your insulin sensitivity or insulin production has improved, which means your medication dosages need to be adjusted by your healthcare team.

A high blood sugar level during, or after exercising can happen, too, although its less common in type 2 diabetes. Certain types of exercise like weightlifting, spinning, sprintingcan trigger your liver to release stored sugar for extra fuel.

Talk to your healthcare team about making any adjustments to your diabetes regimen to help you achieve your blood sugar goals.

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How To Prevent Post

Taking fast-acting prandial, or mealtime, insulin 2030 minutes before eating a meal can reduce blood sugar spikes because the insulin will begin to work when glucose from food starts to enter the bloodstream. Additionally, a portioned diet rich in foods like vegetables, whole grains, lean protein, and fruit can cause a slower rise in blood sugar and help prevent post-meal spikes. Your healthcare provider can help you determine what strategy is best for you.

What Is The Normal Range For Blood Sugar

In general, the American Diabetes Associations recommended blood sugar levels are9:

• Between 70 and 130 mg/dL before meals
• Less than 180 mg/dL after meals

Your range is yours alonebased on your health, age, level of activity and other factors. And remember that your target is a range youd like to stay within, not a single number.

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How Can I Treat High Blood Sugar

Talk to your doctor about how to keep your blood sugar levels within your target range. Your doctor may suggest the following:

• Be more active. Regular exercise can help keep your blood sugar levels on track. Important: dont exercise if ketones are present in your urine. This can make your blood sugar go even higher.
• Take medicine as instructed. If your blood sugar is often high, your doctor may change how much medicine you take or when you take it.
• Follow your diabetes meal plan. Ask your doctor or dietitian for help if youre having trouble sticking to it.
• Check your blood sugar as directed by your doctor. Check more often if youre sick or if youre concerned about high or low blood sugar.
• Talk to your doctor about adjusting how much insulin you take and what types of insulin to use.

What Happens If My Blood Glucose Level Becomes Too Low

Sometimes blood glucose levels drop below where they should be, which is called hypoglycemia. For most people with diabetes, the blood glucose level is too low when it is below 70 mg/dL.

Hypoglycemia can be life threatening and needs to be treated right away. Learn more about how to recognize and treat hypoglycemia.

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How To Lower High Blood Sugar Naturally

People living with certain health conditions, such as the autoimmune disorder Type 1 diabetes, cant lower their blood sugar naturally.

With Type 1 diabetes, your pancreas doesnt make insulin, a hormone that helps regulate your blood sugar levels. After being diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes, you need insulin injections or insulin pump therapy for the rest of your life in order to stay alive.

But if youre diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes or prediabetes meaning, youre at risk of developing Type 2 diabetes you can try to lower your blood sugar using natural methods.

Here are seven effective strategiesAsterino-McGeean recommends if you fall into the latter category:

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What Does A Blood Sugar Test Do

A doctor may order a blood sugar test to see if you have diabetes or prediabetes. The test will measure the amount of glucose in your blood.

Your body takes carbohydrates found in foods like grains and fruits and converts them into glucose. Glucose, a sugar, is one of the bodys main sources of energy.

For people with diabetes, a home test helps monitor blood sugar levels. Taking a blood sugar test can help determine your blood sugar level to see if you need to adjust your diet, exercise, or diabetes medications.

Low blood sugar can lead to seizures or a coma if left untreated.

High blood sugar can lead to diabetic ketoacidosis, a life threatening condition thats often a concern for those with type 1 diabetes. Hyperglycemia over a long period can increase your risk of neuropathy , along with heart, kidney, and eye diseases.

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When Should I Check My Blood Sugar

How often you check your blood sugar depends on the type of diabetes you have and if you take any diabetes medicines.

Typical times to check your blood sugar include:

• When you first wake up, before you eat or drink anything.
• Two hours after a meal.

If you have type 1 diabetes, have type 2 diabetes and take insulin, or often have low blood sugar, your doctor may want you to check your blood sugar more often, such as before and after youre physically active.

Knowing Blood Sugar Levels

If you have diabetes, the frequency of testing your blood glucose level depends on your treatment plan, so follow your doctors advice on the appropriate times for you.

Common times to check are in the morning, before and after meals, before and after exercise, at bedtime, and if you feel sick. Some people may not need to check their blood sugar daily.

What you eat and what you do for physical activity affect your blood sugar. But theres no way to know what effect they have unless you test your blood sugar.

Blood glucose meters are used to test blood sugar levels so you can see if your levels are within the target range. Your doctor will also work with you on your individualized range.

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Get Your Blood Glucose Meter Ready

Your meter should beep and turn on after you put the test strip in the port. If it does not:

• Make sure you pushed the test strip all the way into the port.
• Make sure the end of the test strip with the grey square is in the port.
• Make sure the printed side of the test strip is facing you.

Your blood glucose meter is now ready. It will stay on for 3 minutes after you put in the test strip. If you do not apply a drop of blood to the tip of the test strip in that time, it will beep and turn off. If this happens, pull the test strip out and put it back into the port.

Do not apply blood to the test strip before you put it into the meter or when the meter is off. If you do, that strip will be ruined. Youll have to start over with a new one.

Exactly How Do Diabetic Service Dogs Detect Blood Sugar Level Levels

After reports of untrained pet dogs showing habits changes when their proprietors blood glucose degrees were reduced, professionals started to examine ways to specifically educate pets to discover and also inform people.Researchers believe that pets smell chemical changes in your breath, saliva, as well as sweat that occur when your blood sugar level degrees shift.Diabetic dogs are educated in making use of examples of sweat from their possible owners, including some taken when the individual has low blood sugar level and also some taken when they have typical blood sugar degrees. The canines are awarded throughout training each time they detect a low blood glucose sample.

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How Do I Pick A Glucose Meter

Your doctor will make a recommendation. Check with your health insurance plan to see if it will pay for your BGM, its supplies, or a CGM. If so, your plan may only pay for a certain meter.

Shop around and compare costs. Consider what features are important to you. For example, some meters are made for people who have poor eyesight. If you want to pay a little more money, you can get a BGM that stores the results in its memory. This allows you to compare results from several days at one time.

Battle Your Morning Blood Sugar And You Can Tackle The Rest Of The Day Easier

Youll find that your blood sugar levels during the day are much easier to handle when you tackle the morning levels. This is when you will find your levels are at their highest and most dangerous. Its completely normal, but that doesnt mean you should have to put up with the side effects.

Its important to follow a routine. Once youve got your morning schedule in order, it will all fall into place no matter what youre doing or where youre going.

Your diet is the most important thing to change. You want to focus more on protein, fiber, and healthy fats. Get rid of the carbs, especially on a morning. They will only send your blood sugar levels soaring.

Focus on eliminating stress on a morning, and you will find your glucose levels will even out better. Meditation and exercise are both extremely beneficial for this. If you want to work both together, consider taking up yoga on a morning.

With more protein on a night and a better nights sleep, you will find your morning glucose levels arent as high as they once were. From there, they will be easier to manage.

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Tips For Checking Your Blood Sugar With Less Pain

Fingertips have more nerve endings, so this part of the finger tends to be the most sensitive.

If you use a finger prick to check your blood sugar level, a few techniques can make the process less painful whether youre using a glucometer or a continuous glucose monitor.

Blood sugar testing is crucial to diabetes management because high or low blood sugar can cause severe complications. If too much blood sugar accumulates in your bloodstream, you can experience major complications such as:

• difficulty speaking

Blood sugar can fluctuate throughout the day especially after meals, after exercising, and during stressful events. So its important to carefully monitor your blood sugar and keep it within a healthy range.

A blood sugar level less than 140 milligrams per deciliter , but greater than 70 mg/dL is typically considered in the target range.

You should check your blood sugar regularly, even if you arent experiencing symptoms of a high or low glucose level. Some people with high and low blood sugar dont have any symptoms.

S For Treating A Person With Symptoms Keeping Them From Being Able To Treat Themselves

Dont hesitate to call 911. If someone is unconscious and glucagon is not available or someone does not know how to use it, call 911 immediately.

Do NOT:

• Provide food or fluids

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Discuss Blood Sugar Levels With A Doctor

• Make sure to speak with your physician about how often you should be checking your blood sugar and at what times of day or week checks should be done.
• Dont forget to ask your physician: âWhat should I do with all this information?â Your overall control will likely not improve unless you know what to do with the glucose numbers you are seeing!
• If you are uncertain how to use your meter, ask to meet with a diabetes educator for additional training.

How often do you check your blood sugar?

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What Happens After The Diagnosis

Usually, the following things happen after your diagnosis:

A free education course for type 2 diabetes can help you manage your condition.

Page last reviewed: 18 August 2020 Next review due: 18 August 2023

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Establish A Routine For How Often And When You Should Test Your Blood Sugar

Work with your doctor to plan your routine. They may suggest checking it while youre fasting, before and after meals, or before bedtime. Each persons situation is different, so its important to decide on an arrangement that will work for you.

When youve set that schedule, make checking your blood part of your daily routine. Build it into your day. Many meters have alarms you can set to help you to remember to test. When testing becomes a part of your day, youll be less likely to forget.

Take Any Missed Medications

Your doctor may have prescribed other medications to help keep your blood sugar in a normal range. Check that you havent missed a dose.

If you have missed a dose, take it as soon as possible, as long as you dont double up on your medication. This means that if your missed dose was several hours ago and your next scheduled dose is in 1 hour, you shouldnt take both doses so close together.

Taking two doses on top of each other can cause adverse reactions with some drugs. Instead, just take your next scheduled dose now.

If in doubt, consult the guide on the packaging of the medication or contact your medical team.

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What Are The Target Ranges

Blood glucose targets are individualized based on:

• duration of diabetes
• conditions a person may have
• cardiovascular disease or diabetes complications
• hypoglycemia unawareness
• individual patient considerations

The American Diabetes Association suggests the following targets for most nonpregnant adults with diabetes. A1C targets differ based on age and health. Also, more or less stringent glycemic goals may be appropriate for each individual.

• A1C: Less than 7%A1C may also be reported as eAG: Less than 154 mg/dL
• Before a meal : 80130 mg/dL
• 1-2 hours after beginning of the meal *: Less than 180 mg/dL

How It Is Done

A home blood sugar test involves pricking your finger, palm, or forearm with a small needle to collect a drop of blood and placing the blood on a special test strip, which you insert into the blood glucose meter before you begin the test. The blood glucose meter displays the results of a blood sugar test within a minute after testing.

The instructions for testing are slightly different for each model of home blood glucose meter. For accurate results, follow the instructions for your meter carefully. When testing blood sugar using a home blood glucose meter:

Safely dispose of your lancets after using them. Do not throw them into the household trash. A used lancet might accidentally stick someone. Place used lancets into a plastic container, such as an empty detergent bottle. Seal the container when it is about three-quarters full. Check with your local trash disposal agency about the proper disposal of lancets. Some agencies have specific instructions for the disposal of medical waste. Sometimes your doctors office will dispose of them for you.

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