All You Need To Know About Blood Sugar Monitoring At Home

If you have diabetes, self-testing your blood sugar levels becomes an important tool in managing your diabetes and preventing complications. Self-monitoring of blood sugar is the process of testing your blood sugar levels at home at regular intervals using a meter to stay in the safe blood sugar range. Safe blood sugar range refers to blood sugar levels considered safe by your doctor for you. You can test your blood sugars with a portable electronic device called a blood sugar meter or a glucometer using a small drop of blood.  According to experts, regular blood sugar monitoring is a valuable part of a diabetes care plan, especially if you have type 2 diabetes and use insulin. It helps you see and assess what factors are affecting your sugar levels - it could be different foods, medication, or being physically active. With all this information your doctor can help you decide the best diabetes care plan. A good treatment plan that keeps the blood glucose values under check can help delay or prevent diabetes complications such as heart attack, stroke, kidney disease, blindness, and amputation. 

When should I test my blood sugar levels?

An effective way to manage your diabetes is to test around the events that may affect your blood sugar levels like meals, exercise, medications, and times of stress. Even if you are not on medication, testing your blood sugar will give you some valuable information to help you manage your diabetes better. For example, a fasting blood sugar value will tell how well your body is regulating your blood sugar levels overnight. Your doctor will tell you when and how often to check your blood sugar levels. So to recap, blood sugar monitoring provides useful information for diabetes care and management as it can help you:

- Monitor the effect of medications on blood sugar levels

- Track progress in reaching treatment goals

- Know when and why are blood sugar levels high or low

- Know how diet and exercise affects blood sugar levels

- Know how factors like illness or stress, affect blood sugar levels

How can I monitor my blood sugar levels at home?

Blood sugar testing requires the use of a blood sugar meter. The meter measures the amount of sugar in a small sample of blood, usually from your fingertip, that you place on a disposable test strip. The first step is to find the meter that works for you. Choose a reliable meter that is simple to use and meets the latest accuracy standards. Also, select a meter that helps you understand the patterns in your blood sugar levels as it can help you follow your doctor's advice on actions to take. When you test, it's a good idea to write down all the readings in a log book. 

Always follow the instructions that come with your glucometer. In general, here's how it works:

- Wash and dry your hands well

- Insert a test strip into your meter

- Prick the side of your fingertip with the needle (lancet) provided with your test kit

- Touch and hold the edge of the test strip to the drop of blood

- The meter will display your blood sugar level on a screen after a few seconds

According to the American Diabetes Association (ADA), the following are the target blood sugar levels:

- Between 80 and 130 mg/dL before meals

- Less than 180 mg/dL two hours after meals

You can check with your doctor to set your blood sugar goals as these values may vary with age, severity of diabetes, presence of any complications and overall health and other medical conditions.  Whether you're looking for blood glucose meters, test strips, or apps, OneTouch has what you need to help you manage your diabetes.

They have two types of meters: 

1. OneTouch Select Plus Simple Meter

This glucometer is simple to use, has no buttons and requires no set up or coding. You can use it right out of the box. All you need to do is insert a OneTouch Select Plus test strip, apply a drop of blood to the top of the strip and your result is there on the screen in 5 seconds. This meter also makes it easy to understand if your blood sugar reading is "low," "in range," or "high"  with ColourSure technology. The OneTouch Select Plus Simple Meter meets the latest international standards for accuracy (EN ISO 15197:2015 ) and offers virtually a pain free testing with the OneTouch Delica Plus lancing device. 

2. OneTouch Verio Flex System:

OneTouch Verio Flex blood glucose monitoring system, with ColorSure™ technology – is a simple, accurate and easy-to-use meter that takes the guesswork out of understanding blood sugar test results for people with diabetes.  Its simple colour range indicator uses colour to instantly tell patients when their blood glucose readings are "low," "in range," or "high" so they can quickly get on with their lives.

This blood sugar monitoring device is certified to the latest international standards for accuracy (EN ISO 15197:2015 ) and offers virtually a pain free testing with the OneTouch Delica Plus lancing device.  OneTouch Verio Flex™ blood glucose monitoring system syncs data seamlessly with the free OneTouch Reveal mobile app. The OneTouch Reveal app with ColorSure technology automatically organizes your blood sugar results in a color-coded logbook and dashboards that link with your logged food, insulin and activity. It also helps you See and share your progress with your family, friends or trusted care network.