Blood glucose self-monitoring.
For many people, suffering from diabetes, is  very important to be able to measure and determine what their blood glucose level is throughout the day. As a matter of fact this is an imperative for patients, using insulin, including pregnant women, being diagnosed with gestational diabetes. Typically, these people are advised to monitor their blood glucose twice or three times per day. The main reason that this action is required is to prevent any hypoglycemic episode due to the use of insulin, combined with other risk factors, like stress, missing meals or laborious exercise. As it is apparent, blood glucose self-monitoring is critical for patients with hypoglycemia unawareness.
Another reason that self-monitoring can be used is to produce tables or graphs, regarding the levels of the blood glucose over a certain period of time. This may be an important piece of information for the healthcare provider to determine how effective a diabetes therapeutical scheme is.
About glucose monitors or glucose meters.
A blood glucose monitor or meter is an electronic device, powered by a battery. Such monitors are used in combination with special absorbing
paper testing
strips. The strip is put on a tiny amount of blood, usually taken from a fingertip. As soon as the strip is saturated, it is inserted into a monitor’s special slot. The amount of glucose found in the blood sample is traced and measured automatically within a few seconds. This measurement can give a very good idea about the blood glucose level at that particular moment.
There is a
great range of monitors in the market with a variety of features. For instance, a glucose meter may keep a back-up history of your measurements, transfer your data to your computer or to produce different beeping sounds if there is an error or when a measurement is finished.
When the monitors were first used, the only blood sample that could lead to a safe result was the one taken from a fingertip.
Luckily, the latest generation of these devices can give accurate results with blood samples taken from other parts of the body, including hand, arm, calf and thigh.
High measuring speed, minimum possible blood sample, high result accuracy and a facility of storing previous measurements, combined with a reasonable size and price are the main features of a good monitor. We have spotted some glucose meters, which include all or most of the above characteristics, and if you try the following links you will be able to find them online.
If you use the links in the right column, you will find the test strips which are suitable to each meter.
Click the following links, if you want to read about the sites we recommend and secured transactions.
How do I do blood glucose self-monitoring?
Although some manufacturers of glucose meters may provide slightly different instructions, we will try to describe the basic steps that you should follow to monitor you blood glucose level.
1. 
Make sure you have everything you need for your blood glucose self-monitoring procedure.
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2. 
Wash and dry you hands thoroughly. |
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3. 
Take a blood sample from your fingertip by using the lancet, found in the kit. |
4. 
Place a drop of blood on a testing strip. |
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5. 
Activate your monitor and insert the saturated strip into the slot. |
6. 
Keep the day, time and measurement in your records for possible later review. |
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The illustrative material has been provided by the U.S. National Library of Medicine.
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