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Blood glucose testing is vital for people managing diabetes. Monitoring levels with a blood glucose monitor sheds light on the effects certain foods and activities have on their condition. If you live with diabetes, this information helps you and your care team gauge if your treatment routine and medications are controlling your disease. For people who take insulin, self-testing guides more accurate dosing.
Despite all the good tools to help people live well with diabetes, dealing with the disease every day can take a toll. Use these steps as inspiration to make it easier.
Blood glucose levels can rise and fall. A high reading is likely to happen from time to time. When it does, some people believe they’re to blame. They may feel guilty or ashamed about an abnormal reading. These negative thoughts can derail your motivation to test. It's important to be positive so you can brush off setbacks, stay on track and enjoy better results.
Understanding your body and how to take good care of it is one of the best ways to keep your diabetes under control. Be curious. Read. Talk with your care provider and others who live with the disease. Information is power. It fuels better self-care choices. It also helps you overcome many of the barriers that can make blood sugar testing difficult.
Can you relate to any of these barriers to testing?
Tap into your inner strength. Arm yourself with these mantras. They can help you stay motivated when it comes to controlling your blood sugar.
Belief: I'm going to make time to test. I understand what my numbers mean and this information empowers me.
Feeling: I feel good knowing I made testing a priority. Now I have a better understanding about the relationship between the food I eat and my blood sugar.
Thought: I want to know how certain foods change my blood sugar two hours after eating. Writing down what I eat and testing my blood lets me know.
Action: I test my blood sugar to learn how my body responds to certain foods and how much I eat. I share this information with my diabetes team so we can make good care decisions.
Discovery: Testing my blood sugar two hours after lunch, I learned my body can tolerate only 60 grams of carbohydrates. When I consumed 75 grams of carbohydrates, my blood sugar reading was too high. Now I know why I feel tired when I have a bigger lunch.
When you test your blood sugar, you can base your self-care decisions on facts. Knowledge leads to better A1C levels and better management of your diabetes.
Originally published 10/14/2016; Revised 2019, 2022, 2024