If you or a loved one has been diagnosed with diabetes, you will need to become familiar with many aspects of the disease, including blood glucose test strips. These strips are used regularly to assess the performance of a person’s blood glucose levels. As you may already know, this is the most important part of keeping your diabetes under control, if possible.
One of the most important aspects of living with this disease is managing yourself so that you can manage your condition carefully, cautiously, and effectively. This can often help you keep your levels stable and help prevent your diabetes from becoming more severe. If you already have a severe level of diabetes, you need to take special care to prevent your condition from getting worse.
Using these strips
Those with diabetes will need to test their blood glucose levels several times throughout the day. As a general rule of thumb, the main times you should use test strips are:
• In the morning when you wake up
• Right before going to bed at night
• Before eating meals or even snacks
• Both before doing any physical activity such as sports or exercise
• Anytime you feel like your blood glucose levels are high or low, which will become more obvious to you and easier to recognize over time.
Other factors to know
If you are new to using these types of test strips, you should ask your doctor to explain the procedure to you carefully. You can also use tutorials to better understand how the process should be carried out.
Usually you will use the fleshy part of your fingertip to use the strips. Sometimes you can also use your forearm or leg, but the results may vary depending on where you get the blood. Here’s a quick rundown of the basics:
• It is essential that you wash your hands and the test site well before performing the test.
• Most diabetics use the fingertips and any finger except the middle finger, as it is the most sensitive.
• Massage the area or run warm water over it to help the blood circulate well before attempting to draw blood and perform the test.
• From there, prick your fingertip and the test strip will give you the results.
Although the procedure may seem unpleasant at first, in no time using the blood glucose test strips will become second nature. The key is to try to get strips that provide more accurate readings and results. In order to take the best possible care of yourself while dealing with diabetes, you must have accurate blood glucose readings. Use it whenever you consider it necessary.