Two Hours Later Your Blood Glucose Level Will Be Measured Again
Checking your blood saccharide levels
Knowing your blood sugar levels helps you lot manage your diabetes and reduces your risk of having serious complications – now and in the future.
What are blood sugar levels?
Your blood saccharide levels, also known as blood glucose levels, are a measurement that show how much glucose you have in your blood. Glucose is a sugar that you get from food and beverage. Your blood sugar levels become up and down throughout the twenty-four hour period and for people living with diabetes these changes are larger and happen more than often than in people who don't take diabetes.
Can I check my own blood sugar?
You tin practise blood sugar level check past doing afinger-prick test, or by using an electronic blood sugar monitor called a flash glucose monitor or CGM. You can exercise this several times a day – helping you lot go along an eye on your levels as you go about your life and help you work out what to eat and how much medication to take.Find out your ideal target range.
Not everyone with diabetes needs to check their levels like this. You'll need to if y'all take certain diabetes medication. E'er talk to yourhealthcare team if you lot're not sure whether that's you – they'll give you advice on whether to cheque them yourself and how oft.
And there's also something chosen anHbA1c, which is a blood test to measure your average claret carbohydrate level over the last three months. Everyone with diabetes is entitled to this check.
High claret sugar levels increase your risk of developing serious complications. However you manage your diabetes, stay in the know about your blood sugar levels
Why exam blood sugar levels?
If you take certain medication, like insulin or sulphonylureas, checking your blood sugars is a vital part of living with diabetes. It can help you work out when you need to take more medication, when yous need to eat something or for when you desire to get up and move around more.
Routine checks can help you know when you lot might be starting to become too low (called a hypo) or as well loftier (called a hyper). It'due south a style of getting to know your body and how information technology works. It can assistance yous and your healthcare team spot patterns too. Do y'all write your results down? You might find that helpful.
Only importantly, information technology will help y'all stay healthy and preclude serious diabetes complications now and in the hereafter. Past complications, we hateful serious problems in places like your feet and your eyes. This happens considering besides much sugar in the blood damages your blood vessels, making it harder for blood to menstruation around your torso. This can lead to very serious problems like sight loss and needing an amputation.
The higher your claret sugar levels are and the longer they're high for, the more at run a risk you are.
How to check your blood carbohydrate levels
Finger-pricking
This is how you find out what your blood saccharide level is at that moment in fourth dimension. It's a snapshot.
Your healthcare team will show you how to do the test and it's important that you lot're taught how to do it properly – otherwise y'all could go the wrong results.
For some people, finger-prick testing isn't a problem and it quickly becomes part of their normal routine. For others, it tin can be a stressful experience, and that'southward totally understandable. Knowing all the facts and speaking to other people can aid – contact our helpline or chat to others with diabetes on our online forum. They've been through it also and will understand your worries.
Watch our video and follow our simple steps on how to test your claret sugars in the right way and safely.
Nosotros have more than information for you if your kid has diabetes and you're checking their blood carbohydrate levels for them.
Y'all'll need these things to do the test:
- a blood testing meter
- a finger prick device
- some test strips
- a lancet (a very curt, fine needle)
- a sharps bin, and then you lot can throw the needles away safely.
If you're missing one of these, speak to your healthcare squad.
Blood testing meters
New meters come up on the market all the time, so it can be catchy choosing the correct one. It's best to ask your healthcare squad for advice on a meter that'll suit you.
If you accept sight problems, yous may not exist able to use some meters so your healthcare team can suggest alternatives.
Some people tin become meters on prescription. But if you cull to buy your own meter, y'all might not go a prescription for the test strips it uses. Chat to your healthcare team.
Test strips
Test strips usually come in batches of fifty and must work with the blazon of meter you've chosen.
But near one in four people in the U.k. accept had a GP who'due south refused to prescribe test strips. We think this is unacceptable so nosotros're candidature for everyone to have admission to examination strips on prescription.
If this happens to you, take it up with your GP practice. If that doesn't work, contact your local Clinical Commissioning Grouping (your local CCG manages the NHS Trust in your expanse).
If yous decide to buy strips from exterior the UK or online, you lot'll need to cheque they're adjusted to UK specifications.
Finger-prick devices and lancets
Finger-prick devices pierce the peel with a needle then that a driblet of blood can be taken for testing. The needle is called a lancet.
You can adapt the device to change how far it goes into the skin. It'll depend on the thickness of the skin.
Lancets come in different sizes and thicknesses (or gauges). A higher-guess lancet is thinner so is normally less painful, simply information technology might not always give you enough blood.
You can simply use a lancet in one case or they get blunt and are painful to utilise.
How to practise a finger-prick test
Your healthcare team will show you how to do it the first time, only these are the key steps:
- Wash your hands with soap and warm water. Don't use wet wipes equally the glycerine in them can affect the exam consequence. Brand sure your hands are warm so it's easier to get blood and won't hurt as much.
- Accept a test strip and slot it into the meter to plow it on. Some meters will have tests strips built in.
- Remove the cap from your finger prick device and put in a new lancet. Then put the cap back on and set the device by pulling or clicking the plunger.
- Choose which finger to prick simply avoid your thumb or index finger (finger next to your thumb). And don't prick the middle, or too shut to a nail. Identify the device against the side of your finger and press the plunger. Use a different finger each fourth dimension and a unlike surface area.
- Take your meter with the test strip and agree information technology against the drop of blood. It'll tell you if the test strip is filled, unremarkably by beeping.
- Before y'all look at your reading, bank check your finger. Employ a tissue to stop bleeding, and so utilize it to take out the lancet and throw it away in your sharps bin.
- By this time, your meter will probably testify the result. Note it down.
- You tin apply the same tissue to accept out the test strip and throw that away too. Taking out the strip will usually plow the meter off.
Flash glucose monitors
More and more people with diabetes are choosing to use aflash glucose monitor to check their sugar levels. This is a blood carbohydrate exam without a needle. Instead it uses a sensor you wear on your peel and y'all an do the test without pricking your finger. The main brand is chosen the FreeStyle Libre.
Only flash glucose monitoring doesn't measure the sugar in your claret. It measures the amount of sugar in the fluid surrounding your cells, called interstitial fluid. This causes a filibuster with the reading and so it's not completely authentic, so you'll still need to do a finger-prick test every now and again.
We've been campaigning to brand this life-irresolute applied science more hands available – check out ourFight for Flash campaign.
HbA1c examination
As well as regularly testing your own blood sugars, at least once a year your healthcare team volition ask y'all to come in for an HbA1c blood test. This checks your boilerplate claret sugar levels over the final three months and helps your diabetes team and yous spot trends over time.
This is one of your essential diabetes wellness checks and it's really of import y'all understand what your results mean. A high HbA1c means you have too much sugar in your claret. This ways yous're more likely to develop diabetes complications, like serious bug with your eyes and anxiety. So it's really important to have this test regularly so that you tin brand changes and reduce your risk of getting complications.
We've got more than information about the HbA1c exam and what your levels hateful.
Make a note of your readings
It may sound obvious, but yous must tape your readings. Note them down in a diary, a notebook or in your phone calendar. Some meters take software that lets y'all practice this. You could endeavour a diabetes app too.
You and your healthcare team can then await back over your results to see if you need to adjust your treatment.
What's my target range?
Yous might be asking, what's the normal range for blood sugar levels? The answer is, at that place is a good for you range that you should ideally be aiming for. The infographics above show the general guidelines, but your individual target range for your blood carbohydrate levels may exist unlike. Y'all'll healthcare team will concur with you what it is.
You'll get different readings at different times of the day, depending on things similar what you've eaten and how much you are moving around. Here'due south a guide to assistance you go started on finding your target range:
If you're a child with type 1 diabetes
- when y'all wake up and before meals: 4 to 7mmol/l
- after meals: v to 9mmol/l
If you're an adult with type 1 diabetes
- when you wake upwardly and before meals: 5 to 7mmol/l
- before meals at other times of the day: 4 to 7mmol/l
If you have blazon two diabetes
- before meals: iv to 7mmol/l
- two hours subsequently meals: less than 8.5mmol/l
If y'all have gestational diabetes
- Fasting: beneath five.3mmol/l
- 1 hour later meals: beneath seven.8mmol/l
- If you're not able to cheque until two hours – rather than one hour – after a meal, you should aim for beneath vi.4mmol/l.
What does mmol/l mean?
mmol/l stands for millimoles per litre. A mole is a scientific unit oftentimes used to mensurate chemicals.
If you're pregnant and have diabetes, your targets will be different. We accept lots more information to aid you if y'all're planning to have a baby or you're significant at present.
What happens when your blood sugar levels are too low?
If your blood sugar levels are too low, usually below 4 mmol/l, you may experience a hypo. Hypos need to be treated immediately, otherwise your blood sugar levels volition drop further. If this happens, you may experience a astringent hypo and need emergency treatment.
There are many different symptoms of a hypo, and so it's important that you are enlightened of the signs in case your claret sugar level gets too low. We've besides got more information virtually what to do if you are having a hypo.
What happens when your blood sugar levels are as well high?
If your blood sugar levels are slightly above your targets, in that location are usually no symptoms. Only if your claret sugar levels become too loftier, yous may experience some symptoms associated with a hyper.
The claret carbohydrate level at which symptoms begin to appear is different for everyone, but the common symptoms include passing more urine than normal, being very thirsty, having headaches and feeling tired and lethargic.
It'south important that you know how to care for a hyper to avoid developing ketones in the blood.
Source: https://www.diabetes.org.uk/guide-to-diabetes/managing-your-diabetes/testing
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