Blood Glucose Monitoring

ARTICLES AND GUIDES

 Blood Glucose Monitoring

Noninvasive monitors

Improved early screening of diabetes

Blood Testing Basics (Tutorial)

Know Your Blood Sugar Numbers (pamphlet by the National Institutes of Health, PDF file)

Periodic blood glucose testing should be a top priority for everyone with diabetes. Following an effective diabetes management strategy requires an effective, reliable and comfortable method to test your blood glucose levels. If you maintain your levels of blood suger and HbA1c close to normal, your risks of developing complications arising from both type 1 diabetes and type 2 diabetes will be significantly reduced.
Being comfortable with your method of blood glucose testing will help you follow an appropriate monitoring schedule. Today’s most common blood glucose moniters are easy to use and reasonably painless for most people, but healthcare companies are working hard in developing even more sophisticated glucometers that employ alternative methods of sampling and sugar quantification.

Methods of Blood Glucose Testing

Traditional Home Blood Glucose Monitoring

The most commonly used blood glucose testing method requires you to prick a finger with a lancet (a little, sharp needle) and put a drop of blood on a test strip. This strip is in turn placed into an electronic device  (a meter) that displays your blood sugar (glucose) level. Glucose meters have different features like readability (display size, some have spoken instructions for the visually impaired), speed, portability, size and cost. Newer devices take less than 15 seconds to display the results. Some can even save the values for later use. There is a variety of models that are reasonably cheap, and sometimes you get the device for free whith the purchase of certain amounts of blood glucose test strips (see our Marketplace for options). When choosing a glucose meter people usually base their selection on the main features of the meter itself, but tend to overlook about the test strips. Glucose test strips is the most profitable part of the diabetes testing market, and that is why you should consider the cost of your chosen meter's test strips. If you decided on a specific meter because it is, say 30 dollars cheaper than choice B, check out whether meter B's strips are cheaper too. Remember to check you Medicare elegibility, or your health insurance company's policy regarding diabetes supply.

Alternative blood glucose monitors

A new kind of monitors (although using similar methods of glucose measuring) allows you to test body arts other than the fingertips. These could be the forearm, upper arm, thighs, et cetera. While this may bring less discomfort for some people, the experts warn that glucose readings in such places could not be as precise as those taken from the fingertipsBlood Glucose Meter Minimed.
Another variation of traditional devices uses a laser beam to penetrate the skin and draw a small amount of blood for testing. 
MiniMed developed the Continuous Glucose Monitoring System (GSMS), a device involving a small catheter that is placed under the skin and collects small amounts of fluid to continuously measure glucose levels. 
Glucowatch glucose moniterThe GlucoWatch was approved by the FDA in 2001. This watch-like device helps people with diabetes measure their blood glucose through very small amounts of electric currents. Blood glucose levels are tested three times per hour for up to 12 hours. This method is considered a first step toward noninvasive, continuous glucose monitoring, and according to the FDA, these newer devices should be used in combination with the traditional daily finger pricks.