Lately, my blood sugar level has not gone above the safe level. In fact, it registered 87 mg/dL the other night, one point below the 88mg/dL - 123 mg/dL safe zone. I felt nauseous that night. I am taking 500 mg of Metformin thrice a day and I limited my intake to once a day since my blood sugar level is going lower than usual. I think our consumption of muscovado sugar and brown rice helped a lot in keeping my blood sugar level low. But then again, it puzzles me because I am a Type 2 diabetic. Hypoglycemia or low blood sugar is often seen in Type 1 diabetics.
Normally, I take my blood sugar level in the morning immediately after waking up. When I feel sick, I also have to check it. The other day, I took a test two hours after I had my lunch just so I can see if my blood glucose has gone up after the nausea spell I had the other night.
The first thing I do in testing my blood sugar is, of course, sanitizing my hands with alcohol.
Next, I take one lancet and insert it to the lancing device.
After putting the lancing device's cap back on, I set the puncture level depth to 3. 1 is the shallowest while 5 is the deepest. On some days, I can get a puncture with just using level 2.
Then, I take a test strip and carefully insert it on the meter.
I set the lancing device on my thumb, give it a nice little pull, press the blue button, and close my eyes for the prick. You know, I still can't get the hang of it. I still get a little scared of this step although it doesn't hurt that much. By the way, I choose to prick my thumb because it has the least responsibility in typing.
After the dreaded prick, I gently massage my thumb a bit to form a droplet of blood.
I get the glucose meter and let the strip touch the blood droplet on my thumb. I hold it in place for six seconds until the result appears on the monitor of my blood glucose meter.
I get 101 mg/dL that day which is safe. My target level is always 100 mg/dL to 110 mg/dL. Then I record it on my log book for reference.
So there. Daily blood glucose monitoring is hard (and expensive!) but I need to do that to keep myself on track. Rather than ranting about the pain and inconvenience of this task, I prefer to be think positive and be thankful of the fact that I am luckier than other diabetics who do not have the luxury of having their own blood glucose meter.
Hi. You should wipe off the first drop of blood, as this is contaminated with tissue juice which may create a false decreased result. :)Also, you should massage the finger prior to pricking to promote blood circulation and to avoid "milking" or squeezing the finger to acquire a drop of blood. "Milking" can also facilitate release of tissue juices.
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