For every diabetic having knowledge of your own glucose (sugar) levels can be vitally important in controlling your diabetes. The current treatments in diabetes, whether medicines or diet, focus on trying to keep blood glucose levels as close to normal as possible.
To gain knowledge of your body's glucose levels there are 2 main methods, testing for urine glucose and testing for blood glucose. Which method you use depends a lot on why you are testing and what your doctor has recommended you use.
Blood glucose testing
Testing blood glucose levels has become very simple and very accessible thanks to a whole range of blood glucose meters on the market. Checking glucose in this way is the most accurate method. This is especially important for patients with Type 1 Diabetes (Insulin dependent) and some patients with Type 2 Diabetes requiring insulin. This is because some of these patients can make adjustments to their insulin dose depending on their blood glucose test results. Also patients with diabetes may experience very low blood glucose levels called hypoglycaemia or very high blood glucose levels called hyperglycaemia. Often there are signs and symptoms of both. Using a blood glucose meter to provide an exact reading can help reassure or confirm that action must be taken.
How to use a blood glucose monitor
The blood glucose meter market is dominated by 2 main brands OneTouch and Accu-chek. Both brands of meters essentially work in a similar way. A blood sample is taken from the finger using a lancing device, the resulting blood is placed on a specially coated test strip. This test strip is then placed into a meter. After 30-60 seconds the meter displays a blood glucose reading. Some patients need to test frequently and so testing in this way can be painful for the fingers. A lot of the newer meters such as Accu-chek Aviva and OneTouch Ultra use the latest lancing technology to minimise the amount of blood needed to test with thus resulting in less pain.
Urine testing
Urine glucose testing has the advantage of being painless but the downside of not being as accurate as blood glucose testing.
Urine testing can be more than an adequate method to test glucose levels for those diabetic patients that do not need exact readings. Often these patients will have a stable, predictable glucose profile day in day out and have been told by their physician that urine testing is suitable. It is important remember that glucose only appears in urine when glucose levels in the blood reach above 180mg/dL (10 mmml/L). If blood glucose levels are below 180mg/dL (10 mmml/L) glucose is unlikely to appear in the urine and a urine glucose test would not be able to provide a reading. It is therefore essential, when checking to confirm hypoglycaeima (very low blood glucose levels), that a blood glucose meter is used.
How to use urine testing strips
The main 2 makes of urine glucose test strips are Clinistix and Diastix. Visit the link below in the resource box to learn more about how to use them.
Interpreting blood glucose readings
How you interpret your results very much depends on the goals your doctor has set out for you and what you are testing for. A key point to remember is that blood glucose levels will be affected by food and diabetic medication.
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To learn more about how to use urine test strips visit:
www.glucosemeters4u.com/diastix.htm
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