If your blood sugar levels are higher than they should be you are not alone. Despite the known benefits, there are many reasons why people with diabetes may not achieve ideal blood glucose control. Apart from the challenges of juggling medication with diet and finding time to exercise regularly, there are issues like stress, depression, pain and poor mobility, illness and the quality of the food you consume.

There are also many diabetics who don’t know the levels they should be aiming for, or maybe they don’t use a home monitor.

1. Monitoring your blood sugars is a must. Nothing has improved the life of a diabetic as much as their ability to measure their own levels with just a drop of blood. Once the only way was to test urine for glucose, this could tell you if the level was high but not if it was low. Therefore it was not an effective way to control their levels.

2. How often should you test This is determined by the kind of diabetes you have, the type of treatment you are using and the level of stability of your blood sugars.

• if you have type 1 or type 2 diabetes and are using insulin, you need to test before each meal and at bedtime. You do this to gain information you may need to adjust your medication dose. Keep a record of your results with the date and time as this will guide you and your health care provider when making any adjustments. Many test after meals also.
• if you have type 2 and are controlled by tablets, diet and exercise, it is not unusual to just test twice a day, before breakfast and dinner
• the home monitor is also useful to test your levels after you eat something not normally part of your diet and you want to check its effect
• if you are about to exercise, a blood test can tell you whether you need to eat before starting to exercise, or whether the exercise will bring your levels down
• if your glucose levels have been unstable and you are about to drive, it is a good idea do a blood test before getting into the car to make sure you are not on the verge of becoming hypoglycemic

3. Determine your blood glucose goal. The best way to work out this goal is in consultation with your health care provider or diabetes care team.

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