How to Check Blood Sugar Levels

You can monitor your blood sugar levels by using a glucometer and a lancet device. A glucometer is a glucose or sugar meter. A lancet device holds lancets or needles for pricking your skin. Monitoring your blood sugar levels is essential to learning how to stabilize blood sugar for a healthier lifestyle. Your doctor will also do a fasting test once or twice a year to check your sugar as well as an A1C every 3 months. With these three tests, you are on your way to maintaining healthy blood sugar levels.

Things You'll Need

• Soap and water
• Lancet device
• Lancet needles
• Glucose meter
• Test strips
• Alcohol pad
• Recording log

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Instructions

• 1

  Wash your hands with warm water and soap. Not only does the soap clean your hands, but also the warm water helps bring the blood to the surface of your hands to make it easy for you to obtain a droplet of blood.

• 2

  Prepare your lancet device. Put a clean needle in the lancet device or rotate the knob to a new needle. Adjust the needle setting for your skin. For most people, the needle setting of three or four is deep enough to prick the finger and draw blood.

• 3

  Prepare your glucometer. Place a meter strip in the glucometer. The slot is in the top or bottom of the meter. The strip will slide in easily if placed correctly.

• 4

  Swab your finger with the alcohol pad on the area you wish to draw the blood. The newer glucometers allow you to test your blood from your fingers, arms, and legs. The fingers, supposedly, give the more accurate readings.

• 5

  Prick the area. Massage the finger or area to help the blood rise to the surface. Cock the lancet device by pulling the lever. Hold the lancet device against the skin and push the button. You will feel a slight prick as the needle enters the skin.

• 6

  Draw the blood. Place the meter strip against the droplet of blood and it will draw in the blood. Some meters will beep when they have enough blood. Wait 5 seconds and the meter window will read your blood sugar level.

• 7

  Record your results in your recording log. The meter reads your blood sugar levels as millimeters per deciliter or mg/dL. Normal readings are 70 to 100 mg/dL. For a diabetic, the readings have a larger span of 70 to 120 mg/dL. If you have eaten recently, the readings may be as high as 180 mg/dL. This will lower in a few hours, if you are managing your diabetes.