By: CDC

It’s important to your health to control your blood glucose (also called blood sugar). Keeping your glucose level close to normal helps prevent or delay some diabetes problems, such as eye disease, kidney disease, and nerve damage. One thing that can help you control your glucose level is to keep track of it. You can do this by Testing your own glucose a number of times each day (self-monitoring blood glucose).

Many people with diabetes test their glucose 2 to 4 times a day.Getting an A1C test from your health care provider about every 3 months. You’ll learn more about these tests on the next pages. These tests can help you and the rest of your diabetes health care team—doctor, diabetes educator, and others—work together to help you control your blood glucose.

Checking Your Blood Glucose Each Day

You can do a test to find out what your blood glucose is at any moment. Your health care team can show you how to do the test yourself. Using a finger prick, you place a drop of blood on a special coated strip, which “reads” your blood glucose. Many people use an electronic meter to get this reading.

Blood glucose testing can help you understand how food, physical activity, and diabetes medicine affect your glucose levels. Testing can help you make day-to-day choices about how to balance these things. It can also tell you when your glucose is too low or too high so that you can treat these problems.

Ask your health care team to help you set a goal for your glucose range and show you how to record your glucose readings in a logbook or record sheet. If you need a daily logbook, ask your health care provider for one. Or you can make copies of the records page. A sample log sheet is filled out to show you how to use each.

Be sure to write down each glucose reading and the date and time you took it. When you review your records, you can see a pattern of your recent glucose control. Keeping track of your glucose on a day- to-day basis is one of the best ways you can take charge of your diabetes.

Getting a Summary Lab Test (A1C)

By performing an A1C test, health provides can sum up your diabetes control for the past few months. An A1C test measures how much glucose has been sticking to your red blood cells. Since each red blood cell is replaced by a new one every 3 to 4 months.

This test tells you how high the glucose levels have been during the life of the cells. If most of your recent blood glucose readings have been near normal (70 to 140 milligrams per deciliter or mg/dL, with the higher reading mainly after meals), the A1C test will be near normal usually about 6%–7%.

If you’ve had many readings above normal, the extra glucose sticking to your red blood cells will make your A1C test read higher.You should get an A1C test every 3 months if your test results are not yet at goal. You should get an AIC test at least 2 times a year if your AIC results are at goal. Ask your health care provider for the results and record them on the records page.

Ask your team to tell you the normal range of values and help you set a goal for yourself. Write your goal down on the records page of this guide. If your A1C test results are high, work with your team to adjust your balance of food, physical activity, and diabetes medicine. When your A1C test result is near your goal, you’ll know you’ve balanced things well.

Having Problems with Low Blood Glucose

In general, a blood glucose reading lower than 70 mg/dL is too low. If you take insulin or diabetes pills, you can have low blood glucose (also called hypoglycemia). Low blood glucose is usually caused by eating less or later than usual, being more active than usual, or taking too much diabetes medicine.

Drinking beer, wine, or liquor may also cause low blood glucose or make it worse. Low blood glucose happens more often when you’re trying to keep your glucose level near normal. This is no reason to stop trying to control your diabetes. It just means you have to watch more carefully for low levels. Talk this over with your health care team.

Signs of Low Blood Glucose

Some possible signs of low blood glucose are feeling nervous, shaky, or sweaty. Sometimes people just feel tired The signs may be mild at first. But a low glucose level can quickly drop much lower if you don’t treat it. When your glucose level is very low, you may get confused, pass out, or have seizures. If you have any signs that your glucose may be low, test it right away. If it’s less than 60 to 70 mg/dL, you need to treat it right away.

Check your blood glucose again in 15 minutes. Eat another 10 to 15 grams of carbohydrate every 15 minutes until your blood glucose is above 70 mg/dL. Eating or drinking an item from the list on this page will keep your glucose up for only about 30 minutes. So if your next planned meal or snack is more than 30 minutes away, you should go ahead and eat something like crackers and a tablespoon of peanut butter.

In your glucose logbook or record sheet, write down the numbers and the times when low levels happen. Think about what may be causing them. If you think you know the reason, write it beside the numbers you recorded. You may need to call your health care provider to talk about changing your diet, activity, or diabetes medicine.

Tell family members, close friends, teachers, and people at work that you have diabetes. Tell them how to know when your blood glucose is low. Show them what to do if you can’t treat yourself. Someone will need to give you fruit juice, soda pop (not diet), or sugar. If you can’t swallow, someone will need to give you a shot of glucagon and call for help. Glucagon is a prescription medicine that raises the blood glucose and is injected like insulin.

If you take insulin, you should have a glucagon kit handy. Teach family members, roommates, and friends when and how to use it. Waiting to treat low blood glucose is not safe. You may be in danger of passing out. If you get confused, pass out, or have a seizure, you need emergency help. Don’t try to drive yourself to get help. Be prepared for an emergency.