How And When To Check Blood Sugar


How frequently I should check blood sugar?

It is very important to keep an eye on your sugar, wherever you are and whomever doctor you see. In average once in 4 to 6 weeks should be enough to see the control. If the control is not good and treatment has been changed, you may think of doing more often. On the other hand, if control is very good and you are fine, you may do it every 2 - 3 months.

Which sugar is best to check, fasting, after food or random?

Fasting sugar is the most important one. Once fasting is well controlled then you can concentrate on sugar 2 hour after meal [Postprandial (PP)]. PP sugar is particularly important in pregnancy Diabetes. Random sugar checking does not make much sense in monitoring Diabetes, it has only a role to diagnose low sugar (i.e., you are not feeling well and you want to know your sugar on the spot) or a very high sugar like in Diabetic coma.

Who should check sugar at home?

Checking your own sugar at home is a wonderful idea. Having a machine at home does not mean you need to check everyday; you can make a plan how often you want to do. This is reliable and there is no reason to cross checks your home sugar with the laboratory. The best advantage of having a glucometer at home is to check your sugar when you are not feeling well so that you can know then and there whether blood sugar is the reason for you not feeling well.

How costly is sugar checking at home?

The machine cost now varies from Rs 1500 to around Rs. 3500 (quite a few types of machine is now available in India) and pack of strip cost around Rs 1000 for 50. So in comparison, on the long run checking sugar at home is not more costly.