Checking your blood sugar regularly tells you whether your lifestyle, your physical activity, meal plans, and medicines (if you take any) are doing a good job controlling your diabetes.
There are two main ways to test your blood sugar level yourself. They’re easy to do and they take less than two minutes.
- Finger-stick method
- Noninvasive method
FINGER-STICK METHOD
Introduction
Most tools for testing blood sugar level involve pricking your finger with a tiny needle (lancet) to draw a drop of blood. Some draw the blood from your forearm. A blood glucose meter then “reads” your blood sugar level and shows the number on its screen.
There are many kinds of meters. Your doctor can help you choose one and show you how to use it. If you still have questions, check the instructions that came with your meter.
New options
Newer tools use a laser rather than a lancet to create the tiny hole needed to draw the blood from your finger. Other new devices test blood from less sensitive parts of the body than the fingertips.
These new devices draw blood in ways similar to the finger-stick method.
Finger-stick method (Step By Step)
Step 1
Wash your hands with warm water and dry them well with a clean towel. You can also use an alcohol wipe to clean the finger that you’ll draw blood from.
Hold your hand below your waist for a minute or so. This helps blood pool in the finger, making it easier to get enough blood for the test.
Step 2
After preparing your lancet and glucose meter, have a clean test strip ready. Stick the side of your fingertip with the lancet. There are many kinds of lancets and meters. Some draw blood from your forearm. Your lancet and meter may not look like the one in this photo.
Step 3
Put a drop of blood on the test strip.
Step 4
To get your results, follow the directions that came with your blood sugar meter. Some meters can give results in a few minutes.
Step 5
Write down the results and the time you did the test. (Some meters will automatically keep track of this information.)
Your doctor will use these records to see how well you’re managing your blood sugar level.
NONINVASIVE METHOD
Introduction
Another blood sugar tool does not draw blood. You wear it on your wrist like a watch and it takes the reading through your skin. It uses a slight electrical current to pull fluid through the skin and into the machine, where it measures the sugar level.
The watch can’t replace your regular finger-stick test. But the watch lets you see trends in how your blood sugar changes over the course of the day.
Noninvasive Method — Guidelines
Here are some general guidelines for checking your blood sugar level using the noninvasive method:
- Too much hair can make it hard to get an accurate reading. If you have lots of hair on your forearms, remove the hair before wearing the device.
- Wear the device for a three-hour warm-up before taking a reading. During this time, don’t bathe or swim.
- Adjust the device by entering a blood sugar measurement that you’ve gotten by the finger-stick method every time you use the watch.
- The device will automatically take readings every 20 minutes for up to 12 hours. It can be programmed to sound an alarm if your blood sugar reaches dangerously high or low levels.
