HELP ON DIABETES

GLUCOSE MONITORIG TIPS

Here are some additional monitoring tips:

• Cleaning your hands: Before testing, wash your hands, because lotions and other residues can affect the results. You do not, however, need to clean your fingertips with alcohol. 
• Coding your meter: Your meter may require you to enter a code for each new batch of strips (the number is on the container), or it may need you to insert a code chip that comes with each batch of strips. Failure to follow the proper coding procedure for your meter will give you inaccurate results. Meters are also supplied with control solutions—the outside of your glucose strip container has the range of numbers that you should get when you measure the glucose in the control solution. You need to use the control solution from time to time to make sure that the meter is giving accurate readings. If you run out of the control solution, call the manufacturer for more. 
• Obtaining blood: Each glucose meter comes with a lancet device and disposable 26- to 33-gauge lancets. Many lancet devices allow you to adjust the puncture depth so that you can make sure you can get an adequate blood drop. You can reuse the lancets, but you must not share the same lancet with friends or family because of the risk of transmitting a blood-borne viral illness. Remember, pricking your fingers on the side hurts less than if you prick the tip of your fi nger. 
• Choosing an alternate testing site: Quite a few meters have been approved for checking blood glucose in the forearm or thigh. However, you may want to avoid testing at these alternate sites because there is a fi ve- to twenty-minute lag in the glucose response on the arm compared to the fingertip. If you are checking to find out whether you are hypoglycemic, you definitely want to know what the number is now, not what it was fi ve to twenty minutes ago. 
• Avoiding expired test strips: Do not use expired testing strips, and always close the strip containers properly after each use. Out-of-date strips and improperly stored strips may give inaccurate results. 
• Obtaining accurate readings across the glucose range: All meters and the test strips are calibrated for glucose concentrations ranging from 60 to 160 mg/dl, but accuracy is not as good for glucose levels higher and lower than this range. When blood glucose is less than 60 mg/dl, the difference between the meter and the laboratory value may be as much as 20 percent. Keep this in mind if your levels fall above or below 60 to 160 mg/dl. 
• Identifying whole blood versus plasma glucose levels: Be aware that some older meters (such as the One Touch Profile) are calibrated against whole blood glucose concentrations, which means that displayed values are 10 to 15 percent lower than the laboratory glucose result. This is not true for many new meters, which are calibrated against plasma glucose. 

• Converting the metric system: In Europe and some other parts of the world, glucose is measured in SI units (millimoles per liter, written as mmol/L) rather than in milligrams per deciliter (mg/dl) as is done in the United States. To convert from mg/dl to mmol/L, divide by 18. For example, a glucose measurement of 100 mg/dl is the same as 5.5 mmol/L (100/18 5.5). If you buy a glucose meter in Europe, the results will be displayed in mmol/L. Do not confuse a reading of 5.5 on a European meter as 55 mg/dl! Some meters can be switched to show glucose levels in mg/dl or mmol/L, and it is important that you do not inadvertently switch the readings from mg/dl to mmol/L and misinterpret the glucose levels. Most new meters that are now being sold in the United States no longer allow this conversion. 
• Monitoring if you are anemic or are on supplemental oxygen: Suffering from severe anemia or being on supplemental oxygen can affect the readings on some glucose meters. So if you suffer from severe anemia or are on supplemental oxygen, check with the manufacturer of your meter to see whether your results will be affected.  

• Solving problems with your meter: If your meter is not working well or you are having problems, call the toll-free telephone number provided on the back of the meter, and the representatives at the meter company will help you.