OK, I’m not sure why there’s so much confusion over who needs to check their blood sugars and when but I’m hoping this post will clear things up a little.

If you are a diabetic patient, you should be checking your blood sugars regularly.  How regular depends on how well controlled your diabetes is.  Your doctor should be reviewing your numbers every 3 months and he will let you know whether he wants you to check daily, weekly, or several times a day.  If you are on insulin, you definitely need to be checking regularly, preferably with each meal and before you administer your insulin.  You should probably have a little notebook to keep record of the time and results of your testing.  You should also know what to do if the numbers are too high or too low.  Review this with your doctor at each visit if needed.

For those of us who are not diabetic, what should your blood sugars be?  If you are fasting overnight, your levels should not be higher than 100.  If they are slightly above 100 but less than 126, your doctor may simply ask you to start watching your carbohydrate and sugar intake.  If you blood sugars are above 126, your doctor will probably ask you to get retested.  If the blood sugars are well above 200, chances are you have diabetes already but didn’t know it.

  1. If you have high blood sugars but are not diabetic, make sure you go over the dietary changes you need to make with your doctor.  Get a nutritionist referral if you think you might need this.  And don’t forget that regular exercise will help.  Get rechecked.  If the blood sugars do not come down, you may need to get screened for diabetes again…and again…. you get the picture.
  2. If you are newly diagnosed with diabetes, your doctor will go over what the diagnosis means and what you’ll need to do with your diet and activity level.
  3. Don’t forget to ask for a glucometer or blood sugar testing kit and supplies.  Your doctor can write you a prescription to get this.  Remember that at the beginning of treatment, you’ll need to be checking your sugars very regularly, even if you are not on insulin.  Once your diet and blood sugars are better, you may not need to check as frequently.
  4. What sugar levels are too low?  This is especially relevant for someone on insulin since it may drop your blood sugars too much.  If your levels are in the low 70’s, you’ll probably want to eat something and perhaps delay any insulin administration.  Anything lower in the 60’s or less will usually cause symptoms and you’ll need to go drink some juice or take one of your sugar tablets right away.
  5. Don’t forget you’ll need to see the doctor every 3 months for your diabetes check up.

As a side note, women who have had diabetes during pregnancy are at increased risk for developing diabetes later in life.  Don’t forget to get screened.  When in doubt, ask your doctor if you need to be screened.

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