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Action Set
Gestational Diabetes: Checking Your Blood Sugar
If you have gestational diabetes, you need to know when your blood sugar level is outside the target range. Fortunately, you can see what your blood sugar level is anywhere and anytime by using a home blood sugar meter.
- Knowing your blood sugar level helps youtreat low or high blood sugar before it becomes anemergency.
- Knowing your blood sugar level also helps you know howexercise and food affect your blood sugar and how muchinsulin to take (if you take insulin).
- Checking your blood sugar helps you feel more in control of yourdiabetes during your pregnancy.
How to test your blood sugar
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How to test your blood sugar
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Action Set
Here is a simple way to monitor your blood sugar at home.
Get organized
Before you start testing your blood sugar:
- Talk with your doctor about how often andwhen you should test. Record yourblood sugar testing times(What is a PDF document?).
- Linktesting your blood sugar with other daily activities, such as right after preparingbreakfast or right before your afternoon walk. This will help you establish the habit ofself-testing.
- Gather the supplies to test your blood sugar. Keepyour supplies together so that you can do a test quickly if you needto.
- Check your equipment before doing each test.
- Check the expiration date on your testing strips. If you use test strips after the expiration date, you may not get accurate results.
- Many meters don't need a code from the test strips, but some will. If your meter does, make sure the code numbers on the testing strips bottle match the numbers on your meter. If the numbers do not match, follow the instructions that come with your meter for changing the code numbers.
- Most manufacturers recommend that you use your meter's sugar control solution the first time you use the meter, each time you open a new bottle of test strips, and whenever you need to check the accuracy of themeter's results. Follow the instructions that came with your meter for using the control solution.
- Take care of your equipment. Put a copy of thecare of blood sugar supplies with your bag or kit to remind you.
Do the test
The more often you test your blood sugar, the more you will know about how well your treatment is working.
Follow these steps when you test your blood sugar:
- Wash your hands with warm soapy water, anddry them well with a clean towel.
- Put a clean needle (lancet) inthe lancet device. The lancet device is a pen-sized holder for the lancet. Itholds and positions the lancet and controls how deeply the lancet goes intoyour skin.
- Get a test strip from your bottle of testing strips. Putthe lid back on the bottle immediately to prevent moisture from affecting yourother strips.
- Get your blood sugar meter ready. Follow themanufacturer's instructions for your specific meter.
- Use the lancetdevice to stick the side of your fingertip with the lancet. Some devices and blood sugar metersallow blood testing on other parts of the body, such as the forearm, leg, or hand. Be sure you know whereyour device can be used.
- Put adrop of blood on the correct spot of the test strip, covering the test areawell.
- Using a clean cotton ball, apply pressure to the place whereyou stuck your finger (or other site) to stop the bleeding.
- Wait for the results.Some meters take only a few seconds to give you the results.
Record the results
Recording your blood sugar results is very important. Your doctor will use this record to see how well your treatment is working and to know if anything needs to be changed or if insulin needs to be started. Be sure to take your record with you on each visit to your doctor or diabetes educator.
To record your results, you can:
- Use a blood sugar diary(What is a PDF document?). You can record other information such as your exercise and what you have eaten.
- Use the memory-storage feature of your meter and other note-taking features. Find out if your doctor cantransfer the data to your medical record or if you can make reports to share.
Preventing sore fingers
Your fingertips may get sore from testing your blood sugar so often. Here are some tips to help prevent sore fingers:
- Do not prick the tip of your finger. It ismore painful and harder to get enough blood to do the test accurately. Also, donot prick your toes, because your feet can become infected.
- Don'tsqueeze your fingertip before you prick your finger. If you have trouble getting a drop of blood largeenough to cover the test area of the strip, hang your hand down below yourwaist and count to 5, or place your finger in warm water for a minute orso.
- Use a different finger each time. Set a pattern for whichfinger you stick so that you will not use some fingers more than others.
- Use a different device. Some blood sugar meters need smaller drops of blood. Some blood sugar meters canuse sites other than the fingers, such as the forearm, leg, or hand.
- Use a lancet with a different thickness, if possible. Some lancet devices can be set to prick your skin deeply or lightly depending on the thickness of your skin and where on your body you are getting the blood.
- Do not reuse the lancet. It can get dull and cause pain. A used lancet can carry bacteria that can make you sick. Somepeople reuse lancets anyway. If you do, wash your hands well each time. Keep the lancet covered with the lancet device cap. And use a new lancet eachday to reduce the chance for bacteria growth.
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ByHealthwise Staff
Primary Medical ReviewerKathleen Romito, MD - Family Medicine
Specialist Medical ReviewerRhonda O'Brien, MS, RD, CDE - Certified Diabetes Educator