by Laura Dunkley

Created on: March 21, 2009

You have been diagnosed with diabetes, it does not matter if it is Type 1 or Type 2, but you will need to be able to check your blood glucose levels. How you feel is not an accurate method of testing your blood sugar. The first time that many people are aware of elevated blood sugar levels is through a routine urinalysis or a Basic or Comprehensive metabolic panel. Both of the CMP and BMP will check your plasma glucose levels. Glucose spilling in your urine is one of the symptoms of uncontrolled diabetes where the excess glucose is removed via the kidneys.

The next test that you will probably encounter is the HgbA1c, a test that looks at the amount of sugar that attaches to the hemoglobin, the protein, in the red blood cells. This test looks at your glucose control over the life of the red blood cell, usually three months but can be checked as early as six weeks. Iron deficiency, and chronic blood diseases can affect your HgbA1c, resulting in lower blood sugar levels.

The next test is also done in the doctor's office, most primary care physicians don't do this but an endocrinologist will. This is another test that looks at the glucose attached to the red blood cell. Checking fructosamine levels can give an indicator of blood sugar control usually over the last two weeks.

Now that you have been poked and prodded in the doctor's office, time to do your own blood glucose monitoring. The first thing that you will need is a blood glucose monitor. Because Medicare covers glucometers, most insurance companies will pay for them and the strips. The problem here is that it might not be the one that you want. Sometimes you have to settle for what your insurance will pay for. The meters themselves range in price from about $30 to about $75. If your insurance will not pay for the meter, they will often pay for the strips because they have to. As a person with diabetes, they have to pay, there is no choice. Strips on average cost about $0.01 which is why many glucometer companies can afford to give away their meters. A free meter but you will pay for the strips.

How to use your meter correctly, should idealy be taught by your physician, nurse, or someone in the doctor's office. Setting up the meter is fairly simple and the directions included are written between the fourth and sixth grade levels. You have a meter, strips, a lancing device and lancets. Here is how to use your meter.

1 - Set up your equipment. Insert a lancet into the device and adjust the depth of injection, set

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