Diabetes Mellitus, also simply known as diabetes, is a condition that affects a significant proportion of the population.
It is a condition in which the body cannot appropriately manage sugar (as well as fat and protein) causing high level of sugar in the blood. This in turns spills to other organs of the body manifesting as passage of large quantity of urine, drinking more water, gaining or losing weight etc.
Drugs used in treating diabetes reduce the level of blood sugar. However, on some occasions, the sugar level can be too low (this is bad).
A device called a glucometer is used to determine the blood sugar level. It is a portable and easy to use device that every diabetic should have and know how to use. It provides a rapid way of checking your blood sugar in the convenience of your home.

The following are the steps to take to use the glucometer:

1. Get a glucometer.
There are different brands. I’ll recommend the Accu-Chek (I’m not getting commissions :-)), but any other will do.

2. Get other materials you’ll need. Be a boy scout.
Other materials include glucometer strips (appropriate for the glucometer), lancet (used for pricking the finger though a sterile needle will also do), cotton wool, methylated spirit (we don’t want any bugs), paper and pen.

3. Load the strip in the glucometer
This is where most people make errors. Don’t be one of them. Don’t switch on the glucometer. Simply insert the glucometer strip into the appropriate slot. The device will come on, check the strip code and give you a go ahead. The nature of the go ahead depends on the brand of the glucometer. Just check the display. It should be obvious. As long as it’s in a language you understand :-)

3. Prick the finger
Now to the fun part :-) But wait! We don’t want any bugs do we? So, make sure you clean the selected site with cotton wool soaked in spirit before you prick it. Choose a finger. Any finger will do. Clean the tip of the finger. Let it get dry. Get the lancet (or needle). Then prick the finger tip, on the soft fleshy part. No need to go deep. You need just a drop of blood :-)

4. Put the blood on the strip
The glucometer strip has a space for the blood. Remember, the glucometer is loaded already. Pick it up and place it such that the strip comes in contact with the blood. The blood will flow into the space provided. A beep will let you know when enough blood has entered the strip. The glucometer will then check the sugar level. The value should be out in some seconds.

5. Don’t forget to stop the bleeding. Put a piece of dry cotton wool and the puncture site and apply pressure.

6. Record the results
You can do this on paper or any other storage medium. Some glucometers store some results in memory.

7. Follow your doctors instruction on what to do based on the result.

With this I hope you can successfully check the blood sugar level. It shouldn’t fall below 70 mg/dL (or 3.9 mmol/L).

How did you find it?