Blood sugar testing

Testing your blood sugar can help you decide how to take care of your diabetes. If your blood sugar is too low or too high, you might change:

• Diabetes medicine
• Meal plan
• Exercise

Reasons to check blood sugar

• Improve blood sugar control
• Know how food, exercise, and medicine affect your blood sugars
• Make changes to your medicines
• Manage illness

When to check blood sugars

Testing is based on each person’s diabetes plan. You may be asked to test one time a day or many times a day. Below are the times of day you should test:

• Before meals
• Two hours after meals
• Before bed

Other times you should test

• Before exercise
• Before you drive if you take insulin
• If you feel you have a low blood sugar
• After having a low blood sugar until it is back to the normal range

When to call your doctor

The following conditions should be discussed with your doctor.

• Blood sugars over 250 (or your set range) for more than 24 hours
• Low blood sugars four or more times per week
• A blood sugar so low someone else had to help you treat
• A low blood sugar that caused you to not feel well