Like Yogi Berra said, “If there’s a fork in the road, take it.” If you don’t know where you are, it’s hard to know where you’re going. With diabetes, it’s hard to know what to eat and what not to eat and how much exercise is enough without an idea of how it affects your blood sugar. You have to check your blood sugar!
You can get labs…
Getting regular labs through your doctor’s office is a start but how often can you do that? Your insurance is probably not going to pay for labs more often than every three to six months and few diabetics even see their doctor that often.
An A1C is helpful because it gives you an average of your sugars for about the last three months. But that’s not enough to plan your diet on a daily or weekly basis.
You can do finger sticks to check your blood sugar.
So, you should at least be doing random finger sticks to check your blood sugar during the week. Do a few fasting ones and a few 2 hours after a meal. Look for patterns in your behavior and your diet. You may want to do an extra one at times when you’ve gone off track with your diet or exercise. This data will help you to learn how YOUR body deals with sugar and particular foods. The data lets you know how your sugar does with times of intense exercise or inactivity from an illness.
New technology can be used to check.
I get it. Finger sticks to check your blood sugar are not comfortable. There is now an alternative. Today’s technology with continuous glucose monitoring can be a great help in educating you on how YOUR body deals with different carbohydrates. I won’t name particular brands of monitors to keep this information evergreen, but my understanding is that you need your doctor’s prescription and training to use it well and to get help from your health insurance to pay for it.
The bottom line is to check your blood sugar!
Having the most accurate and timely information on your blood sugar can empower you to really know how this disease affects your life. Diabetes is sneaky and can get out of control very quickly. Having timely information on your blood sugars can help your stay in control and not be a casualty of it.