Checking my Glucose Level Every Day

Every morning before I eat breakfast I check my blood glucose level (bG) on my handy dandy glucose meter. Yes, it’s the same old thing every morning, sticking my finger, putting the drop of blood on the test strip, and recording the number. Thankfully, my doctor tells me I only have to do this once a day.

But every month or so, I do something more. I go to the Accu-Chek website, log into my account, and type in all the glucose readings there. Because of this computer entry, I can do a number of things:

• Print out the readings for my doctor during my semi-annual visits. This way she can just glance down the page and see the highs and lows of the numbers. Anything over 140 bG is a red flag for her.
• I can graph averages. There are four different graphs (which measure an average over the last 3 months) I can create:
• Average Day
• Average Week
• Trend Graph
• Target Range

The Average Day shows me which days are the week are trouble for me. Believe it or not, Wednesday is my best day (with an average of 120 bG). However, weekends are trouble – I average 131.3 bG for Saturdays and 130.5 bG for Sundays. Come to think of it, I guess this isn’t a surprise after all, as weekends would be when I’m most likely to pig out or have sugar. By Wednesday I’m back in the routine, only to hit Friday and go right into weekend bad habits. I’ll have to watch that trend and try to reverse it!

The trend graph is pretty important, too, as it gives me an instant glimpse into whether I’m headed in the right direction or the wrong one. It’s important to remember that the graphs give you an average over the last three months, the time period that an A1C test would give you if you were in the doctor’s office.

I’ve found the blood glucose monitor to be a very good tool in controlling my diabetes. And the Accu-Chek website is just one more tool in looking at the numbers. Use of the website is free.