Life is tough: the life of a person with diabetes is more challenging. There are many reasons. This ailment is the mother of several medical conditions. Its progenies include cardiovascular issues such as stroke, tissue (heart) inflammation, retinopathy, and organ damage. The only way to negotiate this condition is monitoring, and this is where a sugar test machine plays a crucial role. It also empowers and boosts well-being.
Self-monitoring of blood glucose (SMBG) has become the frontline tool for millions of people with diabetes around the world. The idea is to achieve targeted glycaemic goals and also prevent hypoglycemia or hyperglycemia episodes.
So, how is this goal achieved?
Today, healthcare professionals insist on SMBG. By monitoring several times a day, people with diabetes identify the foods and fitness options that enable them to maintain a healthy BG value. Based on these values, a doctor then designs a precise therapeutic regime. If the BG values are out of control or static, the treatment is diverted onto a different path, and a new diet, exercise, and insulin dosage is prescribed. A sugar tester therefore plays an important role as it is the span between the patient and glycaemic control/diabetes reversal.
Understanding Blood Glucose – How Sugar Testers Measure Vital Levels
SMBG empowers you with a tool that lets you always know your blood glucose levels. You can initiate this home-based test as many times as recommended by your diabetes team/expert. The rule of thumb is four times (early morning / empty stomach, before lunch, dinner, and bedtime). Interestingly, most of the modern sugar test machines function as store books, too. It simply means it records your BG value and saves it in its memory for future reference and designing an optimised treatment regime. Out-of-range variation is a signal that your current therapeutic treatment is inefficient/ineffective. Your doctor will most probably change your food and fitness regime and also tweak your medicine/insulin dosage. Studies have proved that SMBG helps achieve glycaemic control in insulin-dependent type-1 and chronic type-2. Remember, postprandial BG value allows precise insulin intake, preventing hypoglycemia events.
Health Insights – Interpreting Data Collected by Sugar Tester
You need to understand that as a person with diabetes or someone who takes care of an afflicted individual, SMBG is simply non-negotiable. Its readings, a source of vital health insights, are like a beacon, guiding you towards your glycaemic goal. Data provided by blood sugar testers reflects your current status and motivates, empowers, and signals regime change in case your SMBG journey loses direction. You also need to understand that SMBG is a patient-centric program. It means you are liable for your health goals. Blood sugar device data is the mantra towards diabetes management and diabetes reversal.
Continuous Monitoring – The Advantages of Regular Sugar Testing
Regular Sugar Testing / Continuous Monitoring offers the following advantages –
- Real-time, 90% to 95% accurate BG values.
- Provides a data bank which is easy to access and interpret.
- Some of the current breeds of sugar testers allow data transfer and sharing.
- Regular sugar testing makes sure you are making progress vis-à-vis your targeted diabetes goal.
- It boosts confidence, lowers emotional stress, and minimises dependence.
Healthcare Evolution – The Future Role of Sugar Testers
Although a sugar testing machine is an essential tool for self-monitoring blood glucose, it has its limitations and pain points. The most prominent amongst them are –
- Frequent finger puncturing which leads to procrastination and half-hearted attempts. This typically results in compromised health of people with diabetes management and thereby fluctuating BG levels.
- The frequent changes in the BG values are often misinterpreted or ignored, which again leads to poor glycaemic control.
Even so, the healthcare industry is working on revolutionary designs that are non-invasive and devoid of the frustrations mentioned above. The first step towards the development of new-generation sugar testers has already started. CGMs and FGMs are some of the examples. Although CGM is not 100% non-invasive, it does offer relief from frequent finger punctures. On the other hand, medical scientists are working on highly advanced self-monitoring technologies such as iontophoresis (Use of electric current to push the ions of a medicine into the tissues), Sonophoresis, etc. The only concern is the cost. Affordability is still a big issue with people with diabetes, especially when it comes to sugar test machines.
Read More: Avoid These 8 Common Blood Sugar Testing Mistakes
Conclusion
Sugar test machines are the lifeline of people with diabetes, especially gestational, type-1, and insulin-dependent type-2 individuals. While the majority of the people who have diabetes use a classic glucometer, a machine for sugar tests, those who rely on insulin opt for other devices such as CGMs or FGMs. Invasive and partially invasive sugar test devices often create a sense of animosity. People with diabetes tend to skip or delay tests, resulting in poor diabetes management. However, this will change in the coming days, as the healthcare industry is working on intuitive, non-invasive, super-smart, accurate, and rapid monitoring systems.
