What Are You Using to Monitor Your Blood Glucose?

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If you have to check your blood glucose today, you can do it easily. That is because routine testing does not require such aids as lancets or test strips anymore. You can use flash glucose monitoring instead. This type of tracking system is not only considered convenient but easy, user-friendly, and discreet.

A Water-Resistant Monitor

The glucose monitor is convenient as it employs a small sensor that instantly gauges and stores glucose readings day and night. This type of glucose measure is easy to use as well because it is designed to be water-resistant. So, you can shower, swim, or exercise and still monitor your blood sugar levels.

Today’s glucose monitoring systems are user-friendly and therefore keep you up to date. This means that you receive your current reading with each scan. In addition, users can access the last eight hours of glucose data and see which direction their blood sugar is heading.

Sensor-Based Technology

This type of system is also discreet as scans, which take only a second to facilitate, can be taken through clothing. Plus, the reader for this type of blood glucose monitoring system is backed by a sensor-based protocol that reads the glucose data and immediately displays it to the user.

In addition, the reader is lightweight and compact and shows easy-to-read graphics that display a quick overview of a patient’s glucose history. The backlit colour touchscreen can be read in the dark too, thereby enhancing the user experience. Readers today can store up to 90 days of glucose information, which enables a patient to review his or her glucose data over three months.

Who Can Use the Monitor?

This type of flash monitor is indicated for measuring glucose levels in users who are four years or older and have diabetes mellitus. Diabetes mellitus is a condition where the body cannot properly use energy from the food that is consumed.

Diabetes, therefore, may result from one of two reasons:

  • The pancreas manufactures little to no insulin. Insulin is a hormone produced in the pancreas that assists the body in using sugar for energy.
  • The pancreas does produce insulin; however, the insulin does not help the body use sugar as it should. When this type of condition exists, it is defined as insulin resistance.

When the body uses food for energy, the process is known as metabolism. So, when you consume a drink or beverage, your food is broken down into glucose, which is a simple sugar that enables you to have the energy needed to work or play.

Two Types of Diabetes

Without insulin, glucose cannot access the cells in the body for energy usage. As a result, the sugar rises in the blood. In turn, hyperglycemia (high blood sugar) or diabetes materialises. Two types of diabetes are known. Type 1 diabetes happens when insulin-producing cells known as beta cells are damaged. These cells reside in the pancreas. People with Type 1 diabetes then must resort to injecting insulin into their bloodstream.

The other type of diabetes, Type 2, happens when no insulin or not enough insulin is manufactured in the pancreas. Most people have this type of diabetes. This type of diabetes is normally controlled through diet and exercise. However, some patients may take a medication or receive injections as well.