Diabetes Blood Sugar Level

Diabetes blood sugar level is so important and explained clearly here. My daughter, Allie, was 42 years old. She was newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. She had twin boys, Peter and Paul, who were ten years old.

She learned the process of testing for diabetes when she was pregnant. She had gestational diabetes during the third trimester of her pregnancy. She told me yesterday that she didn’t understand the numbers. She also didn’t know why she had to chart her numbers for Dr. Floyd.

Blood Sugar Levels

I decided to visit Allie in the morning when she returned from the Y. I thought I could help her understand the glucose readings.

The glucose in your blood is measured in milligrams per deciliter. One milligram is about the size of a grain of sand. A deciliter is about one-tenth of a quart or about 3 ounces of liquid. We are talking about small amounts.

People who do not have diabetes have fasting blood glucose levels generally between 70 – 110 mg/dL. A diabetes blood sugar level is above 126 mg/dL. If your blood glucose level is at 200 mg/dL, that is equivalent to two hundred grains of sand. Compare that with 100 grains of sand in a normal person. It is twice as much glucose in your blood.

Glucose Meters

The testing for diabetes at home, several times a day, uses a blood glucose meter and diabetes test strips. The glucose meter is smaller than the size of a cell phone. The diabetes tests strips are smaller than a paperclip. One end fits into the glucose meter and the other end accepts a drop of blood from your fingertip.

The worst part of home testing is pricking your finger. You really do get used to it. You learn how to prick your fingertip ever so gently. You need just a small drop of blood for the test.

The current glucose meters give you results in 5 seconds. They are very fast. The number is in milligrams per deciliter. And, the meters have a memory feature with the exact time of day you measured your glucose blood level.

Chart Your Numbers

I explained to Allie that it is very helpful for your doctor if you have a list of the blood glucose numbers with the time of day in a chart form for him to look at. If it were I, I would transfer the numbers in my meter’s memory to a piece of paper to show my doctor.

Allie balked. “That is redundant”, she exclaimed. Let the doctor look at the memory in her meter. I figured that she didn’t know how easy it would be to chart the numbers once a day into an Excel spreadsheet. I decided I would show her.

We opened Excel. I made four columns.

Early Mornings Late Afternoons Early Evening Before Bed

In each of these wide columns she could enter the exact time and the blood glucose number. After a few days, you should see a pattern. The numbers might be down in the late afternoon. The numbers might be up in the early morning.

You may need a snack at 3 or 4 pm to keep your blood sugar levels even. The morning numbers will always be high because of hormones in your body when you wake up.

Testing for diabetes glucose numbers allows you to see how what you eat affects the glucose readings. It will help you to make changes in what you eat. Some pasta salad may elevate your glucose to unsafe levels. The only way you know this is to test your blood glucose.

Conclusion

Allie called me again to say she was noticing a pattern to her glucose numbers. She thanked me for showing her how to use the Excel spreadsheet. All you need is a piece of lined paper to make a chart. Hopefully you have a better understanding of your blood glucose numbers. Let us know if you have any questions.

Margaret Stenerson
March 10, 2010