Do Type 2 Diabetics Really Need to Self-Monitor Their Blood Sugar Levels?

Even if you have just been diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes, you more than likely have been living with it’s effects for many years… you just didn’t know about it! Sometimes the diagnosis is not made until a routine blood test or even a slowly healing infection, or maybe a ‘cluey’ dentist picked up unusual gum and teeth problems during a yearly check-up.

The management of Type 2 diabetes may seem complicated at first, but really it’s not. There is much you can do to take control of this condition. Treatment is centered around diet, or typically a change in diet, an increase in physical activity otherwise known as exercise, and sometimes medications.

Good diabetes care really is dependent on the Type 2 diabetic’s knowledge. Knowing how to take care of yourself is vitally important. Self-management will take a bit of time and effort each day… but the time you invest in yourself will pay off.. your health will improve as will your quality of life.

As with Type 1 diabetes, Type 2 diabetes is a condition in which the main problem is high blood sugar levels (BSLs):

• Type 1’s either make very, very little or no insulin
• Type 2’s produce plenty of insulin, but it is unable to do it’s job of carrying sugar into your cells

Therefore you end up with a build-up of sugar in your bloodstream.

This leads to why Type 2 diabetes need to self-monitor their blood sugar levels:

This is one of the greatest breakthroughs in the self management of diabetes… it’s blood sugar testing that is simple enough to be done at home with a glucometer. This type of testing makes it possible for you to really control your BSLs. It helps you to understand the effect of different activities including:

• eating various foods
• drinking different types of alcohol
• exercising
• stress and illness

Monitoring your own BSLs can help assure you the levels are in an acceptable range preventing some of the complications associated with diabetes.

What are acceptable blood sugar levels for a Type 2 diabetic?

In the person with Type 2 diabetes, BSLs can soar to many points higher than normal because the available insulin isn’t synchronized with the blood sugar.

In most people blood sugar levels above 150 to 160mg/dL (8.3 to 8.9mmol/L) are often a serious concern because that’s the level at which physical damage leading to complications is believed to begin.

Blood glucose monitoring targets:

Fasting… 80 to 120mg/dL (4.4 to 6.6 mmol/L)

Pre-prandial… 80 to 120mg/dL (4.4 to 6.6 mmol/L)

Post-prandial… 160mg/dL or less (8.9mmol/L)

Bedtime… 100 to 140mg/dL (5.5 to 7.8mmol/L)

Check with your doctor what your blood sugar levels should be.

Do you really need to monitor at all?

When self-monitoring was first introduced for checking blood sugars at home, doctors believed they would be useful in educating people with Type 2 diabetes. Unfortunately studies show that increased blood sugar monitoring has not necessarily improved blood sugar control.

What does this mean? Well it could mean:

• if you are on diet and exercise or tablets, you may chose to not monitor your BSLs at home at all
• if you do self monitor, then use it as an educational tool to see what happens to your blood sugar levels when you overeat, or to watch your blood sugar levels fall when you lose weight