How do glucose meters measure blood sugar?
Generally speaking, you prick your cleaned finger with the lancet provided and place a drop of blood on a test strip that is then inserted into the meter. Some of the newer meters allow for alternative sites, such as the palm of the hand or the forearm. This is helpful for people whose fingertips get irritated, particularly folks who use their hands a lot, such as hairdressers, auto mechanics, typists or guitar players. However, the forearm is not as accurate if the blood glucose is too low, so we’re cautious about that. Test strips can come individually wrapped or in a disk or little cartridge, so you just punch a button on the machine and it automatically gets the strip ready for you. Once you place the blood on the top of the strip, the meter reads the test strip in anywhere from five seconds to 40 seconds and displays the glucose level. Most of the meters now store the numbers so that patients get an individual number, a summary of numbers over a 14- or 30-day period, and then an a
