What is Blood Glucose Monitor?
Blood glucose monitors (also called blood sugar monitors), are used for diabetes management.
They allow you to quickly and easily check your blood sugar levels at home, without a practitioner’s oversight or assistance.
It is a little electronic testing machine, which uses lancets to draw blood onto glucose test strips, which the machine then evaluates to check your blood sugar levels.
How does Blood Glucose Monitor work?
There is a small protected pointed metal tip called a lancet used to draw blood onto glucose test strips.
When you press the tip against one of the recommended areas to test (i.e., finger, etc.), the lancet pricks your finger, allowing for a small amount of blood to come out. The small amount of blood (containing glucose) is applied onto the test strip that’s been connected to the blood glucose monitor, which the machine then checks.
Once it’s been checked, reading your blood glucose monitor’s results is really easy.
Once your blood glucose meter evaluates your small blood sample, it will provide you with a number that represents your current blood sugar levels.
Although some blood glucose meters in Canada may have a light system (i.e., red, yellow, green) that represents general blood sugar result measurements, it’s important to remember that the number is the most important part of your result.
The target that your practitioner tells you to aim for will be unique to you, based on your individual needs and biology. This is always the blood sugar range you’re aiming for, as it will be based on your practitioner’s knowledge of your personal health, needs, and medical history.
What is Blood Glucose Monitor used to treat?
How do you take Blood Glucose Monitor?
How long does Blood Glucose Monitor last after you take it?
What are the common side effects of Blood Glucose Monitor?
Who shouldn't take Blood Glucose Monitor?
Using Test Strips & Lancets with Your Glucose Monitor
If you follow the directions on your glucose monitor’s prescription packaging, it will explain the exact steps to follow for how to use a glucose monitor safely and effectively.
The process for putting a new blood glucose test strip into the monitor is a simple 4 steps:
- Prepare a test strip
- Immediately close the bottle lid tightly once you’ve removed a test strip, to prevent them from losing efficacy
- Insert the test strip into the glucometer as directed in the instructions
After that, measuring your blood glucose levels takes an additional 5 simple steps:
- Press the lancet of your blood glucose monitor against your chosen puncture site
- Stroke your finger or hand towards the area you’re going to use to help draw blood towards the puncture site
- Test the drop of blood as soon as you’re able to get a full one
- Press the drop onto the newly inserted blood glucose testing strip
- Wait for the blood glucose monitor to beep and give you a reading
If you happen not to get enough blood from that puncture site, the blood glucose monitor will tell you that it requires more blood for an accurate reading.
It’s important to dispose of blood glucose lancets in a sharps box each time you use one of your blood glucose test strips, in order to ensure each time you use your monitor, it’s a clean, fresh lancet.
SIDE NOTE: There is no such thing as a totally painless lancet for diabetes glucose monitors. However, the lancets used in our blood glucose test kits in Canada are designed to be as effective as possible at drawing the required amount of blood, while also being as painless as possible.
Get a Blood Glucose Monitor Online with Felix
In order to request a blood glucose monitor for diabetes management or blood glucose test strips in Canada, all you need to do is complete a short online assessment to get started.
Your assigned practitioner will evaluate whether they believe a glucose monitor, or a refill of test strips make sense for you, based on your needs, health, and medical history.
Best of all, our pharmacy partners can deliver your glucose monitor or blood glucose test strip, lancets, etc. in Canada, at no extra cost to you!
This is just one of the ways that Felix provides support and programs for diabetics across the country, which you can access from the comfort and privacy of your own home.
Further reading
