Diabetes management may include testing your blood glucose readings before and after meals to ensure that your treatment plan is effective in helping your body process carbohydrates. There's a general acceptable target range for blood glucose readings after meals, but your diabetes care team can work with you to determine the target range that is best for you.
Target
The American Diabetes Association recommends a blood glucose reading below 180 mg/dl two hours after a meal, including breakfast. The American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists recommends tighter control with a target reading of 140 mg/dl or lower at the same two hour point. In April 2011, the AACE issued new comprehensive care guidelines recommending that blood glucose targets be personalized by your diabetes care team based on your medical history, diabetes control, A1C readings and other contributing factors.
Procedures
Testing blood glucose levels properly is essential to accurate readings. Wash your hands thoroughly before testing your blood sugar. Wipe the test site with an alcohol swab as a second line of defense to keep the test site clean. Always check the expiration date on your test strip vial, and make sure that the coding number that appears with the strips matches the coding number on the meter before you test. Never test with the first drop of blood that appears. Wipe the first drop away with the alcohol swab and extract a second drop of blood for an accurate reading.
Warnings
If you experience dawn phenomenon, or abnormally high glucose readings in the morning, treat your high number before you have breakfast. Always aim to have your meal while your blood glucose readings are in the target range agreed upon with your care team. Having breakfast before your glucose readings are in the target range may result in increasingly high blood glucose numbers and dangerous long-term effects.
Considerations
Ensure that your meter is accurate by testing it with control solution once a week, and take it with you to your doctor's office to compare results from the office testing equipment and your meter. Verifying your meter's accuracy can prevent improper treatment of a false high or false low reading. Any contaminants on your hands or on the testing equipment can cause incorrect readings. Keep your strips clean and in the original container until you are ready to use them.
