How to measure blood sugar

At present, diabetes is still an irreversible lifelong disease. It itself has no fatal impact on the human body. However, various complications caused by diabetes may lead to serious consequences such as stroke, myocardial infarction, blindness, amputation, and even total paralysis.

 

Surveys show that the number of diabetics in my country is constantly rising. Diabetes experts call that only by allowing diabetics to truly realize the importance of monitoring blood sugar and learn to eat properly, exercise, and take medication according to blood sugar changes is the top priority to prevent my country from becoming a major country with diabetes. Professor Yuan Shenyuan, director of the Beijing Diabetes Prevention and Control Office, said that the proportion of type 2 diabetes in China is much larger than that in Western countries, and the age of onset tends to be younger. From a clinical point of view, patients in their 30s and even teenagers are not uncommon, and it is estimated that there will be 30 % of people with type 2 diabetes develop the disease before the age of 40, so the prevention of type 2 diabetes now has to start with students.

 

Genetic factors, changes in eating habits, obesity, lack of physical activity, and stress and anxiety are all causes of diabetes. At present, diabetes is still an irreversible lifelong disease. It itself has no fatal impact on the human body. However, various complications caused by diabetes may lead to serious consequences such as stroke, myocardial infarction, blindness, amputation, and even total paralysis. According to surveys, diabetic patients are 25 times, 17 times and 7 times more likely to suffer from retinopathy, uremia and amputation than ordinary people. The typical symptoms of diabetes are three more and one less, namely polyuria, polydipsia, polyphagia and weight loss. However, when these symptoms appear, it is often in the middle and late stages of diabetes.

 

In countries such as Europe and the United States, people over the age of 35 usually start testing blood sugar. Experts believe that people in my country who are over 45 years old, have a family history of diabetes, hyperlipidemia, high blood pressure, are overweight, obese, and have a history of giving birth to macrosomia, should have their blood sugar tested as early as possible. High-risk groups should not only measure fasting blood sugar, but also measure postprandial blood sugar, because most people with abnormal postprandial blood sugar are people with abnormal glucose tolerance and metabolism. Although they are not yet diabetic, they are the reserve army of diabetic patients. 30% of them will. become diabetic. Early detection and early prevention can save a lot of treatment costs, and patients can also save a lot of pain.

 

A very confusing phenomenon of diabetes is that often when patients feel very good, the actual blood sugar content in the body has reached 300 to 500, which is much higher than the standard. The reason may be that the human body will experience some transient blurred vision when blood sugar has just risen, but the patient did not take this seriously. His body gradually got used to the state of high blood sugar, and naturally it would not Any adverse reactions. The absence of adverse reactions does not mean that the blood sugar will come down on its own, but that the patient's body has adapted. However, as the blood sugar in the body remains at a high level, other organs will gradually develop lesions, which is what we call complications. Therefore, patients need to use a blood glucose meter at all times instead of relying on their feelings to control their blood sugar. However, the current situation in our country is that both ordinary people and patients do not pay attention to blood sugar testing. Only 8% of patients consciously have symptoms of diabetes and go to the endocrinology department of the hospital to test their blood sugar, and 20% of patients discover it when seeing eye diseases (diabetic complications). Yes, 10% of people have skin boils and swollen skin. After examination, they are suffering from diabetes.

 

According to statistics, half of diabetic patients already have macrovascular disease in their bodies when they first go to the hospital for treatment. The International Diabetes Federation defines psychology, diet, exercise, medication and monitoring as the five major elements of diabetes treatment. Only by truly understanding diabetes, eating properly, exercising, taking medication on time and monitoring in real time can you live a healthy life. Live a normal life and reduce the occurrence of complications. The most basic of these five items is "real real-time monitoring". It is not only the "eyes" for diabetic patients to understand their blood sugar conditions, but also a means of measuring other blood sugar control methods. , the basis for the correctness and appropriateness of diet, exercise and medication. According to a long-term diabetes survey, if blood sugar can always be controlled close to normal levels, the incidence of diabetes complications can be reduced by nearly 60%.

 

Although it is widely known that controlling diabetes requires “instant blood glucose monitoring”, people who really need immediate monitoring often ignore this issue, which creates obstacles for doctors to develop scientific and individualized blood glucose control plans for patients. In the past, patients had to go to the hospital to draw blood to test their blood sugar, which was inconvenient, time-consuming, cumbersome, and expensive. Moreover, doctors could not understand the patient's blood sugar situation in a timely manner and could not develop a diet, exercise, and drug treatment plan for the patient. . Therefore, doctors recommend that patients learn to use a blood glucose meter to monitor themselves in real time.

 

It is best for diabetic patients to test their blood sugar once a day in normal times. If they are adding medication or taking insulin, it is best to test their blood sugar 4 times a day. Diabetics in the United States test their blood sugar 1.4 times a day on average, but most patients in my country cannot do it. Some cannot even test their blood sugar twice a month. Experts believe that there is no difference between testing twice a month and not testing at all. None of them play a monitoring role.