Devices

How do you measure your blood sugar?

Monitoring your blood sugar helps you understand how well you are maintaining your diabetes. Being able to test your blood sugar levels involves a blood test. Ideally, test blood with a glucometer to measure the amount of glucose in your blood. The steps include:

Pricking your finger with a spring-loaded lancet
Place the test strip into the glucometer
Placing the drop of blood on the test strip
Read and interpret the blood sugar level

Blood sugar should be monitored throughout the day, however, it is important to keep in mind the different instances that may cause a change in blood glucose such as illness, exercise, medications, and stress.

Normal blood glucose level ranges are important to remember so you can understand what to do next.

Hypoglycemic: below 70
Normal: 70-100
High: over 100

When critical high values are noted it is important to intervene immediately so you do not cause complications or even go into what is known as diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA). This is a life-threatening complication when the body breaks down fat too fast which is broken down by the liver into ketones causing the body to be very acidic.

Each of the following devices helps individuals with diabetes to better control and manage their disease with constant monitoring and quick actions to help identify critical values allowing individuals to be able to react quickly. If individuals do not have constant monitoring or inulin pumps they still have access to glucometers to help them quickly identify their blood sugar allowing them to react in a timely manner. Each of these devices has helped patients manage their disease progress and help prevent complications with their accurate monitoring and quick alerts.

Omnipod

The Omnipod is an alternative insulin management system. This system can deliver insulin through a small inner cannula that inserts into the skin with the push of a button. The device delivers personalized doses of insulin based on what you have set on your personal diabetes manager or on the Omnipod app you can download on your phone. You can enter your glucose values and carbs into the bolus calculator to calculate the amount you need to bolus. It can also change the amount of insulin needed based on the results of your continuous glucose monitor such as a dexcom.

Dexcom

The Dexcom is a wearable continuous glucose monitoring device that can connect to the Omnipod. It measures your blood glucose levels every five minutes and translates that information into easy-to-read data. This data is sent to your phone via the Dexcom app to help you identify if you are going high or low and allow you to perform the correct interventions needed, if any. The Dexcom works quickly to alert individuals within 20 minutes of hitting a critical low or high value. Overall, it provides 24-hour glucose monitoring, can easily alert you, and connects to the Omnipod to provide the insulin needed based on the blood sugar.

Insulin Pump

The insulin pump delivers insulin in the same manner as the Omnipod, it delivers continous and customized amounts of insulin based on the bodys needs. However, one of the differences noted is that the Insulin Pump has a flexible tubing attached to the pump and attached to the body through the infusion set. The insulin is delivered through an inner cannulua similar to the one seen in the Omnipod.