How many times a day do you test your blood sugar?

As I was going through my blood sugar results on my meter, I realized that I had taken my blood sugar 15 times today. Now, if you’ve read my last discussion, you know that I am trying to have better control of my blood sugar and lower my A1C, but is 15 times too much for one day? All of my readings have been so good today, ranging from 102-190 (which is great compared to my usual readings of 200-300). I’m just curious to see how many times you guys check your blood sugar in a day in order to keep your numbers at a reasonable level.

I don’t think there is any set number of times one should or should not test their BG. Some people who are very stable and predictable can test less; others who have wacky schedules and wacky bodies need to test more.

I think the acid test is, is the testing making you feel more secure, or is it feeding on anxiety? For me, knowing where my BG is makes me feel more secure, and more in control. But there are other people who just freak out at minor differences, and need to back off a bit. You can’t let diabetes take complete control of your life, but you have to have a way to control IT, and still live your life to the fullest in the best emotional state possible. You are the only one who can decide what is a comfortable place for YOU, and I just hope you have a doc who will cooperate!

Acid likes around 12-15? Some may be a bit superfluous but it’s better to know than not to know. :slight_smile:

I like to test 5-7 times a day as a minimum. Even when I’m slacking off, I test when I wake up, before I sleep, and before I drive/go out somewhere. Sometimes I test more when I’ve eaten a big meal or if I’m not sure if I bolused correctly for something new, but 5-7 is my ballpark number.

I wouldn’t say that’s too often. That’s a little bit more than I do. I check my blood sugar every two hours or so, more if I feel weird at all, and definitely if I hit a low. I worried I was being compulsive, too. But honestly, if that’s what it takes to keep your sugars under control (I have trouble with mine, and I too am trying to lower my A1C) then you do what you need to. Glad for extended medical or it would be a really costly habit.

Hmmmm…7-10, and more when I feel it necessary.

5-10

Well, I think the number of readings that’s appropriate really depends on your situation. Before he got his CGM (which helps reduce how often we need to test because we can see his trends better), when my son’s BGs had been stable, I tested 6 or 7 times – first thing in the morning before breakfast, midday (snacktime), noon, mid afternoon (snacktime – little kids eat a lot!), dinner, before bed, and occasionally during the night at bare minimum. Those are the tests we still do, even with the CGM, because the CGM isn’t always accurate. Sometimes he gets an additional test at 4-5, between his pm snack and dinner, because he does a lot of running around in the afternoons and often burns off the glucose in his system before dinnertime, and more often than not I forget to put a temp basal on during those hours… although it depends on the weather how that affects him. But when his BGs aren’t steady, he gets tested more often. Before we got his CGM, 12 times in a day wasn’t uncommon when he’d been all over the map–especially at night. Often he’d go high after 10 PM and I’d have to test him to figure out where he was at so I could dose him, then test him again an hour later to make sure the dose was working.

Since you’re in a situation right now that you’re working to stabilize your BG, I don’t think 10-15 tests daily is unreasonable. You can’t put a stop to your highs if you don’t know they’re happening, and right about now you’re probably not even sensitized to them – you may even be feeling hypoglycemic even when your BG is in the lower end of normal (that is to say, if you were to go to, say, 75 or 80, you might feel pretty crappy and think you’re low). So don’t worry about it too much (you know that stress raises blood sugar, right? Sad but true…) and test however often you think you need to in order to reach your goal of a lower A1c.

Maybe when they’re really good and you know you have your basal right on, you can cut back! I test about 7 x. I think 102 is great. If I eat something, I give insulin, so ask me how many syringes I use! That’s 7 a day, too.

If I feel like things are under control, probably about 3-4 times a day. If it’s a rough patch, 6-7.

I can keep my A1C at 6 to 6.2 if I check at least 14-15 times a day. It can be more depending on what’s happening that day with meals, etc. I feel you should do as many as it takes for you to know “where you are” rather than “where are you?”

I test about 10 times per day on average but if I’m having a tough day - today was one - I may go for closer to 15. If you can get the strips (and can afford them) there is no reason not to test 15 a day if it is providing you with useful information. Once you have some confidence that you can keep your numbers in your desired range most of the time, you may be able to cut back.

Maurie

I’ve been using 15-16 strips/day for the last several years. I also use a CGM but like to confirm its accuracy with fingersticks. Especially when making food and insulin dose decisions I prefer to use a fingerstick rather than the CGM.

I dropped from 8.5 A1c to the low 6’s over the last three years with abundant monitoring of my BG. More data points make for better overall decisions.

I out a field engineer, so I test every time I get in the car. Also before every meal and 2 hours after. Add to that before I go to bed, it adds up to a lot of testing. Sometimes 12 to 15 times a day and on real long days I maybe higher numbers of tests.

There is no wrong number of tests you should do a day - it depends on the circumstances. If you are going through some highs - say, due to an infection, then you would want to test more often, but if you are not doing too badly, then 15 does seem a lot. That would be a lot for your fingers - and at this time of the day I cannot work out the sum 24hours x 15 tests. So how often are you testing? Sugar levels fluctuate throughout the day, but the usual times to test are before each meal and if you are worried, two hours after each meal, when the insulin that you inject would have had time to work, and bed time. If you were eating 3 meals a day, that would be 8 at the most.

I test 3-5 times a day, my hard steadfast rule “always test, never guess”

I usually test around 6 times a day. I just got a CGM and noticed when I am “stable” my finger pricks match pretty closely to my CGM so that just gives a better idea of where I am at any given time during the day. If I am exercising or have alerts going off or just feel “off” I will test more often. I think 10-12 is my max because that is about every 2 hours. I don’t really think testing more frequently than that is necessarily beneficial. Or maybe I just don’t like to poke myself that much! If it is working for you then I say go for it!

8-10…sometimes more. rarely less.

I am a type 1 pumper I average 10-11 times a day. My target blood sugar is between 100-110 and my A1C is running 6.7 Sometimes I get kinda crazy with the numbers, but I just want to know.

As many times as needed, and sometimes it’s not enough! Now having issues with glucose meters accuracy: I now have a Lifescan One Touch Ultra 2 and an old Accuchek Active, and their numbers are different… difference of 30 mg/dl just now, which is annoying.