Blood Glucose Meters or Urine
Test Strips - Which is Best? For every diabetic having knowledge
of your own glucose (sugar) levels can be vitally important in controlling your
diabetes. The current treatments in diabetes, whether medicines or diet, focus
on trying to keep blood glucose levels as close to normal as possible. There
are two main ways to monitor the body's glucose levels, testing for blood glucose
and testing for urine glucose. Both methods have their advantages and disadvantages.
Which method you choose depends on what your doctor advises you.
Blood
glucose meters Testing blood glucose levels has become very simple and
very accessible thanks to a whole range of blood glucose meters on the market.
Checking glucose in this way is the most accurate method. This is especially important
for patients with Type 1 Diabetes (Insulin dependent) and some patients with Type
2 Diabetes requiring insulin. This is because some of these patients can make
adjustments to their insulin dose depending on their blood glucose test results.
Also patients with diabetes may experience very low blood glucose levels
called hypoglycaemia or very high blood glucose levels called hyperglycaemia.
Often there are signs and symptoms of both. Using a blood glucose meter to provide
an exact reading can help reassure or confirm that action must be taken. Some
meters even have alerts to make you aware of very low or very high blood glucose
such as the One
Touch Ultra 2.
How does a blood glucose meter work? The
2 main meters on the market at present are Accu-chek
Aviva and One
Touch Ultra Mini. Both meters use the same basic principle. A blood
sample is taken usually from the finger using a finger pricking device. The sample
is placed on a specially coated test strip which is then inserted into the blood
glucose meter. Within a minute the meter will give you a result. The main drawback
of this method is that it does require pricking your finger each time to take
a blood sample. This, for some, can be a nuisance. However, with recent advances
in meter technology the amount of blood required for a test is minimal. This in
turn can mean less pain when pricking the finger.
Urine testing Urine
strips have the advantage of being pain free but the disadvantage of not bring
as accurate as a blood glucose meter. For some, urine testing is a more
then adequate method to test glucose especially for diabetics who do not need
exact blood glucose levels. Glucose only appears in the urine (for most people)
when glucose levels in the blood reaches above 10 mmol/L (180 mg/dl). At this
point the kidney can no longer reabsorb all the glucose being filtered and glucose
appears in the urine. If you blood glucose levels are below 10 mmol/L (180 mg/dL)
then urine test strips will not provide a result. Thus always use a blood glucose
meter when testing for low blood glucose levels, hypoglycaemia as it will give
you an accurate reading regardless of what your blood glucose is. How to
use urine testing strips The main two makes of glucose testing strips are
Clinistix
and Diastix.
Click on either to learn more about how to use the urine strips. SummaryThere
are advantages and disadvantages in using either product groups. Blood glucose
meters are great for accuracy but poor on pain/discomfort when compared to Urine
Glucose Strips. However, Urine Glucose Strips are not as accurate as a glucose
meter but are accurate enough to use for most diabetics and importantly they are
pain free! To learn more about our glucose meter range click on our Glucose
meter link and also to learn more about or urine strips range click
on Urine
test strips. Related Articles
-
10
Essential Tips On Getting The Right Glucose Meter
- Glucometer
comparison table - How
to use urine test strips (Clinistix page) |