All diabetic patients need to monitor their blood sugar, but in clinical practice, there are still many patients who do not know enough about some details or fall into monitoring misunderstandings, resulting in inaccurate, unreliable and sometimes unexpected monitoring results. Don’t be misled anymore by the following misunderstandings in monitoring diabetic patients.
Misunderstanding 1: Stop taking hypoglycemic drugs before taking blood tests
Many people with diabetes mistakenly believe that only by conducting a blood glucose test after stopping taking medications can the accuracy of the results be guaranteed. In fact, it is not advisable to stop taking the medicine whether it is testing fasting blood sugar or postprandial blood sugar.
When testing fasting blood sugar, the medicines (including insulin) taken the night before should be used as usual; when testing blood sugar 2 hours after a meal, the medicines (including insulin) taken before the meal should also be used as usual. Because the purpose of the test is to understand the patient’s blood sugar control under drug treatment.
Correct approach: Patients must not stop taking medicine without authorization because of blood tests for blood sugar. Not only will the test results not accurately reflect the condition, but it will cause blood sugar fluctuations and worsen the condition.
Misunderstanding 2: Deliberately eat less the day before the examination
In order to obtain a satisfactory test result, some patients consciously go on a diet before the test. The fasting blood sugar result measured in this way may be “ideal”, but it cannot represent the true blood sugar level in daily conditions.
Correct approach: The night before the examination, you should eat as usual and get a good sleep. In addition, please note that strenuous exercise, smoking and stimulating drinks (such as coffee, etc.) should be avoided before the blood test the next morning.
Myth 3: As long as you don’t eat breakfast, your blood sugar is fasting blood sugar.
Strictly speaking, only the blood sugar measured after fasting overnight for 8 to 12 hours and taking blood before 8:00 the next day is considered “fasting blood sugar.” The “super fasting” state for more than 12 hours and the blood sugar before lunch and dinner cannot be called “fasting blood sugar”. The result may be low due to long fasting time, and of course it may be high (rebound after hypoglycemia). hyperglycemia).
Fasting blood glucose can reflect the patient’s basal insulin secretion level and whether the food and medication taken the night before are appropriate.
Correct approach: Test fasting blood sugar. The fasting time should not exceed 12 hours. It cannot be defined by whether you have eaten breakfast.
Myth 4: “2-hour post-meal blood sugar” refers to blood sugar 2 hours after eating.
The “2-hour post-meal blood sugar” mentioned here refers to the blood sugar value measured from the patient’s first bite of meal to 2 hours after blood collection, rather than starting after the meal. Why is 2 hours calculated from the first bite of the meal instead of from the end of the meal? It’s just because the reference value now stipulated is such a conventional standard.
Under normal circumstances, blood sugar rises to the highest level 0.5 to 1 hour after a meal, and 2 hours after a meal, blood sugar should basically fall back to the fasting level before the meal. Blood glucose 2 hours after a meal can reflect the reserve function of the patient’s pancreatic islet B cells (the body’s ability to increase insulin secretion after increasing the sugar load), as well as whether the meal and medication dosage are appropriate.
