Managing Your Blood Glucose

Keeping your blood sugar (glucose) as close to normal as possible helps you feel better and reduces the risk of long-term complications of diabetes.

Checking Your Blood Glucose
People with diabetes work to keep their blood glucose as near to normal as possible. Keeping your blood glucose in your target range can help prevent or delay the start of diabetes complications such as nerve, eye, kidney, and blood vessel damage.

Tight Diabetes Control
Keeping your blood glucose levels as close to normal as possible can be a lifesaver. Tight control means getting as close to a normal (nondiabetic) blood glucose level as you safely can.

A1C Test
An A1C test gives you a picture of your average blood glucose control for the past 2 to 3 months. The results give you a good idea of how well your diabetes treatment plan is working.

New! Possible Interference with Blood Glucose Measurements from Certain Medical Products

The FDA wants to alert physicians, nurses, and other healthcare professionals who perform glucose monitoring of the potential for life-threatening falsely elevated glucose readings in patients who are receiving certain treatments. Specifically, patients who are receiving drug products containing maltose or galactose, or oral xylose, and who are subsequently tested using glucose dehydrogenase pyrroloquinolinequinone (GDH-PQQ) based glucose monitoring systems, may receive dangerously false BG readings.

There have been reports of the inappropriate administration of insulin and consequent life-threatening/fatal hypoglycemia in response to erroneous test results obtained from patients receiving parenteral products containing maltose. Cases of true hypoglycemia can go untreated if the hypoglycemic state is masked by false elevation of glucose readings. Since hypoglycemia may be life threatening, it is important that health care providers prescribing and/or administering products containing the above sugars be aware of possible interference leading to incorrect results.

Products known to cause this testing interference and additional information can be found on this site maintained by the FDA.