Glucose meter facts for kids
A glucose meter is a small, helpful device that measures the amount of glucose (which is a type of sugar) in a person's blood. It's super important for people who need to keep an eye on their blood sugar levels, especially those with diabetes mellitus or hypoglycemia.
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What is a Glucose Meter?
A glucose meter is a medical tool that helps people check their blood sugar at home or anywhere they are. It's about the size of a small cell phone. Knowing your blood sugar level helps you and your doctor understand how your body is using sugar for energy.
Why Do People Use Glucose Meters?
People use glucose meters mainly to manage conditions like diabetes. Diabetes is a health condition where your body has trouble controlling its blood sugar levels. If blood sugar gets too high or too low, it can cause health problems.
- Diabetes: For people with diabetes, checking blood sugar regularly helps them know if their medicine, food, or exercise plan is working. It helps them stay healthy.
- Hypoglycemia: This is when blood sugar levels drop too low. A glucose meter can quickly show if someone's sugar is too low, so they can get help.
How Does a Glucose Meter Work?
Using a glucose meter is quite simple. Here are the steps:
- First, you gently prick your finger with a tiny needle called a lancet to get a small drop of blood.
- Next, you place this tiny drop of blood onto a special test strip. These strips are made to react with the blood.
- Then, you insert the test strip into the glucose meter.
- The meter quickly reads the strip and shows your blood sugar level on its screen. This usually takes only a few seconds.
The meter measures how much glucose is in that tiny blood sample. This helps people make choices about their food, exercise, or medication.
Who Uses Glucose Meters?
Glucose meters are used by people with different types of diabetes.
- Type 1 Diabetes: People with type 1 diabetes often need to check their blood sugar several times a day. This helps them figure out how much insulin they need.
- Type 2 Diabetes: Many people with type 2 diabetes also use glucose meters. It helps them manage their diet and exercise, and sometimes medication.
- Latent Autoimmune Diabetes of Adults (LADA): This type of diabetes is similar to type 1 but develops more slowly in adults. People with LADA also use glucose meters to monitor their sugar levels.
Checking blood sugar at home became common for type 1 diabetes first. Later, it became more widely used for type 2 diabetes as well.
Images for kids
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CDC image showing the usage of a lancet and a blood glucose meter
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Continuous glucose monitor. The sensor and transmitter are fixed to the upper arm. The reader shows days to replacement of sensor, current blood glucose level and a diagram of the latest blood glucose levels.
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Two used Accu-Chek test strips. The lower one has had the cover peeled off to show the circuit.
See also
In Spanish: Glucómetro para niños
