Using a Glucometer at Home

You will be testing several times a day for months, so it is worth getting the technique right at the start.

Wash your hands with soap and water and dry them before every test. This matters more than anything else here. Fruit juice, a sweet biscuit, or the residue from cutting a mango on your fingertip can push a reading far above your real level and send you into an unnecessary panic. If you cannot wash, wipe away the first drop and test the second.

Use the side of your fingertip rather than the centre — fewer nerve endings, so it hurts less — and rotate between fingers rather than using the same spot repeatedly.

Look after the strips. They are sensitive to heat and humidity, which matters in an Indian summer. Keep the vial tightly closed, keep it out of direct sun and away from the kitchen steam, and check the expiry date. Heat-damaged strips give wrong numbers in either direction.

Log every reading with the time and what you ate. You are collecting evidence for your next appointment, not just checking a box.

And if a reading looks wildly out of keeping with how you have eaten, wash your hands and repeat it before acting on it.