Using a Glucometer Correctly

A glucometer is only as good as the way it is used. Most unreliable readings come from technique or storage, not from a faulty machine.

1. Wash your hands with soap and water and dry them. Fruit, sweets or chai on the fingers will give a falsely high reading.
2. Avoid using spirit or sanitiser if you can — if you do, let it dry completely first.
3. Prick the side of the fingertip rather than the pad. It hurts less and bleeds more easily.
4. Let a drop form on its own. Squeezing hard pushes tissue fluid into the sample and skews the result.
5. Rotate fingers so the same spot is not used repeatedly.

Timing matters as much as technique. A fasting reading means before eating or drinking anything except water in the morning. A post-meal reading means two hours from the first bite, not from when you finished.

Write down what you ate alongside the reading. A number by itself tells you very little; a number next to "two rotis, dal, sabzi" tells you something you can act on.

If a reading looks wrong for how you feel, wash your hands and repeat it before responding to it.