Many people still use the self-monitoring diary, most commonly in type 2 diabetes, to keep track of their blood sugar results. Properly used, it provides a good, adequate view of the blood sugar balance. You can also record other events and therapy-related monitoring information in the diary.
It is useful to write the results measured at the same time on different days one below the other so that you can easily compare them. This gives you a quick idea of the meal pairs, i.e. your normal blood sugar before eating and a couple of hours afterwards. A pair of tests performed at bedtime and in the morning gives you a similar view, i.e. what your blood sugar is when you go to bed in the evening and when you wake up in the morning. You don’t have to record the exact times of day. It is more relevant to know whether the check took place before or after a specific meal. Normally, the diary includes a ready-made chart for the different meals of the day (breakfast, lunch, snack, dinner, supper).
If you use insulin, it is also important to make at least an occasional note of the injected insulin doses and amounts of carbohydrates consumed. It is also useful to make a note of different occurrences, such as exercise, low blood sugar symptoms or illness.
Human beings have a limited memory; it may be hard to remember something that happened just a few days ago. Remember, you can check and record the result from the blood sugar meter's memory later if you don't note it down immediately.
Diabetes care is a comprehensive matter influenced by various factors. Merely browsing individual results from the meter's memory during an appointment does not provide an adequate understanding of the treatment. Therefore, it's important that you record your results either in a self-monitoring booklet or, for instance, in a dedicated application where results can be viewed as a compiled printout or on-screen.