Welcome to Reading Your Numbers

This course is for adults living with diabetes or prediabetes. It is also for the people who help them.

Blood sugar, also called glucose, is the sugar moving through your blood. A reading shows what glucose is doing in your body at one moment.

Think of it like a photo. One photo shows a single moment, not the whole story.

Each test answers a different question. A finger-stick meter shows one moment.

A sensor is worn on the body. It follows the day's ups and downs. It can trail your blood by about 5 to 15 minutes.

A lab A1C is a blood test. It shows the share of hemoglobin, a red blood cell protein, with glucose attached. That covers roughly the past two to three months.

Your care team looks at patterns over weeks and months, not at one number alone.

Notes about your readings help them see those patterns. Write down the time and anything you ate or did before the reading.

Bring what you notice, even when it seems small.

Key takeaways

• One reading shows glucose at one moment, like a photo.
• A meter, a sensor and a lab A1C each answer their own question.
• Notes on your readings give your care team more to work with.

Try it

Today, write down your most recent reading with the time and what you had just before it.