Avoid Highs and Lows

Anticipate going up and down by checking your glucose value often and using the trends.

1-Hour Trend

The 3 Glucose Zones — Low, Target, High — are developed with your Diabetes Care Team.

Anticipate Alerts: Check often to stay in the Target Zone.

The dashed lines in this graph show a sample target zone of 100 mg/dl (low) to 200 mg/dl (high). When glucose goes above or below your target zone, the continuous glucose monitor will alert you.

Always use trend information & glucose value

The value and the direction your glucose is headed are important.

Going out of the target glucose zone

Headed back to the target glucose zone

 

Glucose trends show your glucose levels over a period of time. Both your glucose value and direction that your glucose level is headed is important. From the glucose trend graphs below, you can see that the same glucose value of 220 mg/dl can mean different things, depending on the trend:

Rising Trend

In this graph, the glucose value is above the target zone and is continuing to rise. After confirming the reading of 220 mg/dl with a fingerstick, a rising trend such as this one may prompt you to continue monitoring your glucose, take additional insulin or begin exercising (depending on your treatment program).

Falling Trend

In this graph, the glucose value is falling and is headed back into the target zone. After confirming the reading of 220 mg/dl with a fingerstick, a falling trend such as this one may prompt you to "watch and wait." If the trend continues to fall rapidly, even if the glucose reading is still within the target zone, it may prompt you to eat some fast-acting carbohydrates (depending on your treatment program).

Constant Trend

In this graph, the glucose value is above the target zone and is constant. After confirming the reading of 220 mg/dl with a fingerstick, a constant trend such as this one may prompt you to take additional insulin or begin exercising (depending on your treatment program).

Don't Overreact — Understand Turnaround Times

Turnaround time is the amount of time it takes to reverse a trend. The time it takes for insulin to be absorbed is often longer than the time it takes for food to be absorbed into the bloodstream. Sometimes this time difference creates a "turnaround time."

		Example of Turnarond Time:
	12:00 p.m. — Ate and took insulin 12:45 p.m. — Glucose starts to rise 1:30 p.m. — Insulin peaks 2:00 p.m. — Glucose levels off and starts to fall 3:00 p.m. — Current glucose reading is 149 mg/dl
			Glucose is back in target zone

Using Trendlines

These 3 charts show the same trend line shown over different periods of time: 1 hour, 3 hours, and 9 hours.

1-Hour Trend	3-Hour Trend	9-Hour Trend

This is an example of a person who ate a meal and took insulin at noon. Soon after the meal you can see the glucose trend starting to rise. Although glucose initially went up, the 3-hour trend graph shows that it began to level off and then went back into the target range (as insulin began acting and bringing the glucose level back down).

The 1-hour and 3-hour glucose trend graphs are the best graphs to show that the rise in glucose is leveling off, indicating that a "watch and wait" approach may be appropriate. This "turnaround time" needed to reverse the trend is shown in the shaded area of each of the three graphs.

The 3-hour and 9-hour glucose trend graphs show that the total turnaround time in this example was about 2 hours.

Measure your improvement daily

Use the 9-hour trend screen to check your progress.

Long-term goal: Stay between the lines and in your target zone.

Check your progress regularly.