When I have a lot going on, I always put aside testing my blood sugar. I'll go from checking 10 times a day to checking 4. With that much of a drop in tests, I can easily see my numbers start to rise across the board. So now that I've sat down with my logbook for the first time in two weeks, I can see the times of day that I don't test and what follows that.

I'm relentless about checking first thing in the morning. As soon as I wake up, my meter is sitting right beside me so it's easy to check before my feet even hit the floor. That regimen allows me to start my day off with a good decision: juice for lows and insulin for highs. Unfortunately, the rest of my day doesn't go as smoothly.

Mid-morning and lunch checks have always been my downfalls. I remember back in pediatric endo when they told me to check at lunch for at least 2 weeks just to see where we were and I struggled through that. I have no idea what it is about that time of day (maybe just never making it a habit), but I find myself sailing through my day or enjoying a meal without thinking about my blood sugar. It's not a habit that I'd like to keep; I'd much rather continue my day knowing where I actually stand in the blood sugar world than guessing when it comes to the afternoon.

Late afternoon is always an issue for me, so I'm fairly good about checking my blood sugar then. I tend to run low at that time of day so I usually check to make sure that I don't need to treat even if I'm feeling okay. Even though I have that risk, I still don't always make it a point to check. Excuses like: I'm in class, I'm driving, I have errands to run, I want to nap...all of them make their way into my blood sugar routine.

Since my dinner is never at the same time, I don't have a good idea of where my blood sugars stand at that time of day either. I may check at 5pm or 7pm or even wait around until a meal at 9pm. With a very varied schedule, it's hard to check at certain times of day when I'm used to checking with a meal that may be at different times throughout the week. Blood sugar tests can really get in the way of "life" in the evening, so all those excuses can come back and take my mind off of meters and strips.

Even if I don't check at dinner, I'm usually good about checking at least a few hours after the meal. Sometimes that means checking right before bed and sometimes that means several more checks before bed. Sadly, there are many times that I can see where a check before dinner or in the late afternoon might benefit that evening number.

I know that I'm not perfect and nobody can be with this disease. But sometimes, it doesn't seem like it's enough to check six to eight times a day. Sometimes it gets so overwhelming that I just don't want to do it another time. But when I finally do check and I see those "abnormal" numbers pop up on the meter screen, I know that keeping the habit would save me from some of the lows and the highs and all the in between.

So as perfect as I'm not, I've decided that I really need to strive to be more accurate with my meter checks. I don't know if that means I'll try to check at certain times of day instead of with meals or if I'll just go for checking before every meal at first. Whatever the case, I'm going to take it slow...one day at a time. And hopefully, it'll give me that edge that I'm looking for with my diabetes control.