Diabetes affects your body's ability to use sugar to make energy. This happens when either your pancreas is unable to make the right amounts of insulin to help process sugar or when your body is not able to properly use insulin. The sugar stays in your bloodstream, causing blood sugar levels to increase. Symptoms of diabetes include thirst, fatigue, frequent urination, frequent infections, and possibly weight loss. If blood sugars are poorly controlled, serious complications can develop in the long run. These complications include heart , kidney, eye, and nerve damage. In some cases, people need to have their legs amputated due to poor circulation.

There are two main types of diabetes:

• Type I or insulin-dependent diabetes. Your pancreas makes no or very little insulin. You'll need daily shots of replacement insulin.
• Type II or non-insulin-dependent diabetes. Your body doesn't manufacture enough insulin or has trouble using it. This type, which affects 90% of people with diabetes, can be controlled with diet and medication (pills or insulin injections).

Trying to keep blood sugar levels under control requires frequent monitoring, so home testing kits are particularly helpful. Testing yourself allows you to control your diabetes, instead of it controlling you. It also allows you to see how certain foods and activities affect your blood sugars. Most kits consist of a blood sugar monitor and test strips. Put a drop of your blood on the strip and stick it in the meter. The meter gives you a reading of your blood sugar level, usually in under a minute. Some brands of meters store your readings and provide averages. Models are also available that download results to a personal computer diary that includes the times of your readings and when you last ate.