Blood sugar control is the heart and soul of diabetes management. How you handle it determines what will be the consequences of your diabetes.

It's high blood sugar that causes the dreaded complications of diabetes, not the disease itself. So where do you learn about how to control your blood sugar well? Right here.

Blood sugar management has made huge strides in the past several decades. Meters, which allow you to measure your blood sugar whenever you like, let you know how food affects your sugars and gives you a basis from which to make changes to control it.

For basic articles on meters, read Ten Reasons You Love Your Meter So Much, Understanding Home Blood Glucose Results, Ten Reasons for Checking Your Blood Glucose, Meters, Meters Everywhere, and Readers Tell Us What Meter Features They Like.

For basic information on lancing, the way in which you get a drop of blood to test, see Don't Get Stuck With The Wrong Lancet and Choosing the Right Lancing Device.

A new type of meter, called a continuous glucose monitor, measures your blood sugar automatically every five minutes, so that you can see trends in your blood sugar before they peak at high or low levels. See In The Know With Continuous Glucose Monitors and Continuous Glucose Monitoring. Meters, monitors, and lancing devices are also described in our comprehensive charts, found under the Health Care heading.

To explore the intricacies of insulin, insulin delivery, and other medications used to lower blood sugar, go to the Medications room.

Use of blood sugar lowering medications, including insulin, can lead to hypoglycemia, or low blood sugar. For basic education about hypos, see Hypoglycemia - What Every Person on Insulin Should Know, Hypoglycemia - What Happens?, and Don't Go Low.