When you check your phone or scan your sensor, you will see your readings on the screen, including your current glucose level, a graph of your current and stored glucose readings, and a glucose trend arrow.

The trend arrow indicates the rate at which your glucose is changing and shows you the direction your glucose is going. It can be rising, falling or flat, which means that there is no indication that your glucose is changing at that time.

What’s happening now?

• If the trend arrow is straight up or down, check your blood glucose levels.
• At mealtimes, you should calculate your normal mealtime dose (based on carb intake planned and current glucose levels), then use the arrows to make an adjustment to the dose you were planning:

To understand what the trend arrows mean and what action you should take, have a look at the table below:

When calculating insulin doses, you would start from your current level and then factor in the trend arrow.

For example, if your reading is between 4 and 4.5 and the trend arrow is indicating rapidly falling levels, you may not want to take insulin at all until the trend arrow is steady. This would also depend on how much carbohydrate you are about to eat.

Every person is different, and it is never an exact science. If you have any doubts or questions about trend arrows, speak to your healthcare team for further advice.