Diabetes type 2 is a disease that can be managed over a long period of time without too much difficulty.
Jackadams is spot on. Find an endocrinologist who specializes in this disease and follow his or her advice. If you are not comfortable with the first one you find, find another one.
From your profile it seems that you live in a metropolitan area that will have tons of physicians for you to choose from.
No one really knows what goes on with type 2 diabetes. Either your body has stopped producing insulin or your cells have developed a resistance to insulin. This results in an uncontrolled level of glucose in your bloodstream. High blood sugar will just make you feel lousy, headache-y, sluggish is a good description and there is nothing you can do about it other than take a shot of insulin or wait for the sugar levels to subside.
Low blood sugar is a lot more dangerous, at least at the moment it occurs, because you are not providing your organs with enough fuel and as these organs begin craving sugar they compete for what is in your blood stream or they tell your liver to start producing more glucose. Very low blood sugar can be life-threatening if it goes too low. It can be corrected by simply chewing two glucose tablets, or drinking 4 oz of orange juice or anything else to get sugar back in to your bloodstream.
You are testing for several reasons: to see what your readings are over time, such as when you wake up or just before lunch, etc; to show you how your body reacts to certain activities like heavy exercise or a big meal, to see how your body is taking sugar into the bloodstream 30 or 60 minues after a meal. Your readings are going to fluctuate as you eat, digest and metabolize your intake of food. The readings are designed to let you know what is going on.
The other test you should learn about is the a1c or hemoglobin test that willl give you and your physician a reading of what your sugar level has been over the prior ten to twelve weeks.
The end results of uncontrolled diabetes are not pretty. If affects your organs, most notably your heart and can lead to heart disease. It can lead to losing circulation in your extremities (toes, feet and fingers) which in turn can lead to amputation.
Diabetes is hard on your kidneys too.
It also worsens progressively so whatever you can do to control your sugar levels will pay off in delaying these nasty end-results.
SRM