Yikes, Tilt! You've been diagnosed as a diabetic and nobody has said anything to you about testing your blood sugars at home?? That's frightening, especially since your doctor has said that your blood sugars are "out of control"! Did your doctor happen to tell you how high your blood sugar was?
Yes, you should be doing that...several times a day at this point and I hate to tell you, but yes it will involve poking yourself somewhere. Some of the "poking" devices (called lancets) now allow you to test at sites that don't hurt as much (and really it doesn't hurt that much even on your fingers) as your fingertips like your forearm, but a drop of blood will be required each time you test. Really, it's not all as bad as it sounds and it's vitally important that you know what your blood sugars are doing and how different foods affect them. You simply can't rely on a blood test at a lab every several weeks to control your blood sugars.
You can get a glucometer (home blood glucose testing device) at most any pharmacy and a lot of large grocery store chains that have pharmacies as well as the testing strips that go with them. You do not need a prescription to purchase one. All of them come with manuals that instruct you how to use them. Check how much the test strips that go with the meeter you're considering cost before you buy the meeter; often the strips cost more than the meeter does. You might also want to check with your insurance carrier if they will cover the cost of the meeter and test strips.
Typical times to test, at least until your blood sugars are within normal range and stable, are: fasting (first thing in the morning before you eat, smoke or drink anything), before meals, 2 hours after meals and bedtime. Before meals isn't absolutely vital unless you are a type 1 and need to base your insulin dose on your pre-meal blood sugar, but you should be testing at the rest of the times for now.
I would encourage you to get a glucometer and start testing as soon as possible so that you know how you're doing. Without one, it's impossible to tell if you are spilling ketones in your urine because of high blood sugars or because of being on a low carb eating plan.
One other question...are you using strips that only test the urine for ketones or does it also test for glucose in the urine?