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Sickness, Diabetes Symptoms, Viral Infection, High Range Of Fasting Sugar. Am I Prediabetic ?
Question: Some background info: Nine years ago I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes with my second pregnancy. However, my 2-hour glucose testing numbers were borderline. I tested my blood 4 times per day and never once had an abnormal or even remotely high result the rest of my pregnancy. With my 3rd pregnancy I was not diagnosed with gestational diabetes. That was 4 years ago. Diabetes does not run in my family. No one in my family has it.
I decided to buy a blood glucose meter a week ago and test myself because I was feeling sick and had some diabetes symptoms (urinating a lot, dry mouth). It turns out I was just sick with a viral infection, which I'm still not completely over.
I'm not consistently testing myself after every meal, but I have been in the morning because my fasting blood glucose numbers aren't great. My after meal #'s are fine. I just had an 82 after breakfast, nothing higher than a 123 for the past week, but my fasting #'s are all over the place. The 2nd day I tested when fasting I got a 116 and then tested again and had an 88. I would say the overall average is around 100, but the #'s are within such a big range that I'm wondering if they are accurate. I know that your fasting # should be under 100. I'm wondering if my meter is off? How can the #'s have such a huge range and still be accurate?
Now I'm wondering if I'm pre-diabetic. I do need to lose 50 pounds (which I'm working on).
April
I decided to buy a blood glucose meter a week ago and test myself because I was feeling sick and had some diabetes symptoms (urinating a lot, dry mouth). It turns out I was just sick with a viral infection, which I'm still not completely over.
I'm not consistently testing myself after every meal, but I have been in the morning because my fasting blood glucose numbers aren't great. My after meal #'s are fine. I just had an 82 after breakfast, nothing higher than a 123 for the past week, but my fasting #'s are all over the place. The 2nd day I tested when fasting I got a 116 and then tested again and had an 88. I would say the overall average is around 100, but the #'s are within such a big range that I'm wondering if they are accurate. I know that your fasting # should be under 100. I'm wondering if my meter is off? How can the #'s have such a huge range and still be accurate?
Now I'm wondering if I'm pre-diabetic. I do need to lose 50 pounds (which I'm working on).
April
Hello,
Thanks for posting the query.
1. The Glucometer readings are not always accurate and especially if you have got 2 readings of 88 and 116 within a short span of time. It is obviously wrong. So definitely there are some issues with your glucometer.
2. Glucometer isn’t the best modality to diagnose prediabetes. Once you have completely recovered from your viral illness, get a 75gm Oral Glucose Tolerance Test from laboratory (GTT). This is how you interpret the results-
Normal Prediabetes Diabetes
Fasting blood sugar <100 101-125 >125
2 hr Post Prandial <140 140-190 >200
3. You can also get an HbA1c (Glycated Hemoglobin) test which is measure of average plasma glucose concentration over prolonged periods of time. HbA1C between 5.8 -6.5% suggests prediabetes and more than 6.5% can be considered as diabetes.
4. During any illness and stress like the one you have now, there can be transient increase in blood glucose values which resolve after the illness. So this is not the right time to check for diabetes.
5. It is good that you have a glucometer, but I wouldn’t advice you to check your blood glucose frequently with that. Instead I would advice you to check your once in 6 month to 1 year from laboratory if the tests I have advised turnout to be normal and once in 3 months if you have diabetes or prediabetes. Main role of glucometer is to monitor blood glucose values of diabetics who are already on treatment and require intensive monitoring for some reason.
I hope this answers your query.
I will be available for follow up queries if any.
Regards.
Thanks for posting the query.
1. The Glucometer readings are not always accurate and especially if you have got 2 readings of 88 and 116 within a short span of time. It is obviously wrong. So definitely there are some issues with your glucometer.
2. Glucometer isn’t the best modality to diagnose prediabetes. Once you have completely recovered from your viral illness, get a 75gm Oral Glucose Tolerance Test from laboratory (GTT). This is how you interpret the results-
Normal Prediabetes Diabetes
Fasting blood sugar <100 101-125 >125
2 hr Post Prandial <140 140-190 >200
3. You can also get an HbA1c (Glycated Hemoglobin) test which is measure of average plasma glucose concentration over prolonged periods of time. HbA1C between 5.8 -6.5% suggests prediabetes and more than 6.5% can be considered as diabetes.
4. During any illness and stress like the one you have now, there can be transient increase in blood glucose values which resolve after the illness. So this is not the right time to check for diabetes.
5. It is good that you have a glucometer, but I wouldn’t advice you to check your blood glucose frequently with that. Instead I would advice you to check your once in 6 month to 1 year from laboratory if the tests I have advised turnout to be normal and once in 3 months if you have diabetes or prediabetes. Main role of glucometer is to monitor blood glucose values of diabetics who are already on treatment and require intensive monitoring for some reason.
I hope this answers your query.
I will be available for follow up queries if any.
Regards.
Note: For further follow-up, discuss your blood glucose reports with our diabetologist. Click here.
Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Jyoti Patil
Answered by
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