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Confused Dotcom

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Dotcom

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Sorry to trouble you with what is a basic question, my friend has just been advise to be tested for diabetes (which she is doing this week) :?: , after going to a chemist who do testing. She say’s she had a reading of 7.4 after a 12-hour fast (she only had a glass of tap water with-in that time).
We have just been reading the NHS book on diabetes and diet where it said anything up to 7 is okay, however both your web pages and another (Patient UK) both say up to 6 is the normal BGL, which is right?
 
I actually can't remeber now if it's 6 or 7mmol/...

Your friend blood glucose is slightly on the higher side as one would expect to see a reading below 5.5mmol/l or there abouts give or take a little...

Your friends doctor will be able to get clearer picture, they might do a finger prick test at the surgery, and/or might send a blood sample to determin the Ha1bc level, this will show what sort of adverage glucose has been for the last 3 months..

There are many factors that might effect the reading at the chemist, illness, stress and infection can raise the blood glucose, so your friend might have this ruled out by the doctor...

If it turns out that your friend is diabetic then there are several ways this can be treated, depending what there results are, they might be advised to change there diet, cutting out sugery foods, drinks and be weary of eating large amounts of carbohydrates as these will raise the bloode glucose levels.. It might be decided that tablets are needed to control the blood sugar levels.. Insulin is normally used by Type 1 diabetics that produce no insulin...

But there doctor will let them know what is what at there appointment...
 
I can help you there Jopar.

The actual 2009 guideline figures for a Diabetic are:
Fasting Bg...i.e. on waking......Between 4 - 7 mmol/l.
2 hrs after meals..................No more than 8.5 mmol/l.

Mind you if you are not Diabetic then this is what you should expect:
A normal fasting blood sugar (which is also the blood sugar a normal person will see right before a meal) is:
83 mg/dl (4.6 mmol/L) or less.
Many normal people have fasting blood sugars in the mid and high 70 mg/dl (3.9 mmol/L) range.
Though most doctors will tell you any fasting blood sugar under 100 mg/dl (5.6 mmol/L) is "normal", there are several studies that suggest that testing with a fasting blood sugar in the mid 90 mg/dl (5 mmol/L) range often predicts diabetes that is diagnosed a decade later.
 
Hi,
The fingerprick test is an indication but can't be used for diagnosis.
Diagnosis of diabetes should be done with a blood sample from a vein.
The official 'cut-off' point is a blood glucose level of 7mmol or above , on 2 occasions, after fasting.
Diabetes can also be diagnosed by a 'random' (ie at any time) blood glucose level of 11.1mmol or above.
If the fasting level is above 6mmol, this indicates what is called impaired fasting glucose ( in the US they call it prediabetes but it doesn't always progress to diabetes, sometimes weight loss or a change of lifestyle can halt its progression)
 
Many thanks for the answers; its good to know there are people out there who will give advice and sensible advice at that. :D
 
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