fasting blood test drink

coleby

Newbie
Messages
2
I want to do my own fasting blood test once a month. Unfortunately the country I am in does not sell specialist glucose tolerance drinks or Lucozade.

But one local chemist shop sells glucose powder. Can I just use that ? I mean can I just put in a few teaspoons of glucose powder to create the sugar drink for the fasting blood test ?

Has anyone done this ?
 

fiona35

Well-Known Member
Messages
212
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Insulin
Not sure why you would want to do your own fasting blood test but wouldn't a normal can of sugary pop such as coke/lemonade be okay to use?
 

wiflib

Well-Known Member
Messages
1,966
Type of diabetes
Type 2 (in remission!)
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
someone on here will be able to tell you how much glucose is needed to do a GTT that's comparable with the one done in the UK. I can't remember.

I don't know why you want to do it either. If you are diabetic, it would put quite a strain on your body to ingest that much sugar once a month. I think a can of regular coke has 16 teaspoons of sugar in it.

wiflib
 

DiabeticGeek

Well-Known Member
Messages
309
I think you are confusing a fasting BG test with a glucose tolerance test (GTT). You don't need any glucose for a fasting test - you just take a blood sample in the morning, before eating. All diabetics should do this regularly to monitor their condition (I would suggest more than once a month, although if the condition is well under control, it doesn't need to be that often).

A GTT is used to diagnose diabetes, not to monitor it. If you do want to do a GTT yourself - then you need about 75g glucose, to provide a sufficient hit. If you can't get lucozade, then you can buy glucose tablets in pharmacists, or glucose powder from health food shops (body builders sometimes use it). Failing that, you should be able to get a similar result using sugar.

However, I strongly suggest that you shouldn't do this! A one-off GTT at the time of diagnosis is fairly harmless, but you really don't want to do this regularly (avoiding this sort of glucose hit is the most important part of any diabetes control diet). Also, it wouldn't tell you anything useful. It would tell you that you still have diabetes, but trust me on this - if you have been diagnosed with diabetes then you still have it!