Health Anxiety- Home Test

[NervousOne]

Hi all,

I am someone who suffers a lot with my health anxiety and my diet is not great, My friend recently got diagnosed with Diabetees type 1 and I started thinking about type 2. I bought a test machine on Amazon and have a question or two.

Last year my blood sugar levels were tested my the doctor with other bloods (Results 37.7 - 5.6%) and they were in range. I tested myself this morning with this amazon machine and I do not know whats going on. First result was 7.6 and I thought I had it. Next was 4.7 then 6.4 then 5.6 a couple of times. I took the test two more times on my thumb and they were 5.2 and 5.4. What is going on? Can levels change that quickly? If my levels were ok last eyar could it jump to diabetees that quickly?

So sorry for not making sense.

 

[EllieM]

Ho @NervousOne and welcome to the forums

First thing you have to realise is that glucometers are required to have an accuracy of +-15% 95% of the time.

That means that 1 in 20 readings can be completely off and the rest have to be moderately accurate.

Your readings look perfectly normal to me (disclaimer I am not a doctor and can't diagnose).

ps and if your fingers weren't perfectly clean any contaminants can massiively mess up the results.

 

[NervousOne]

Thank you Ellie.

I just don;t get how the readings can be SO different. I have slight anemia and am taking tablets so not sure if that affects the reading.

I did 10 tests in a row and most showed so different until the last 2 which were 5.2 and 5.3?

 

[KennyA]

Hi all,

I am someone who suffers a lot with my health anxiety and my diet is not great, My friend recently got diagnosed with Diabetees type 1 and I started thinking about type 2. I bought a test machine on Amazon and have a question or two.

Last year my blood sugar levels were tested my the doctor with other bloods (Results 37.7 - 5.6%) and they were in range. I tested myself this morning with this amazon machine and I do not know whats going on. First result was 7.6 and I thought I had it. Next was 4.7 then 6.4 then 5.6 a couple of times. I took the test two more times on my thumb and they were 5.2 and 5.4. What is going on? Can levels change that quickly? If my levels were ok last eyar could it jump to diabetees that quickly?

So sorry for not making sense.

Hi, those look like the pattern of normal readings to me. The meters aren't that accurate (plus of minus 15% of your reading) and you will get apparent variation between tests even if you do them ten seconds apart. A couple of fingerprick readings like yours will not tell you much anyway. It looks to me (and this is a pure guess) that the true value might be somewhere in the mid fives (bang normal) and your snapshot tests cluster around that.

Eg for a single given reading of 5.5 your true value could be somewhere between mid-fours and mid-sixes. No way of knowing and to me it doesn't actually matter.

The other thing is that everybody's blood glucose varies throughout the day, as your system responds to food, exercise, illness, ambient temperature, and many other things. Sometimes the stimulus releases your body's stored glucose into the bloodstream (when it thinks you need fuel, during strenuous exercise for example) so bg levels will rise and sometimes the stimulus is to release insulin so that glucose in the bloodstream (eg after you've eaten) can be transferred to muscle cells (and bg levels will fall). Also if you'd stressed yourself by becoming anxious about testing, the body detects the raised adrenaline, thinks you need fuel, and promptly dumps glucose to help you deal with whatever's stressing you - this will cause your bg level to rise.

The reading to take note of (because it covers a period of around three months) is your HbA1c. That irons out all the short-term rises and falls. Your A1c is not only normal, it's on the low side of normal. I'm attaching a graph that shows your A1c is lower than that of most people who do not have diabetes.

 

[NervousOne]

Hi Kenny,

You are really kind to take your time replying and providing them details/graph etc. My HbA1c last June was fine at 37.7% and I sometimes just fixate on things. I've had a bit of a dry mouth but have not felt 100%, google is my downfall! In general, I need to improve my diet massively as I am always stressed and anxious so lean towards Lucozade (although they have taken most of the sugar out) etc. I almost need a wake up call and the anemia has made me more conscious. I am going to try and relax and sort out my eating etc. I just got in to a panic when I say 7.6 as it was a bit of a shock.

This forum is excellent, thank you!