My mother-in-law is Zimbabwean living in a rural area. Currently my wife is with her but doesn't know how to help her mother's varying sugar levels. To be absolutely blunt I don't trust the doctors who she's being seeing. The doctors seem to treat diabetes as if it were a cold or flu - you've got in now but take the medicine and it will soon be better! I have type 2 diabetes for which I have annual blood tests (they were more frequent when I was first diagnosed), the doctors there have never taken blood for testing they just do a pin prick test when she sees them. The private hospitals in the capital city immediately want to admit you and get as much money out of you as they can! If I get her to visit a private hospital very specifically what blood test do I ask them to do and provide the results to me. After that i'll be seeking help to have them interpreted. Am I mad to be thinking this is the best way to try and help?
I hope I'm asking in the right place.
- Thread starter malcolm j
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Hi @malcolm j and welcome to the forums.
I have to be really careful what I say here because forum rules don't let us give medical advice. But I think I can give some information without breaking the rules.
Most first world countries diagnose diabetes via an hba1c
www.diabetes.co.uk
(though you can also diagnose via spot blood tests, which may well be what her local doctors have done?)
Though there are different types of diabetes, needing more complicated tests for diagnosis, the assumption tends to be that an adult has T2 diabetes, just because 90% of diabetics have T2. (https://www.cdc.gov/diabetes/about/about-type-2-diabetes.html )
I have to be really careful what I say here because forum rules don't let us give medical advice. But I think I can give some information without breaking the rules.
Most first world countries diagnose diabetes via an hba1c
Glycosylated haemoglobin & diabetes. HbA1c facts, units, diagnosis, testing frequency, limitations, control & conversion. How blood glucose levels link to A1c.
Glycosylated haemoglobin & diabetes. HbA1c facts, units, diagnosis, test frequency, limitations, control, conversion. How blood glucose levels link to A1c.
www.diabetes.co.uk
(though you can also diagnose via spot blood tests, which may well be what her local doctors have done?)
Though there are different types of diabetes, needing more complicated tests for diagnosis, the assumption tends to be that an adult has T2 diabetes, just because 90% of diabetics have T2. (https://www.cdc.gov/diabetes/about/about-type-2-diabetes.html )
Does she have a glucometer so that you know what those levels are?
NeoToad
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Agree with the above. The definitive test for T2 is generally the HbA1c. There a few occasions - largely to do with other pre-existing conditions such as amaemia - where another test is more suitable.
Bear in mind that blood glucose levels naturally vary in everyone, and just because someone's BG levels are changing doesn't necessarily mean there's a problem. This bit of research shows some of the variation in BG, rises and falls, that non-diabetic people have in response to food.
Continuous Glucose Profiles in Healthy Subjects under Everyday Life Conditions and after Different Meals - PMC
This study investigated continuous glucose profiles in nondiabetic subjects. Continuous interstitial glucose measurement was performed under everyday life conditions (2 days) and after ingestion of four meals with standardized carbohydrate content ...
pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
In general - and I mean this does not apply to everyone - those of us with T2 will, after food, often see higher rises which stay elevated for longer, compared to non-diabetic people. This is because our insulin response system is not as efficient at clearing glucose from the blood. But it can frequently be difficult to tell a "T2 diabetic" graph from a "non-diabetic" graph.
Best of luck.
