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Should I be concerned?

J

Jaydc1986

Newbie
Messages
2
Type of diabetes
Don't have diabetes
Treatment type
I do not have diabetes
Hi. I don't currently have diabetes but it is rife in my family (mother, both grandmothers and one grandfather). I have been to the doctor recently as I am constantly exhausted and sluggish amongst other things. I am in process of being referred for numerous blood tests and they're going to look at blood glucose etc. As I have access to a finger prick at home Accu Check monitor, I have been monitoring my levels for the past few days. My fasting levels, when I first wake up, have been between 7.1-7.3 and when I measure again at least 2 hours after eating, they're between 10.1-10.3. Can anyone advise if they consider this to be on the higher side of normal? My mother who has had diabetes for 40+ years feels it is but when I attempted to discuss this information with a GP yesterday I was totally dismissed and was spoken to in a very patronizing way. He told me that they 'at home' monitors are not accurate so I shouldn't worry about what they say? My argument was that if they weren't accurate then why would diabetics use them to monitor things at home?! Any comments or information would be greatly appreciated. Thank you
 
Thank you for taking the time to reply, much appreciated.
 
It's true that home meters aren't perfectly accurate, and theoretically the true value could be as much as +/-20% of that. If you've had multiple readings that high though I'd tend to believe it.
Sorry, those do sound like diabetic levels. It's not extremely high, so you might have spotted it early, which is good, but it's higher than should be ignored.
 
Hi @Jaydc1986 and welcome to the forums

I am guessing that one of the diagnostic blood tests you will have had is an hba1c test, and your doctor probably doesn't want to spend any time discussing your blood sugar levels till he knows the results. 48mmol/mol or over is diabetic. The result, at least in my experience, should come through quite soon. In my part of the world it takes a couple of days.

An issue here is that forum rules specifically and rightly say we can't diagnose, so I have to be very careful what I say.

The doctor also does have a point that one off blood sugars don't necessarily mean anything, and meters can be inaccurate, but here is a link to normal blood sugars which may give you a hint as to whether you should be (slightly) concerned.

Normal and Diabetic Blood Sugar Level Ranges

Normal blood sugar ranges and blood sugar ranges for adults and children with type 1 diabetes, type 2 diabetes and blood sugar ranges to determine diabetes.
www.diabetes.co.uk

Bear in mind that some people come here with blood sugars running in the high teens (or higher) so I personally doubt that your hba1c will be drastically high, though it may (or may not) be over the 48 limit.

And if you do have diabetes, please do come here for advice, as there is a lot you can try diet wise to lower your levels and the fact that you already have a meter gives you a head start on the process.

Once more, welcome.
 
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