The Glucose Count
My doctor was still not ready to give me a clean bill of health despite my passing the EKG and stress tests. He thought of yet another test, the dreaded blood test. I told you I belong to a family with unwanted genes. Two of my sisters died of leukemia at age 7 and 15. The 7 died without any signs and symptoms but the 15 suffered for 5 years before she expired. Now you know one of the reasons why my doctor had "red-flagged" me.
Back to blood tests. It was an ordinary blood test, a poke in my finger to check my red and white cells. Results came out fine. Keeping that in mind, he yet had me go for another test, the 10 hour fasting and an oral glucose tolerance test. Voila, the culprit. He told me I had probable diabetes.
This is when I got all so worked-up. I went into denial stage for a month. Never called my family, never saw my friends. As down as I was, I always believed there must be something better than being afraid and sorry. See when we get afflicted by things like this one, it is normal that we go into denial but we have to rise above it.
I then went on to understand what these tests were all about. First, the 10 hour fasting was used to screen for and diagnose diabetes and pre-diabetes. This is done usually first thing in the morning right after you fasted for 10 hours from the time you had your last meal or often times after midnight. A blood is extracted from your vein, about 2 tablespoons at the most. This test ndicates how well you burn your energy.
So what is oral glucose tolerance test? I was made to drink a standard amount of a glucose solution (orangey taste) to find out how fast I burn that sugar in a span of 2 hours. You are supposed to just sit down and either read or just do nothing. I was not allowed to walk or wonder around so I slept. Let’s forget about the snoring part because no one recognized me on closed curtains anyway. Normally, once your blood sugar goes up when you take in sugar, it should come down to an acceptable level but if you are diabetic, it will take much longer to go to its normal level if it goes down at all.
Ideally 10 hour fasting and oral glucose tolerance tests should be done separately to diagnose diabetes but because I am a busy person, my doctor okeyed my 2 hour fasting done on that same day.
For a result to be normal your reading should be between 4 and 6mmol/L. Between 6.1 and 6.9, you are pre-diabetic meaning your fasting glucose is impaired. From 7 and above, you probably have diabetes. I had 7.8 but the good news is it was not an indication that I was diabetic. You have to undergo at least 3 tests within three to six months to be diagnosed as diabetic. The elevation of my glucose could be due to other diseases and conditions although my GP stopped there and had me attend a day care session right away. I tried to justify that the reason why I had a high glucose count was that it was just right after Christmas and I had chocolate eating spree a few days before I went in for my blood test. I did a diet marathon, did massive exercise sessions hopefully to bring down the numbers before I was due for my next test. The result was better. After a month, it was down to 7.2. The last time I went in for my last test before I was officially declared a diabetic, I had 6.2. Well, I did well considering.
One reason why I was so determined to bring my mmol/L down was it is difficult to get an insurance policy if you are diabetic. Better know where you are at before an insurance company tells you. Remember, they do a blood test on you before they grant you the policy.
Educating yourself will help you delay the onset of diabetes. Hopefully by me imparting all these to you, you will be able to understand diabetes. It is not a dreaded one, you will soon find out. Bear in mind, mine was discovered by accident.
For some, the numbers mean nothing to them because they do not know the reason why they were undergoing these tests in the first place. They rely so much on what the doctors tell them. Knowing what these all mean could spell a few more years added to your life so help your doctor help you by knowing all these things.
Back to blood tests. It was an ordinary blood test, a poke in my finger to check my red and white cells. Results came out fine. Keeping that in mind, he yet had me go for another test, the 10 hour fasting and an oral glucose tolerance test. Voila, the culprit. He told me I had probable diabetes.
This is when I got all so worked-up. I went into denial stage for a month. Never called my family, never saw my friends. As down as I was, I always believed there must be something better than being afraid and sorry. See when we get afflicted by things like this one, it is normal that we go into denial but we have to rise above it.
I then went on to understand what these tests were all about. First, the 10 hour fasting was used to screen for and diagnose diabetes and pre-diabetes. This is done usually first thing in the morning right after you fasted for 10 hours from the time you had your last meal or often times after midnight. A blood is extracted from your vein, about 2 tablespoons at the most. This test ndicates how well you burn your energy.
So what is oral glucose tolerance test? I was made to drink a standard amount of a glucose solution (orangey taste) to find out how fast I burn that sugar in a span of 2 hours. You are supposed to just sit down and either read or just do nothing. I was not allowed to walk or wonder around so I slept. Let’s forget about the snoring part because no one recognized me on closed curtains anyway. Normally, once your blood sugar goes up when you take in sugar, it should come down to an acceptable level but if you are diabetic, it will take much longer to go to its normal level if it goes down at all.
Ideally 10 hour fasting and oral glucose tolerance tests should be done separately to diagnose diabetes but because I am a busy person, my doctor okeyed my 2 hour fasting done on that same day.
For a result to be normal your reading should be between 4 and 6mmol/L. Between 6.1 and 6.9, you are pre-diabetic meaning your fasting glucose is impaired. From 7 and above, you probably have diabetes. I had 7.8 but the good news is it was not an indication that I was diabetic. You have to undergo at least 3 tests within three to six months to be diagnosed as diabetic. The elevation of my glucose could be due to other diseases and conditions although my GP stopped there and had me attend a day care session right away. I tried to justify that the reason why I had a high glucose count was that it was just right after Christmas and I had chocolate eating spree a few days before I went in for my blood test. I did a diet marathon, did massive exercise sessions hopefully to bring down the numbers before I was due for my next test. The result was better. After a month, it was down to 7.2. The last time I went in for my last test before I was officially declared a diabetic, I had 6.2. Well, I did well considering.
One reason why I was so determined to bring my mmol/L down was it is difficult to get an insurance policy if you are diabetic. Better know where you are at before an insurance company tells you. Remember, they do a blood test on you before they grant you the policy.
Educating yourself will help you delay the onset of diabetes. Hopefully by me imparting all these to you, you will be able to understand diabetes. It is not a dreaded one, you will soon find out. Bear in mind, mine was discovered by accident.
For some, the numbers mean nothing to them because they do not know the reason why they were undergoing these tests in the first place. They rely so much on what the doctors tell them. Knowing what these all mean could spell a few more years added to your life so help your doctor help you by knowing all these things.
posted by ting-aling at 4:54 PM
8 Comments:
AnP, thanks. We're all way over it now. 'hirap ng left and right ang bad genes 'no?
Talk about bad genes-- no make that, matigas ang ulo genes. I happen to be born to a family of hard heads. When my mother was strong, (she's bed-ridden now) we would tell her not to eat this and that and she would say, "Ay naku, kaya nga may gamot." My sister, who we fondly call Ditse as she is second eldest daughter, is now bed-ridden too and is in the hospital for complications of diabetes. You can just imagine her son's frustration over her. After all, he's a doctor. Well, you seem to know a lot about our affliction and you seem to be very disciplined. But still, take care.
Oh Bayi, it took me 10 minutes struggling with the Med Tech. He finally went to talk to a Filipina who was so patient in talking me out to just let it go. It wasn't that bad. It's the needles that I feared.
Good luck!
Sister sunshine..surprise..surprise..hope you're not in Florida fearing another hurricane that's just about to hit the land if it hasn't yet. Thanks for the visit.
Well I'm sure you are doing well that you are really concern and share everything you know about it. Still, take care and you are doing a good job.
Santi, 'will definitely do.
I actually have a question. The doctor said my glucose was borderline, but the number was 99. You said some count between 6 and 7+, but my doctor mentioned something about a count of 101 not being good. I have searched online and can't find any site which will say "this number up to this number is pre-diabetic and this number usually indicates diabetes." Does anyone know that information? If so, please email it to aloha_cjm@yahoo.com. Thank you
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