Private Blood Glucose Test

Diabetes is a major health issues that is affecting an increasing number of people worldwide. In diabetes, individuals have a problem with the hormone insulin, which is responsible for controlling blood sugar levels following food ingestion. There are two different types: Type 1 which is where the pancreas has an inability to produce insulin and type 2, commonly called late onset diabetes where people become insensitive to the insulin they produce. Either can be equally devastating, but the effects are manageable so long as it is detected before any long lasting damage to the body occurs. If diabetes is expected, a fasting blood glucose test is performed to measure the levels present in the blood.

Certain symptoms may alert you and require investigating further. If you feel lethargic, thirsty often with a greater need to urinate then these are things that shouldn’t be ignored as there may be an underlying problem. With a fasting glucose test, a normal result would show the levels of glucose in the blood remaining at the expected baseline readings of 3.6 to 6.0 mmol/L. However, if there is a problem such as diabetes present, fasting glucose is much higher and can ever be above 7 mmol/L, because the absence of insulin means glucose cannot enter the cells where it is required therefore remaining in the bloodstream.

In addition to a fasting glucose test, an oral glucose tolerance test may be performed. In this, a patient is given a glucose drink and then two hours later a blood sample is taken to measure the levels of glucose present in the blood. In a normal person, the glucose levels should still be maintained at baseline values due to correctly acting hormones, but in a person with diabetes blood sugar levels greater than 7.8 mmol/L are seen.

If an abnormal result is seen in either of these tests, this does not automatically mean that it is definitely diabetes. There are other conditions that may cause elevated glucose levels in the blood such as Cushing’s syndrome which is a problem with the adrenal gland or pituitary gland, pancreatic problems such as inflammation or cancer, excess food intake and even certain drugs like the hormonal contraceptive pill may cause elevated glucose readings in some people.

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