dyingslowNYC

The basics: Male, 27, 300lbs from New York City, broad frame


If you can offer some clarification I would be very happy.

So this is the story. I visited an endocrinologist and he gave me a test where I fast the night before and then drink a super high orange sugar drink in his office. The nurses then took my blood a few times over a long period of time to see how my body was handling the sugar. I was told by the doctor that my level was something over 200 for longer than usual and he told me I have diabetes. Ok, so that's what he told me.

I visited another doctor, it was my first visit, so he asked me a bunch of questions and one of them was about diabetes. I told him I had diabetes but he decided to do some tests. He told me my fasting blood sugar was well within normal levels and that my urine did not have sugar in it, he then told me I do not have diabetes. (I did not tell him about the orange sugar drink test, I only told the GP that an endocrinologist said I had diabetes)

So please tell me what is going on here. Was the specialist doctor trying to "lite a fire under my butt" and get me motivated? Is the GP doctor mistaken?

Thank you for your help.

Richard157

Hello and welcome to our community! I would continue seeing the endocrinologist about all matters concerning the diabetes question. GP's frequently make the wrong decisions when it comes to diabetes. What kind of treatment did the endo prescribe? Diet and exercise alone?

If I were you I would buy a glucometer and start testing my blood sugar at home. Walmart sells a Relion meter costing $9 and a box of 50 test strips for about $20. Test in the morning before eating anything. Test again two hours after eating. Let us know the results after doing this a couple of days. The numbers will say a lot.

Richard

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dyingslowNYC

Thank you very much,Richard157. What level of discomfort will I experience using this machine?

Shanny

Welcome aboard, DSNYC. I would say your endo has a better handle on the situation than your GP. The orange sugar test you took was undoubtedly an oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT), and if your GP had known about it, his diagnosis might probably have been modified somewhat. Not saying our docs don't sometimes try to light a fire under us, but it sounds like your endo just told you the results of the test, which indicate diabetes.

It appears to me that you are in the early stages, which is an excellent time to take charge and keep things under control. I hope you will continue with your endo. I wish he had given you a meter along with his diagnosis, but since he didn't, I hope you'll follow Richard's advice & get one. I use the ReliOn from Walmart and find it as accurate as anything else. It comes with the strips and a lancet device for getting a small blood sample from your fingertips. If you use the sides of your fingers as shown in the picture below, the discomfort should be minimal. ReliOn requires quite a small sample, and the size depicted in the picture is about right. You'll want to wash hands with warm water & soap before testing and dry thoroughly with a clean towel. This is because warm fingers bleed easier, soft skin pokes easier, and clean skin ensures your sample isn't contaminated.

ralphrepo

There are essentially two ways of testing for diabetes and you highlighted both. Either one is diagnostic. That is, if one comes back positive then you're diabetic. That is, Fasting Blood Sugar > 200 mg/dl OR an Impaired Glucose Tolerance (Blood Sugar > 150 after 2 hours) generally means that you're diabetic type 2.

Some people would argue that the impaired Glucose Tolerance (a condition that could last for years) is not really a true diabetes but, rather PRE-diabetes is, IMHO grasping at straws via semantics. If your sugar stays over 150 for any appreciable amount of time, then you're going to form the sugar compounds that do damage to your body (the micro sized blood vessels in your eye, heart, kidneys and distal circulation). So anyone who falls into this "PRE-diabetes category is already doing damage to their body whether they want to admit it or not. This is because every time they eat, they can't get rid of the circulating high sugar count for a very long time until 8 hours later (your normal fasting blood sugar). So the negative FBS in and of itself can be rather deceptive; it may be falsely reassuring.

A much more reliable measure is to get a Hemoglobin A1C test.

Glucose will bind to the Hemoglobin in your red blood cell. The HbA1C percentage will determine what your average blood sugars are over the life of your average red blood cell. Anything higher than 7.0 means that your Red Blood Cells were exposed to sugars that were, on average higher than 150 mg/dl

I suggest that you go back to your GP and tell him or her the FULL story, and insist on having your bloods drawn for an HbA1C.

Good luck.