July 1, 2009
Diagnosis and Symptoms
Question from Townsville, Queensland, Australia:
I have a monitoring kit and am having fasting levels of 9.9 mmol/L [178 mg/dl] after having fasted for almost 15 hours. This is worrying me. I have had blood tests with my general practitioner and the results always show that I am bordering on a diagnosis. Will the poisoning that is happening kill me? I also find a low to non carbohydrate diet lowers the levels. However, I am hungry all the time.
Answer:
The blood sugars you describe are compatible with the diagnosis of diabetes. However, the diagnosis should not be made on home glucose meters. They need to be made on samples drawn in the laboratory. It should also be noted that there is no such thing as borderline diabetes. You either have diabetes or you do not. Please talk to your doctor about these results. Once it has been established as to whether you have diabetes or not, the appropriate nutritional recommendations can be made.
JTL
