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July 29, 2006

Diagnosis and Symptoms

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Question from Lebanon, Missouri, USA:

According to the developmental specialist, my soon-to-be six year old daughter might need a fasting blood sugar test. The regular doctor (nurse practitioner) said that all she needs is a fingerstick test. The fingerstick was 80 mg/dl [4.4 mmol/L], but she had been gone all day and I don’t know if she had eaten before we got there or not. Should I ask for more testing? I am concerned because she has frequent yeast infections, complains about her eyes all the time, and urinates a lot. It was because of these symptoms that the specialist recommended the test. What do you think?

Answer:

From: DTeam Staff

There is no doubt that a fasting glucose from a fingerstick and a portable glucose meter is not as sensitive, etc. as a true glucose-from-a-vein- run-in-the-laboratory test. But, it is a very reasonable screen. A glucose value of 80 mg/dl [4.4 mmol/L] is NORMAL no matter HOW you slice it: fasting, random, after meals, etc.!

Other conditions (some of which confusingly also have the word “diabetes,” but which have nothing to do with sugar) can also be associated with change in urinary patterns (i.e., diabetes insipidus).

In an almost six year old, I think it is not too common to be unsure if someone has diabetes mellitus. If there are still issues or other evidence of diabetes (sugar in the urine, for example), it would be simple to do a fasting true glucose-from-a-vein-run-in-the- laboratory test.

DS