April 25, 2002
Diagnosis and Symptoms
Question from Big Timber, Montana, USA:
I am a soon-to-be 30 year old mother of five who has had many problems that I feel are “sugar” related, mainly, severe headaches that include wavy vision, numbness in hands, arms, face, tongue, interference with thought process, sick stomachache. These episodes (which is what I now call my headaches) are debilitating and very scary.I also have an increasing amount of broken veins, and my main veins are getting “rope-like”. For three years or so, I have had numbness/tingly toes. My maternal grandmother, paternal grandfather, and now mother all had/have type 2 diabetes so I am very frightened. What type of blood test should I ask for to determine diabetes? Do you feel I am looking in the right direction to find answers?
Answer:
We can’t diagnose in this venue. You can ask your physician to do a fasting blood glucose. If it is greater than 126 mg/dl [7 mmol/L] on two occasions, it is diabetes. It is pretty easy to tell, just ask. Symptoms that are nonspecific are just that and often difficult to pin down. Diabetes isn’t.
LD
[Editor’s comment: See symptoms of diabetes and Classification and Diagnosis of Diabetes Guidelines.
SS]
