Question from Salinas, California, USA:

I’m extremely worried about the thought of possibly developing diabetes. I’m 31 years old with no family history of diabetes, except for my grandmother who had type 2. I don’t fit the profile of type 2 since I’m not overweight at all, at 5 feet, 2 inches, 104 pounds.

I have had several tests done and all have come back well within normal range. My fasting tests have come back between 82 and 90 mg/dl [4.6 and 5.0 mmol/L]. I had a random blood sugar of 93 mg/dl [5.2 mmol/L] and my OGTT two months ago after the 75 gram drink was 104 mg/dl [5.8 mmol/L] after two hours. I had one A1c test that came back somewhat high at 5.8%, but it could be because I was under a lot of stress the month before the test. The following month, I had another one done and it was 5.1%.

I don’t have the classic symptoms such as thirst or increased urination. However, I now test myself from time to time. My fasting blood sugar on my meter always reads between 85 to 95 mg/dl [4.7 to 5.3 mmol/L]. I decided to take a reading after eating two handfuls of mixed nuts, a Snickers bar, and a Chinese meal. After one hour, I was in complete shock that my reading was 181 mg/dl [10.1 mmol/L]. So, I decided to take it again at two hours and it was 144 mg/dl [8.0 mmol/L]. At three hours, I was back down to 95 mg/dl [5.3 mmol/L].

Should I be concerned about this? I have a cold right now, so could this affect my numbers? Do you think that I could have a faulty meter? I noticed that there’s usually a 10 to 20 point difference on the high side between the laboratory and my meter. Also, there are times that I test right after one another and there’s a 30 point difference. Does it sound like I have diabetes?