Five things to note when checking for diabetes

I often see some diabetic patients coming to the hospital blood collection window after 10 am and saying, "Doctor, I haven't had breakfast yet, please test my fasting blood sugar." Is the blood sugar measured before a meal always fasting blood sugar?

Doctors in the laboratory department remind that as the incidence of diabetes gradually increases, as a chronic metabolic disease characterized by hyperglycemia, it is necessary to monitor blood sugar control regularly to prevent the occurrence of complications.

This issue introduces five things to pay attention to during diabetes checkups .

1. Fasting time should not be too long

Fasting blood sugar refers to the blood sugar measured before breakfast the next day after fasting for at least 8 to 10 hours, but not more than 16 hours. The best time to collect blood is between 7 and 9 in the morning .

However, fasting blood sugar is not the same as "hunger blood sugar". When the body is in a state of excessive hunger, various indicators in the body will change. At this time, the test results are inaccurate, which may conceal the patient's true condition and affect the doctor's correct diagnosis. At the same time, if the hunger time is too long, the patient may experience symptoms such as hypoglycemia and fainting.

2 Postprandial blood sugar

Normal fasting blood sugar does not mean that there is no diabetes. Fasting blood sugar may be normal in patients with impaired glucose tolerance. What is abnormal is postprandial blood sugar. Postprandial blood sugar increases due to insufficient insulin secretion and other reasons. It is recommended to check blood sugar before and after meals .

Secondly, compared with fasting hyperglycemia, postprandial hyperglycemia is more closely related to cardiovascular complications in diabetic patients and is more harmful. Strictly controlling postprandial hyperglycemia can help prevent and treat diabetic complications.

It should be noted that the correct calculation time for blood sugar 2 hours after a meal is 2 hours from the first bite of food, not from the end of the meal.

3. Regular monitoring

Blood sugar monitoring needs to be done regularly and regularly. Important time points for blood sugar monitoring include blood sugar before meals, blood sugar 2 hours after meals, blood sugar before bedtime, and blood sugar at night (usually 2-3 a.m.). If you are not sure about the effect of unfamiliar food on blood sugar, monitor it immediately if you suspect that your blood sugar is too low or too high.

At the same time, timely records should be kept after monitoring, including the monitoring results and their corresponding diet, exercise, medication, etc. This will not only help patients summarize their sugar control rules, but also provide a reference for doctors' diagnosis and treatment.

4. Do not stop taking hypoglycemic drugs or deliberately control your diet before measuring blood sugar

Some patients mistakenly believe that the blood sugar measured after stopping hypoglycemic drugs is their true condition, but they do not know that blood sugar testing is to determine the efficacy of drugs in controlling diabetes. Similarly, it is not advisable to deliberately diet, and it is better to test the real state.

The purpose of comprehensive treatment of diabetes is to keep blood sugar stable and avoid or delay the occurrence and development of diabetic complications through a variety of measures such as diet, exercise, and medication. Stopping medication or dieting without authorization cannot accurately reflect the condition and may also cause doctors to misdiagnose or miss the diagnosis.

Patients are advised to use hypoglycemic drugs as usual the day before testing their fasting blood sugar. If they are hypoglycemic drugs to be taken in the morning, they can be taken after blood drawing.

5. Islet function tests and complications related tests

Islet function test helps to understand the quality and quantity of insulin secretion, preliminarily determine the insulin resistance, and clarify the basic condition of diabetes. It is a basic test to guide diabetes treatment. Only by understanding the patient's islet function can we choose effective hypoglycemic drugs.

Diabetes is often accompanied by changes in the structure and function of multiple tissues and organs. To understand whether the patient has complications, a variety of laboratory tests should be performed: such as 24-hour urine protein, urine microprotein and β2 microglobulin tests to understand kidney function; urine routine tests to understand whether there is urinary tract infection and diabetic ketoacidosis, etc.