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Dennis
Okay here's the scoop, I haven't been diagnosed with diabetes but I bought a kit because I have some of the symptoms, (frequent hunger and thirst). My morning blood glucose is almost always good, in the 80's. I usually eat healthy but when I don't and/or overindulge it usually spikes to the 140 area and yesterday I ate a big dinner with ice cream and it was 167. I checked my blood sugar first thing in the morning and it was 74. What does this mean?
Answer
Diabetes isn't just about fasting levels. In fact, fasting blood sugar tests miss a lot of diabetics. This is why many physicians are using the FBG test along with the A1c, which is a three-month average of blood sugar, to get a more complete picture.
140 mg/dL gets thrown around here on Yahoo Answers as the upper limit of where a non-diabetic should be after a meal, and that's true, but if you look at data, you'll see that most non-diabetics just never spike up anywhere near that high. Because there's such a wide range of what "normal" is, doctors are hesitant to put the cap lower, but many researchers do believe that individuals who spike up around 140 mg/dL after a meal are at risk for developing diabetes in the future. And spikes over 140 mg/dL on a regular basis are more serious. I am reluctant to say you're "okay" if you're 140 mg/dL by two hours - non-diabetics usually don't exceed 140 mg/dL at any point after eating.
One isolated reading over 140 mg/dL doesn't mean you're diabetic or pre-diabetic. The reading may have been wrong or just a fluke. The fact that your fasting levels are so normal is really positive. Just continue testing yourself after eating. I'm sure people will disagree with me here, but because you saw a 167 mg/dL, I think you should test at one hour and two hours after your first bite. Your one-hour reading will tell you how high you spiked and your two-hour reading will tell you how quickly you came back down to normal (<100 mg/dL). The "be below 140 mg/dL at two hours" standard is really for diabetics, and frankly it's an inaccurate one. Diabetics should stay under 140 mg/dL at all times. Considering that blood sugar is often higher at one hour rather than two hours, the 140 mg/dL limit doesn't make sense when it's extended to two hours. If your one-hour or two-hour number is around or above 140 mg/dL after a normal meal on a regular basis, it's time to go to the doctor.
Don't panic, but keep testing.
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