Diabetes Symptoms & Diagnosis:
The early detection of the symptoms and subsequent treatment can decrease the chance of developing complications of this disease. Complications include heart disease and stroke, kidney disease, eye complications, infections, metabolic difficulties, impotence and pregnancy problems.
The symptoms of type 1 diabetes usually comes on rather quickly. Whereas symptoms of type 2 diabetes are often subtle and may take years to develop.
Some of the common symptoms for both types of diabetes include:
Excessive urination
Excessive thirst
Fatigue
Unusual weight loss
Irritability
Blurry vision
There are various methods to check for your blood glucose level.
a. Fingerstick blood glucose check
This is a simple test that can be performed in a medical or doctor's office or for home monitoring. This is used primarily for initial screening and further confirmation is needed if the result is positive.
b. Fasting plasma glucose test (FPG)
This is the preferred screening method for diabetes. The person is required to fast overnight (at least 8 hours) before having the blood drawn (usually first thing in the morning). Normal fasting blood glucose levels are less than 100 milligrams per deciliter (mg/dl). If the fasting blood glucose level is greater than or equal to 126 mg/dl, the person may have diabetes. The person may be required to do more tests to confirm the finding. If the fasting plasma glucose level falls in the range of 100-126mg/dl, the person has what is known as impaired fasting glucose or IFG. This is considered as pre-diabetes. This conditions has its own risks and concerns.
c. Oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT)
This test starts with a fasting plasma glucose test (as above described). Then the person is required to drink a solution of 75 grams of sugar (glucose). Two hours later blood will be drawn to check for blood glucose level.
If the blood glucose level 2 hours after drinking the sugar solution is 200 mg/dl or more, the person has diabetes.
If the blood glucose level is 140-199 mg/dl, the person has impaired glucose tolerance (IGT), which is also a pre-diabetic condition.
d. Random plasma glucose test
This is performed at any time of the day thus the word "random". If the blood or plasma glucose indicate level of 200 mg/dl or higher, this indicates diabetes. However, the diagnosis should be further confirmed using FPG or OGTT test as described above.
To convert mmol/l of glucose to mg/dl, multiply by 18.
To convert mg/dl of glucose to mmol/l, divide by 18 or multiply by 0.055.