How Is Diabetes Diagnosed?
Types
Doctors diagnose diabetes through blood work, but before that blood work occurs, the doctor usually does a family history and a medical history on patients to see if they are prone to diabetes. There are two types of diabetes: Type 1, which occurs in 5 to 10 percent of the population and Type 2, which is the most prominent, affecting 90 to 95 percent of the population.
Type 2 diabetes affects most people above the age of 40. In recent years, there has been a steady increase of Type 2 cases, including children. In fact, Type 2 diabetes affects seven percent of the population, 20.8 million Americans, according to the American Diabetes Association. Type 2 diabetes is the result of one of two factors. Your body does not make enough insulin or it is unable to use the insulin it makes.
Type 1 diabetes, formally called juvenile onset or insulin dependent, occurs when your body stops making insulin. It usually affects children and young adults under the age of 35. Type 1 diabetics must have insulin, or they will die.
Fasting
When a patient complains of being tired, always thirsty, blurry vision, frequent infections, itchy or dry skin, tingling in the feet, cuts that heal slowly, or frequent urination, there is reason for concern. The doctor will order a fasting plasma glucose test. This is an easy, inexpensive test. You fast for 12 to 14 hours. You can have water, but no food or other drinks. The nurse will draw blood, which she sends to a lab for analysis. Normal fasting results should run between 70 and 100 milligrams per deciliter or mg/dL. If your blood glucose level is 126 mg/dL or higher, you are diabetic.
A1C
Although the A1C test is to see how well you are managing your diabetes, it can also tell if you are diabetic. Doctors can use this quick test without waiting for lab results from a fasting plasma glucose test. The A1C shows how your blood sugar levels have been over the past three to four months.
A1C is part of your red blood cells. Sugar sticks to A1C. If there is a lot of sugar in the blood, it will all stick to the A1C in the red blood cells. Since red blood cells live for three to four months, the A1C test gives a picture of what has been happening over the past three to four months.
The results of the A1C are read as percentages. A normal level for a person, who does not have diabetes, is four to six percent. The target level for people with diabetes is seven percent or less. If your A1C level is above seven percent, there is reason for concern. Doctors like to take the A1C test every three to six months.
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