I had a similar situation recently and I haven't been into the doctor yet so I am wondering what "safe" levels are with finger glucose monitoring. My mother died at 49 with complications from Cushings Disease and had DM II before she passed away. Her ENTIRE family (mother, father, sisters, cousins, brother, nieces, grandparents) all have or had diabetes and my fathers biological dad died at 59 from complications with DM as well. I am 30 and not as active as I once was and have been getting readings of 140-220 two hours after eating and 19-80 when I get up in the morning or 30 minutes before I eat. I started feeling tired and thirsty all of the time and have constant sweats but don't have frequest urination or blurred vision. I have been having headaches and shakes so I decided to see why they were happening at certain times of the day and wanted to see if it had anything to do with blood sugar. I had a machine from my mom and was shocked to see the big jumps up and down. It is odd that I feel "better" when it is high and so lethargic when it is the lower ranges so I wanted to find out more about blood sugars and how they affect everything. My doctor can't get me in until late next month and would like more information before then. Any comments or advice:?

That is great to hear.  I am glad that you are aware of the possibility and are taking the necessary steps to keep yourself healthy.  Take good care and always come back with any other questions you may have.

Tests Came back today my fasting Blood Sugar was 77 and my A1C was 4.6. This experience has left me knowing iam NOT immune to this disease Iam gonna definatly take better of myself after this scare.

The test is a hemoglobin a1c test, and you are absolutely correct in your understanding of what it does. It basically tells your doctor what your AVERAGE blood sugar has been over a period of about 3 months. If this number is normal (a number of around 6 with a little leeway on either side of 6 is ideal) then your body is working just fine even if there is some fluctuation if you eat high-carb foods. Although you probably should be aware that those kinds of fluctuations (over 200) probably are not great for your overall health, so moderation may be the key for you. We are rooting for you and hope you are OK.

I am glad to hear that you are acting quickly to get to the doctor.  Please let us know what he/she says.  To answer your question, yes it is possible that the high reading was due to your sugar intake.  Any time someone eats a high amount of sugar, the blood sugar level will elevate.  The difference between a diabetic and a non-diabetic is that a non-diabetic's body will react and fight the sugar automatically causing the blood sugar level to go down on its own.  Without the automatic production of insulin, a diabetic must give insulin manually to fight the sugar unfortunately.  Keep us posted on your doctor visit and your progress.  Thanks!

We sympathize with your nerves over this and hope that your high reading was due to candy gorging or even perhaps some sugar still on your fingers after eating the candy. But don't panic, even if a glucose tolerance test shows that you maybe spike higher than you should before coming back down to normal. If things are not working perfectly, it would seem that you are probably making insulin or you wouldn't have gone back down to a reading of 88 later on. Some fluctuation is normal. Only a doctor can identify for you whether the fluctuation you experienced was healthy or not, and I would probably take this as a cue to perhaps make some dietary changes to lower your carbohydrate consumption or at least spread those carbs out rather than eating them all in one short hour or so.  Nowadays, the awful damages that frighten you so badly are not necessarily inevitable even if your sugar IS high and it may not be). New medications make good control over the fluctuation possible for diabetics, so if this turns out to be a warning for you, I would encourage you to educate yourself as much as possible and to perhaps work on getting your diet and activity into a healthy habit. Please do let us know how things turn out. By the way, I am a type 1 diabetic for over 34 years and I have no damage from the disease, so take heart -- the future may not be scary for you even if things don't turn out normal.

Thanks so much for your wonderful responses. I seen my doctor today and they took blood and there going to test my cholesterol glucose lvl and some test that checks out my blood from over 3 months A1C AC1 somnething like that or I may be totally off on the name. Ill keep everyone updated on what comes up and onceagain thanks for the great and speedy responses!

Hey Thanks for the quick reply! Iam gonna try to get to a doc in the morning iam sooooo freaked out about all of this! As for the high reading Iam hoping it was due to the amount of candy I had eaten at church....and the additional readings iam not really sure what order they were in seems like i remember the lastone being 140 for some reason who knows. Can the candy cause an increase in the BS lvl like that to go up that high? Also my grandmother and mother have/had type 1  my grandmother died a few years ago from complications associated with diabetes she had lost both of her legs to the disease. Once again I really appreciate your quick response

Hi dragolas!  Thank you for posting your concerns in our forum.  I am only a volunteer and can only offer you advice.  First and foremost my advice to you is to check with a physician and have them run the necessary tests to diagnose or rule out diabetes.  You can never be too careful with something as serious as diabetes.  I understand that you do not have insurance, but there are resources out there for those who qualify to get you the help with your medical expenses.  If you do find that you have diabetes, you will definitely need some kind of medical assistance.  You mentioned that your mother and grandmother have or had diabetes.  Do they have type 1(juvenile diabetes) or type 2?  Typically we deal with type 1 diabetes, but there are many resources out there for those with type 2.  You may want to get additional information from The American Diabetes Association, who deal with both type 1 and type 2 diabetes.  It is possible that your high blood sugar level was due to the amount of sugar you had eaten just before taking a reading.  I assume that the three readings you had taken afterward went from 160, 140 and then finally down to 88.  Even if that is the case, it is still extremely important for you to be checked regularly by a physician with your family history of diabetes.  Thank you for your comments and please keep us posted as you are checked by your doctor.  Good luck!