High blood sugar

[AJ_The_One]

I went to the ER not long ago and I was told I had very high blood sugar, I had not eaten anything for more than 8 hours other than toast. Now I have to go back to another doctor, in the meantime I got a glucometer from a family member and I've been checking my blood sugar, it was at 122 on fasting, then went up to 206 2hrs after a meal of mash potatoes, pork chop, bread and a soda [something a normal person would eat and be ok], that same day, a couple of hours later it was still high, at 144. Is that something to worry about? I've been having troubles lately before I knew my blood sugar was high, after I would eat I would feel very bad, not knowing I had high blood sugar I was leading a normal diet, even some fast food here and there, I'm sure my blood sugar has been very very high until I started dieting now. Are those numbers normal or should I be worried?

[JDRF-Team-wak]

I am not a physician, but the mom of type one diabetic and the daughter of type 2 diabetic.  I would suggest you make an appointment with your primary care physician or endocrinologist and ask him to test you for diabetes. There are several tests that they can do that are simple that can tell if you are have high blood sugars or if you are diabetic.   The ranges of acceptable blood sugars usually depend on your age and sometimes build.  For example children’s ranges are usually a little higher than higher that an adult.

I would expect a high blood sugar reading as an average serving of mashed potatoes has about 45-60 carb and soda is about 30 bread about 15-30.  So I would say that 206 -2 hours afterwards seems about right, even for my daughter who is on insulin.

[JDRF Team SGG]

Actually, articles I have read listing so-called "normal" ranges of glucose values after a meal tend to say that a reading above the mid 140's is considered possibly diabetic. However, the ranges do differ from person to person. Most people's glucose can go as high as in the mid 140's after a meal before their own bodies start producing extra insulin to bring those levels down. The range of 70-126 is considered normal before eating a meal, or as a fasting glucose level. So although the one test at slightly above 200 does seem suspect, one test alone is probably not something your doctor would base a diagnosis on.

Most doctors will do a fasting glucose reading, perhaps a glucose tolerance test, or perhaps a hemoglobin a1c test, which would show the average glucose level in your body during a 3-month period. That really is the best test to find out whether your body is usually maintaining healthy glucose levels or not.