Newbie!

Hi Potsie, welcome to the forum.  You had one fasting test of 124 and the doctor wanted to put you on meds?  Wow, that's quite sudden in my opinion.  It seems to me you would have more than one fasting test and probably other kinds of blood work before making that decision.  124 is too high for fasting.  Most doctors would say it's in the borderline or 'prediabetic' range.  A non-diabetic would normally have under 100 fasting.   There are a few factors that you and they should consider:  family history, weight and your lifestyle.  Type 2 seems to run in families.  Being overweight contributes to difficulty metabolizing food particularly carbs, thus raising blood sugar.  Being active helps the body use up glucose in the blood so if you're inactive, get moving.  Eating lots of carbohydrates will keep blood sugar elevated, so if you're eating a lot of potatoes, bread and food made with flour and sugar, rice, etc., then you need to cut down so your blood sugar can even out.  If I were you, I'd read the two stickies at the top of our Diabetes forum for lots of information about blood sugar.  I think you should also ask for another fasting test.  Other tests are the A1c, which tells you what your average blood sugar was during the previous 90 days, and the GTT (glucose tolerance test) which is a couple of hours long and will tell you how your body metabolizes carbs (or how it doesn't). 

Let us know what happens, ok?

Ok.  I still believe you should talk with the doctor about trying to see if some lifestyle changes would have better effects on the blood sugar.  124 is not critical but it's fasting which means your blood sugar is probably higher during the day after meals.  What are typical meals like for you?  Breakfast, lunch and dinner?

So, what do you actually eat for these meals?  What kind of food?

Potsie, I agree with Lanie -- 124 isn't all that high a number to start out with. It may be possible to bring that to within normal range through a few, relatively simple changes in lifestyle.

Lanie too is right about diet, exercise, family history ... all are factors. A few minor changes in the way you eat and what you eat can make incredible changes in your health.

Are you overweight?

(We ask personal questions only to allow us to provide the best possible help. The more information you can supply about yourself and situation, the better)

The words  "glucose serum" threw me when I read your post.  Since I'm not in the medical field, I had to look it up to see exactly what it referred to and learned it's the same as the term 'blood sugar', so now I learned something!  Anyway, yes, this is blood sugar or blood glucose and is the level of 'sugar' in the blood when we're tested.  If you have read our stickies at the top of Diabetes here, then you understand that carbohydrates like potatoes, bread, cakes, candy, etc. will raise our blood sugar.  If you don't have a blood glucose (blood sugar) meter, I would suggest that you get one.  You can ask your doctor for a prescription for one and get it at a pharmacy, and either ask the pharmacist or the technician there to show you how to use it or take it to your doctor's office and have them show you.  If you don't have insurance, or even if you do, you can buy a ReliOn at WalMart for a reasonable cost, or you can go to the websites of Bayer and OneTouch and ask for a free one.  You are lucky right now in that your blood sugar is not critically high and you may be able to control it just by diet and exercise.  You need to know that elevated blood sugar over a period of time (which varies per person) can lead to organ damage, so it's in your best interest to learn all you can about this.  You can take control over many aspects of your health, honest! 

 

If the lab paper says 'glucose serum 134', yes, that means your blood sugar was 134.  My opinion is that you need to talk about all this with your doctor.  I think if you make some diet and lifestyle changes, you could possibly bring the blood sugar down.  If you are taking other medication, search online for side effects to see if hyperglycemia is one of them.  I think you need to be more proactive about this so you can start controlling it.

If you're taking any steroids, they might elevate blood sugar, so check them out.  Stress and pain can also raise blood sugar but this is an individual matter and varies with the person but I wouldn't go so far as to say that all our elevated blood sugar is caused by this.  If you can't readily talk to your doctor about this, then you need to do more for yourself.  Again, have you read the stickies at the top of the Diabetes Forum?  TVEditor's For Newbies - A Testimonial,l and Diabetes Resources - What Makes Blood Sugar Rise?, etc.  The more you understand about how your diet and lifestyle are affecting you, the better you'll be able to take control of your health.  As I said, you need to get a blood sugar meter so you know what your readings are when you wake up and what they are 2 hours after eating.