If you have been diagnosed with diabetes or told you have "pre-diabetes", then make sure your annual lab tests include both blood and urine tests. I was surprised to hear from someone last year that she had not had regular urine tests for several years during her annual physicals, only blood tests. She had rising blood sugar but her doctors just told her to lose weight. She was already on blood pressure meds. Then, her latest lab results indicated kidney disease. And she's now on diabetes meds. But she has kidney disease, too.
So, what happened? Even elevated blood sugar over time can damage internal organs and unless we have both blood and urine tests at least once a year, we cannot know some of the effects of high blood sugar on our kidneys, liver or heart. The CMP (Comprehensive Metabolic Panel) measures the metabolism and the health of the liver and kidneys.
/labtestsonline.org/tests/comprehensive-metabolic-panel-cmp The Lipid Panel tells us about
our cholesterol.
/labtestsonline.org/tests/lipid-panel and the CBC (Complete Blood Count) is everything else in the blood!
/labtestsonline.org/tests/complete-blood-count-cbcPay attention to the eGFR results. This along with some other tests in the CMP tells you about
your kidney health.
Get copies of every lab test and look them over yourself. If
you see any results out of range or if you have any questions, make sure you ask your doctor. I can tell you from my own experience that I had had rising fasting results for about
10 years before my doctor finally put me on metformin. (No, I'm not the person mentioned above. That person is my sister.) During my "pre diabetes" years, my fasting was 100, 105, 120 - all around those numbers and not diagnosed as diabetes because the ADA says those results are pre-diabetes. And I was clueless but since then I've learned a lot.
And - besides these lab tests, you need to have a thorough eye exam by an ophthalmologist. This is not about
eye glasses. High blood sugar and diabetes can cause retinopathy and glaucoma both leading to blindness if untreated. This specialist has equipment that can see behind the eye and measure eye pressure. Whether or not you wear glasses, if you have elevated blood sugar, you need to have your eye pressure checked - and even an optometrist can do that and refer you to an ophthalmologist.
Be proactive about
your health and ask questions!