Labs back...High glucose??

Saw my PCP today.  He checked my labs and we talked about some small stuff.  All labs looked normal except for one thing.  My glucose level was 103, normal is between 65-99.  I really don't know exactly what this means.  He said to exercise and maybe drop 10 pounds if I could.  He will retest with a glucose fasting test in 6 months.  He said I may have to be concerned about diabetes.  That was one of the last things I was thinking of.  So should I be concerned?  Brian

Yes be concerned ! It sounds like you might have the starting signs of diabetes .I dont know though stranger things have happened .

Good luck .

BTW Diabetes HATES CARDIO  exercise , you might try to up the cardio a little .

     Nick

Not necessarily.  Was it a fasting or non-fasting test.  How long since you had eaten or drank anything?  It isn't strictly a fasting test, but for best results, really should be done first thing in the morning before you've eaten or drank anything, to give a baseline reading. 103 is only barely above "normal" which is only an "average" across the entire population anyway.  Your normal may be a few points higher or lower than mine -- I think it's about plus or minus ten points.  Also, there is always the possibility of a poorly calibrated instrument reading it -- the technology is cheap now, but not always accurate if the person running the test didn't calibrate or code the test right.  But, most of all, this is merely a snapshot in time of a complex thing.  A better test, which most dr's do now, is the A1C protein marker for diabetes/insulin resistance.  This is a more complex but more accurate test, and, while your blood glucose can bounce up and down wildly in just a few minutes, based upon what you've eaten, etc, the A1C is "stable" in that it reflects changes over the long-term, days or months, rather than the short term of minutes.   Actually, I haven't heard of that many people having the "old school" glucose fasting test thing anymore, most dr's just order the A1C.  At least, everyone I know with type II diabetes only talks about their A1C numbers, I've never heard any of them talking about the glucose fasting test -- I was diagnosed 5 years ago with type II diabetes, and I've never had anything but an A1C. I wouldn't get too concerned about it at this point.  Definitely something to keep track of, but not something to freak out about, especially if you have no real symptoms of type II diabetes, such as thirst, etc.  And, even a modest weight loss, plus attention to diet will often nip it right in the bud if you are getting it. Finally, you can buy a home glucometer and check your blood sugar yourself.  They start at around $20, so they're not expensive.  And, you can hardly feel the little tiny needle in the stylus you poke yourself with the get blood -- literally, it's virtually painless.  Some of the more expensive ones have very sophisticated features, like the ability to download the data to your pc and track it using monitoring software.

Hey Brian, For what it's worth (2 cents or less . . .), my glucose level hung at 101-103 for years and only dropped to 99 last month--17 months after my rny and 130+ lb loss. My pcp says to watch but not worry (my diet, activity are all good) and attributes this to age (62) and "idiopathic" stuff. I don't know about the "pathic" but my wife says that the "idio" part is just short for idiot! Seriously, my doc is a superb diagnostician (one of the best in our area) and he says not to worry until there is a trend upward, and not just a bit over the average. Still, I always check that number after blood tests. I'm determined to get it down a few points. Good luck.

I agree with everyone else; I wouldn't sweat it, but I'd be cautious.  A blood glucose of 103 is just a fraction about "normal" (whatever that means); a borderline elevation that shows up in a lab test is just an instantaneous snapshot, and may not reflect a long-term trend towards developing diabetes.   103 mg/dl of glucose isn't anywhere NEAR "high blood sugar", let alone outright diabetes. Some medications (e.g., thiazide diuretics or beta blockers) can mildly elevate blood sugar, at least in some people.  And people, as they get older, tend to have somewhat higher blood sugars than they did when they were younger. Your doctor gave you good advice. /Steve

103 is not bad at all, and actually could be discounted because it's an instantaneous value. More telling is the HgA1c, which is basically a three month running average. Best is below 6.0; above 7.0 is when you start taking glucose meds.

Thank you all for posting.  It really means a lot.  Diabetes scares the willies out of me...the circulation of the feet and leg things.  I think the most sensible course of action would be to try and lose 10 pounds over the next few months.  Doing it through diet and exercise (using the tools given me).  That couldn't hurt.  One weird thing I want to say.  I have been lacking in energy for awhile.  Yet when I would exercise for about 15 minutes, my energy level will come back to normal.  That is why I am wondering...borderline diabetes.   Just curious...what do carb and sugar do to someone who is borderline diabetes??  Thanks guys...Brian

The term "borderline diabetes" doesn't really mean a whole lot medically: it's both too vague and too specific all at the same time.  Sometimes the term is a casual lay variant for "metabolic syndrome" aka "Syndrome X", the constellation of symptoms (which many of us are or were familiar with pre-WLS) described in this Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metabolic_syndrome Losing the 10 pounds with diet and exercise can only help your blood sugar levels, though. /Steve