Do You need a Blood Sugar Test?

There's a lot of talk about blood sugar and about the blood sugar tests. What is a blood sugar test? Who needs a blood sugar test? What does a blood sugar test tell you? There's a lot of information about blood sugar, but there's only a few things that you really need to know.

A blood sugar test measure the amount of sugar in your blood, commonly and medically referred to as glucose. Specifically, a blood sugar test tells you how your body is handling glucose. Glucose, like virtually everything naturally produced in your body, is necessary to a healthy and functioning person. Glucose is the "fuel" that your body's cells need to continue to function. What a blood sugar test will do is discover how well glucose is being delivered to your cells.
Most people use a blood sugar test for two reasons: either to help manage diabetes or to discover if they have diabetes. Using a blood sugar test can help give a comprehensive look at your overall health. Furthermore, you can check if you're pre-disposed to high blood sugar levels or low blood sugar levels.

That said, most people don't need a blood sugar test. However, if you do suspect you might have type 1 or type 2 diabetes, you might experience these symptoms. Increased urination, increased appetite, extreme weight loss (particularly when coupled with an increased appetite, as these are wildly disproportionate), achiness, fatigue and dizziness. If you find yourself experiencing most of these symptoms, consider a blood sugar test.

When diagnosing diabetes, a doctor will prescribe a blood sugar test such as a fasting blood sugar test. As the name implies, this is a blood sugar test carried out after the patient has fasted or gone without food for at least eight hours beforehand (the easiest way to do this, of course, is to take the blood sugar test first thing in the morning - most people don't eat while they sleep). A normal range would be between 75 to 100 milligrams of glucose per deciliter of blood. If the number is over 125, a physician will likely schedule more tests.
A random blood sugar test is administered without the fasting. This blood sugar test is less reliable, as it doesn't take into account whether you've eaten recently, and what you might have eaten. In fact, there is no "normal" blood sugar level in your day-to-day life. It's a function of diet, exercise and body type. It's much better to get a fasting blood sugar test.

Finally, those with diabetes regularly engage in a different type of blood sugar test called a glycated hemoglobin or A1C test. This blood sugar test is used to help diabetics manage and monitor their glucose levels and insulin dosages. This type of blood sugar test should NOT be used to diagnose diabetes.