Importance of Testing


Urine and Blood Glucose Testing Method Importance of Testing

In managing diabetes, evaluating and controlling the glucose level is important. Testing is a very important part of the evaluation process and must be done consistently.

Some patients wonder how they get 300mg/dl on a urine test when they got only 200mg/dl one month ago. Urine tests usually measure the excess glucose that the kidney releases into the urine, and it is usually the result of a high glucose level from three hours prior to taking the test.
Urine test results can also be altered by frequent urination and water consumption.

The urine test can be done by compare the color of strip after it was soaked with urine. If the color does not change after a certain time, it means the glucose has been relatively successfully controlled.
You don't have to worry about the color change that happens much later. The blood glucose test is usually done before breakfast (120mg/dl,normal value) and after dinner (170mg/dl normal value).
When you take morning insulin shot, the test at 4:00 PM is very important because it shows the result of morning NPH insulin shot.

The frequency of blood glucose test requires more frequent test when glucose control is not being done well and vice versa. Since the result of the urine test and blood glucose test only measures a short window of time, there is a test that shows the average blood glucose level for the prior three months before taking the test.
This test is called Hemoglobin A1c(Glycosylated Hemoglobin), and it measures the glucose level around the hemoglobin. The normal life span of a hemoglobin is about 120 days, so it can measure the average blood glucose for up to the past three to four months. A healthy individual has a 4-6% result. A patient who controls his/her glucose level relatively well has a 6-8% result. And a patient who does not control his/her glucose level well has a result of above 8%.

Test	Advantage	Disadvantage
Urine (Diastix, Clinistix)	easy, inexpensive	Test result only measure prior 3 hour does not detect low sugar level
Blodd Test (Glucometer, Onetouch)	test this moment	requires a blood sample expensive
Hemoglobin A1c	test results measure prior 3 months average	expensive
Ketome test (Ketostix)	detects urine ketone level