Is there another way to test for Diabetes then a blood test?
Saturday, August 21st, 2010 at
10:19 pm
I have a HUGE phobia of needles but want to be tested for Diabetes. Is there any other way then having a blood test??
Thank you 
Filed under: Blood Glucose
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Not really. A routine urinalysis can detect glucose in the urine, which shouldn’t be there normally. But all it tells you is that glucose is there, not how much. It also doesn’t tell you much about how the body is functioning or reacting to sugar in the diet. For that, unfortunately, you need a glucose tolerance test, or a fasting blood sugar test done. And those do involve needles. If you just wanted to know and aren’t having problems of some kind, then a urine test would be a cheap and easy way to do it. But if it detects any glucose, you’d have to overcome or deal with the needle fear to have the best testing done.
You could do a urine test to check for glucose in your urine but your glucose levels need to be pretty high for anything to come up there so you’d want to hope for a negative result but a negative result doesn’t necessarily mean you’re not diabetic. You can also test for Ketones in your urine which are a result of your body using its fat as energy rather than glucose. Ketones are actually poisonous so you’d want to hope for a negative result on that one too! Really the only way to be sure, and the only way to be formerly diagnosed, is with a blood test. Sorry!
Not that’s been approved in the united states yet. Yes, your not alone in fear of needles, but the new lance-lets are so small and sharp and when used with the automatic stick and retract, very little discomfort is felt. Your no longer confined to sticking the finger tips, but may use the arm or anyplace more convenient to obtain that drop of blood which is a lot smaller to register on the machines. If you think you might be a diabetic, you should be tested by a doctor’s lab for a test that shows your blood sugar level over several weeks, not just one day.
In the old days urine was tested with tablets, before that the physician tasted the urine for sugar both outdated.
No, this is the way it is done. It is time to get over your phobia of needles.