blood sugar and cholesterol, how they check it?

Question

I am going to a clinic where free blood sugar check and free cholesterol check will be done. How will they do this ? Stick my finger ?

I had something done, like a blood draw, at my doctor's office 8 months ago and was told no sign of diabetes, no sign of high blood pressure, but total cholesterol was 210. I do not have any diseases.

Answer 1

Finger prick is the way that it happened the last time I got both those leveled checked. Since it's a free checkup, I cannot see them doing any different.

Answer 2

If your blood sugar is 130-140 through the night, that's elevated. In a non-diabetic person, you can see blood sugar readings rise to 140 after a meal, but they don't stay there. If they did stay there, the person would feel the headache and dizziness that you're describing. 140 is OK after a meal as long as it is lower later. 140 overnight is too much (better than 190 overnight, but still enough to cause problems). 1. You need medication to do this. Metformin is commonly used. If you get your weight down further, you may not need to continue the Metformin, but you should be medicated in the meantime. 2. Your body does not need carbs. I'm not suggesting a carb-free diet, because this ketogenic diet would be dangerous for a person with diabetes if it is not carefully supervised. Reducing the carbs without being completely strict about it is the best way to go. The best carbs for you are whole grains. White rice and potatoes are the worst carbs. A potato without skin will raise your blood sugar faster than ingesting pure glucose will becaise potato is actually one step simpler than glucose. Brown rice. Oatmeal (steel cut is best, and it is the tastiest). 3. Your blood sugar is under better control. Congratulations. I know that this is not easy. But your sugar is still not quite under control. It may take some medication to get that last bit. I know this can be frustrating for patients who make so much progress without having to use medication, but even if you eat perfectly spaced meals designed perfectly by a nutritionist, your body is not sensitive enough to insulin to keep your blood sugar all the way down, and you may need Metformin, which is a pill, not an injection. Here's the other reason why you have trouble getting that last bit. When your blood sugar is over 140, your kidneys filter it out. Once you get down to about 140, your kidneys are not helping you so much. This is where insulin should be doing the work, but even with your phenomenal weight loss, you still have some insulin resistance. Good luck. You've taken charge of your health, and I see so many patients with diabetes who take terrible care. Take that last step and talk to your doctor about bringing your blood sugar fully under control.

Answer 3

Chances are they will be using a Point of Care POC instrument and it will require a quick prick of the finger. These instruments are not extremely accurate so don't panic if the results are out of whack. Make sure that any elevation's are rechecked using serum separaed from whole blood and not whole blood.

We recently evaluated a POC Cholesterol instrument and it was consistantly higher (15-50 mg/dL) than true readings from serum.

Whole blood (finger sticks) are difficult to rely on because they are so technique dependent. Contamination with tissue and other issues bring the sensitivity and specificity down.

Answer 4

The onset of many diseases is usually take a long time and insidious so don't be so sure. Your cholesterol is pretty high (normally < 200).
Nowadays you can check for your blood glucose and cholesterol using devices that only require little amount of blood from your finger tip. But when you're going to the lab, they usually take blood from your vein (it's much but not as much as you might think) and you can get many results from it. Good luck on the test!

Answer 5

Take blood from you and answer your counts during the visit. Had it last done in 2005 in a doctor;s off not long at all. Less than 30 minutes time.