Two days ago (12th Nov. 2015) i was trying to be sure of an appropriate lunch for my mum. I asked her to come and get her glucose level checked before we decide if she can have semovita for lunch, she said but i had breakfast already, i went wop!
I realized that all these years we have been managing diabetes, we have never had a RANDOM GLUCOSE TEST done for her. I had to start preaching, explaining the meaning of random glucose test. She didn't quite accept the test, we did it anyway, the result was 10.6mmol/L and my mum screamed that is very high. i had to do the second round of preaching to let her know the value for her as a diabetic is not bad.
Just like my mum i realized a lot of diabetics and of course other healthy individuals may not know about other test methods to keep their blood glucose in check and of course achieve adequate control.
This brings us to the question: WHAT IS RANDOM BLOOD GLUCOSE TEST?
Random blood glucose is the test you can do at anytime of the day. It doesn't require any special preparation unlike the fasting blood glucose test. Your blood sample can be tested at anytime of the day whether you have eaten or not.
There are expected value ranges for this test.
- Non-diabetics, the expected value 2 hours after meal is 7.8mmol/L and random is expected to be less than 11.0mmol/L.
- Diabetics, target value for type 1 is 9.0mmol/L and 8.5mmol/L for type 2 individuals. In general random blood glucose in diabetics is usually above 11.1mmol/L (200mg/dl).
- Target value in well controlled patients is aimed at 125mg/dl.
*To convert mg/dl to mmol/L divide by 18 ie 125mg/dl /18 = 6.9mmol/L.
WHAT IS THE IMPORTANCE OF RANDOM GLUCOSE TESTING?
Random blood glucose test varies greatly throughout the day in everybody, diabetic or not. The value at every point in time depends greatly on the time one had his last meal. The father away from the time of last meal before the test,the lower the result of the test.
For a diabetic, the test helps you stay check and make decisions on how best to manage your sugar level.
I had checked in for my antenatal with a fasting blood glucose level result of 106mg/dl and a urine analysis result showing glucose to be ++.
From the urine analysis result i knew my results are not good. Am 28 weeks pregnant and i was always urinating, like every 5-15 minutes, cultured my urine no bacteria was found.
Sitting in front of my doctor, she looked at my results and said to me, i will have to diagnose you with GDM- gestational diabetes mellitus. As a diabetes expert i wasn't expecting anything less. I asked her what the glucose target in pregnancy is suppose to be, she said not more than 92mg/dl.
For me reversing it was simple. Below are the steps i took to achieve my present result which is 87mg/dl with no glucose in my urine for the past 4 weeks and counting.
1. Diet modification; i got to the market, i changed my entire food choices. These are the food i shopped for; unripe plantain which i eat either boiled, porridge and sometimes i fry it for snack in the afternoon. Irish potatoes which i use for a lot of wonderful yummies. i replaced my milk with skimmed milk (marvel) and my beverage with lipton. Now this will interest you, i eliminated swallows such as eba, pounded yam, semo etc totally, i started eating my soup with agidi.
I eliminated water melon and pineapple from my fruits since they have the tendency to hike blood glucose, garden eggs, apple, carrots, lettuce became the order of the day. I drastically increased my intake of green leafy vegetables. Another interesting meal i took advantage of its season is fresh corn. i started making delicious corn meal with vegetables. Beans also constituted major part of my meal as i cooked different varieties. I eliminated all canned, bottled and other artifiial drinks, i replaced them with home made drinks like zobo and kunu AYA. Generally i tried to make healthy choices.
2. Exercise: though i am a very active person even in pregnancy, as the pregnancy advance, the more difficult taking a walk became. I always push myself, outside the normal working day activity, i try to take extra 20-30 minutes walk.
These are the two major simple steps i took and in 2 weeks i was already reaping the results. I advice you share this experience with someone, who knows you may be a saviour.
If you have experience with diabetes you like to share with us, please feel free to comment below or mail us @ diabetesplusmagazine@gmail.com and we will be publishing you right away.
