Pre-Diabetes Symptoms
Pre-Diabetes, also known as Impaired Fasting Glucose (IFG) or Impaired Glucose Tolerance (ITG), occurs when a person has elevated blood sugar levels that are just below the levels of a Diabetic.
How Pre-Diabetes is Diagnosed
According to the American Association of Diabetes, Pre-Diabetes is a diagnosed in individuals when the individual has a Fasting Plasma Glucose greater or equal to 100 mg/dl, but less than 126 mg/dl during a two-hour oral glucose tolerance test. Additionally, a person might be diagnosed with Pre-Diabetes if their blood glucose levels are greater than or equal to 140 mg/dl, but less than 200 mg/dl after in-taking 75 grams of a glucose solution.
On the contrary, most Diabetics are diagnosed when their blood glucose levels are 200 mg/dl or greater on two separate occasions (testing is done twice to ensure accuracy.) With the two-hour oral glucose tolerance text, a Diabetic will have a blood glucose level of 126 mg/dl or higher.
Here is some more information about common blood sugar level tests:
1. The A1C test. (pronounced A-one-C) reflects your average blood glucose level over the last 3 monthsIt is the best way to know your overall blood glucose control during this period of time. This test used to be called hemoglobin A-1-C (pronounced HE-mo-glow-bin A-one-C) or H-b-A-1-C. The units of the A1C is %(percent).
2. The blood glucose test you do yourself
This test uses a drop of blood and a meter that measures the level of glucose in your blood at the time you do the test. This is called self-monitoring of blood glucose (SMBG). The units of of the meter is milligrams per deciliter (mg/dL). Your meter should give a plasma basis result. That way you can compare your readings to the readings you get from the lab’s blood work. That will give you a sense of how accurate your technique and meter are.
You and your health care team need to use both the A1C and SMBG tests to get a complete picture of your blood glucose control.
How do blood glucose self-testing results compare with A1C test results?
Here is a chart from the American Diabetes Association to show you how your blood glucose testing results are likely to match up with your A1C results. As the chart shows, the higher your self-testing numbers are over a 3-month period, the higher your A1C result is going to be.
Pre-Diabetes is a condition that occurs most commonly in people who have a genetic or lifestyle predisposition to developing Diabetes. About 57 million U.S. adults have Pre-Diabetes.
Click here to take our Discovering Diabetes quiz to determine if you could be a candidate for Type 2 Diabetes.
Heres an overview of Pre-Diabetes:
Pre-Diabetics often have similar digestive complications (see below) to Type 2 Diabetics but their blood sugar levels are lower than those of a full-blown Diabetic. Therefore, they may be insulin resistant, obese and have other symptoms, but they have not quite developed full-blown Type 2 Diabetes. The good news is that Pre-Diabetes is NOT Type 2 Diabetes and can generally be treated without medication.
Pre-Diabetics can often avoid getting Diabetes if they loose about 5 to 7 percent of their body fat. Studies indicate that if a Pre-Diabetic does not lose weight, he or she will get full-blown Diabetes within 10 years of the Pre-Diabetes onset. Therefore, if you or someone you care about has Pre-Diabetes, it is important to educate yourself about methods of losing weight and becoming healthier so that you can avoid getting Type 2 Diabetes.
Pre-Diabetics do have a greater risk of developing heart disease and other effects of Diabetes. Therefore, many Diabetes care professionals recommend that Pre-Diabetics take medication, and treat Pre-Diabetes in the same manner that a Diabetic would treat Diabetes. Click each of the following to learn more about Carbohydrates, How Digestion Works and Diabetes interactively.
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