Normal Blood Tests

The most routine blood test that people with diabetes have to do is the measurement of Blood Glucose (Blood Sugar).

The goal in this part of diabetes management is to strive to keep fasting blood sugars under 140 mg/dl and preferably closer to the 70-120 mg/dl range.

Ideally, one could monitor blood sugars four times per day (or more) to understand how well their diabetes is reacting to the treatment, and how well their sugars are controlled.

The information obtained thus could then be used to adjust heir diet and medications.

This can be done two different ways;

Type 1: Blood glucose can be measured randomly from a sample taken at any time (called a "random blood sugar" or RBS).

Type 2: Blood glucose can also be measured in the "fasting" state, wherein the person being tested does not eat or take in any calories for the past 8 hours (this is usually done overnight and is referred to as an overnight fast, known as "fasting blood sugar" or FBS). The normal fasting blood glucose level is between 70 and 110 g/dl.

Measurements of Blood Glucose

Blood glucose measurements are usually done before each meal and at bedtime. Occasionally a doctor may want a diabetic patient to test their blood sugar at 2 a.m. to assess what the blood sugar is overnight. Generally it is desirable to have blood sugars at 2 a.m. run greater than 65 mg/dl to avoid overnight hypoglycemia (low blood sugar).

It is VERY desirable for patients to keep a diary of these blood sugar measurements since this information will be a great help to the treating physician as he/she makes decisions regarding how best to treat the diabetes.