Testing for diabetes

[FusionChefGeoff]

DS hasn't been right for about 2 months - and is ticking lots of the diabetes boxes - tired, thirsty, weeing lots.

The docs referred him for blood tests which came back as 'satisfactory' and after a follow up appointment we've been told to watch and wait for another 6 weeks.

Is there special tests to diagnose diabetes ie fasting / before / after food or is a 'normal' blood test enough to rule it out?

A finger prick blood sugar test about 1.5 - 2 hours after eating is one way of checking if blood sugars higher than they should be. A normal working pancreas will produce enough insulin to bring sugars down after eating.
If blood sugar is elevated then that could give you an indication, however you'd probably need to have a testing kit to do that so possibly quicker to return to GP and insist on urine dip.

Did the GP do a urine sample dip the first time around or just send you for blood tests? Usually shows up a problem if sugars are present in urine.
If they haven't I'd be tempted to go back with a sample and insist they do this.
When DS was diagnosed I was told on the phone that he probably had a urine infection. I insisted on an emergency appt where GP dipped urine and we were admitted to hospital and diagnosed that same afternoon.
Don't be fobbed off as Type 1 can move frighteningly quickly and the earlier the diagnosis the better.

Doesn't always show up in urine although usually will (I do know a child who went into DKA despite a clear urine test the week before as she had been drinking so much that it was too dilute to pick up the glucose??).

Best test, as MintChocAddict says, is two hours after eating a high carbohydrate meal. Anything over 11 mmol is a diagnosis, anything above about 7.5 mmol would be a red flag.

Fasting glucose and HBA1C are not ideal as diagnostic test - the HBA1C measures glucose over a three month period so if it has come on recently there is a possibility the HBA1C will be in the normal range. In early T1D the pancreas can still work a bit overnight and bring numbers down to normal so the fasting glucose can be OK.

Good that you are on this. Has the GP told you the signs to look for which would mean an emergency?

Not had any diabetes specific advice - I hadn't connected the symptoms really until after the most recent appointment (Monday).

My parents have a sugar testing kit and we're heading there tomorrow anyway so I will do a finger prick test 2 hrs after he's had his breakfast to (hopefully) reassure myself.

What should I be watching out for?

A fruity smell like nail polish remover or pear drops is a sign that you need to go straight to A&E. Problems breathing, loss of consciousness, vomiting are all also huge red flags that require immediate medical attention (if he was vomiting I would take him to A&E and say that he is under assessment for type one diabetes - other issues, call an ambulance but you probably would anyway).

Hopefully it is absolutely nothing, but undiagnosed type one diabetes can become life threatening very quickly due to a condition called DKA www.healthline.com/health/type-2-diabetes/ketoacidosis#symptoms

I'm not trying to put the fear into you - as you say his tests have come back "satisfactory" - but everyone should be aware of the signs of DKA as it unfortunately claims lives and too many people are diagnosed only when they have become critically ill.

t1mum3 my dd has had some results around 8mmol at two hours - no one cares in the medical profession but I am quite concerned. Do you think I should go back or just wait?