Glucose is the type of sugar that the cells of the human body use as their main energy source. Your body breaks down the food you eat into glucose and other substances. Your liver stores extra glucose and can produce it at times when you are not eating. The glucose goes into your bloodstream, where a hormone called insulin helps bring glucose into your body’s cells.
Too much glucose in the blood can be a sign of diabetes, a serious medical condition that can cause tissue and organ damage if it is not managed. Diabetes can develop if your body can’t make enough insulin or if your body’s cells have trouble accepting insulin.
Too little glucose in the blood is called hypoglycemia. Hypoglycemia is often caused by diabetes medication, but may also be due to health conditions unrelated to diabetes or to other medications.
The Role of Glucose Testing
There are several different reasons a doctor may recommend glucose testing for you. These include screening, diagnosis, and monitoring.
Screening
Screening means using tests to find health problems before those problems cause any symptoms or signs that you or your doctor might notice.
If you are over 40, overweight or obese, or have a heightened risk of developing diabetes, your doctor may order one or more screening glucose tests to find prediabetes or diabetes. People with prediabetes have glucose levels that are higher than normal but not high enough to be diagnosed with diabetes.
Diagnosis
Diagnosis is the use of tests and procedures to determine what underlying health condition might be causing noticeable signs and symptoms.
If you have symptoms of diabetes, high blood sugar, or low blood sugar, your doctor may order glucose testing for you. Glucose testing may be accompanied by other blood or urine tests to make an accurate diagnosis.
Monitoring
If you have been diagnosed with diabetes or prediabetes, your doctor may want you to track your blood glucose levels with an at-home glucose testing or monitoring device. Your doctor may also recommend periodic laboratory testing during check-ups to learn how your condition is being managed.
Who should get testing?
Your doctor may include glucose testing in a panel of tests for background health information, such as during an annual examination. Your doctor may also want to screen you for elevated glucose if you are at a higher-than-average risk of diabetes. Risk factors for diabetes include:
- Being 45 years of age or older
- Being overweight or obese
- Heart disease, high blood pressure, or high cholesterol
- Prediabetes
- Having family members with diabetes
- A lack of physical activity
- African American, Asian, Hispanic, or Native American/American Indian ethnicity
- Polycystic ovarian syndrome
If you are pregnant, your doctor may order glucose testing to screen for gestational diabetes, a type of diabetes linked to hormone changes during pregnancy. Having gestational diabetes can be harmful to the mother and fetus if left untreated and can increase your risk of developing diabetes later in life.
Your doctor may also recommend glucose testing if you are experiencing symptoms of diabetes, including:
- Frequent urination
- Excessive hunger or thirst
- Tingling or loss of feeling in the hands or feet
- Blurred vision
- An abnormal number of infections
- Unexplained weight loss
- Feeling very tired
- Skin that is dry
- Sores that don’t heal quickly
- Feeling very tired
Additionally, your doctor may order glucose testing if you have symptoms of low blood sugar or other health conditions.
Glucose testing is also an important part of managing prediabetes and diabetes after they are diagnosed.