Not Ken too?

[Guest guest]

Ok, Susie, and everyone, I need some help. My long time companion, Ken, S/O

or whatever you want to call him, (I call him Dad!) went to the Internist

today for a complete physical. It just happens to be his 39th birthday.

(We didn't mean to schedule a physical on his birthday, but the Dr.'s office

changed the appt)

Anyway, after the physical we went to the hospital for a bunch of blood

tests and a chest Xray for him. This was around noon and he was fasting,

nothing to eat or drink after he woke up. They did a fasting glucose

because I told the NP that the VA hospital had once told him that he had a

" borderline " BG whatever that means. This was a couple of years ago and he

was never tested after except a couple of months ago I did a fasting on him

and it was 106 mg/dl which I thought was OK. He was reluctant to have even

this done because he said he " didn't want to know " . Of course I have

convinced him of the folly of that!

So today when we got back I said " just for the heck of it, let me test your

BG while you are still fasting " . I just about fell over when we got 191

mg/dl on my Fast Take which is plasma calibrated. He couldn't believe it

either, so we did another test and that one read 175 mg/dl. Still not

believing it and thinking my meter must have gone to la-la land, I tested

myself and I was 89 mg/dl, about what I expected. So the meter is OK.

A couple of hours later (sorry I didn't get a pre-meal test) Ken ate a lunch

with 183 grams of carbohydrate containing 45% fat, 21% protein, and 34%

carbohydrate. This included a huge glass of orange juice and chili with

beans. One hour PP was 193 mg/dl, and 2 hour PP was 210 mg/dl.

I called the NP to see how long it would take for the test results to get

back to her and she said a few days. She also said you wouldn't diagnose on

the basis of one test and maybe he had just had a " big morning " . She

mentioned some body chemical that could have become elevated and caused the

high BG. Does this sound right? Can having a " hectic or big morning " cause

this kind of reading in a non-diabetic? When I was diagnosed they did it on

the basis of one fasting BG but maybe they have changed their procedures.

She also told me not to bother testing him again until we get the results

back from the hospital lab. I guess she envisions me chasing him around the

bedroom with a Vaculance on his birthday! And that's not too far from the

truth. Seriously, he has been very good about it.

Of course we are concerned. He's only 39 years old. If it makes any

difference, he is an African-American man (I believe they have a higher

incidence of diabetes) and he is 6'1 " and weigh 262 lbs. He put on a lot of

weight in the last few years due to a medication he takes for

schizoaffective disorder.

He has absolutely no symptoms whatsoever. No frequent urination, hunger,

weight loss, thirst, etc.

So what does everyone think? Is Ken diabetic? How many tests will the NP

want to make a diagnosis? We're waiting to hear your opinions. I have my

suspicions but I don't want to jump to a conclusion and would like to hear

some objective opinions. And if he does have it, Type 1 or Type 2? Isn't

this kind of young for Type2? But then he is somewhat overweight. Anyway,

that's enough from me. Thanks in advance for your help.

nn

Type 2, Dx Oct 98, Avandia, Amaryl, Glucophage, Lipitor, Prinivil, MDI H &

NPH

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