Question: What is the process of diagnosing a person who could potentially have diabetes?

Ana Cruz answered on 7 May 2020:

Hi KoredeO. There is more than one type of diabetes so the process of diagnosing it can involve more than one thing. However, the main tell with the condition is high blood sugar!
If you go to the doctor after not eating for a few hours your blood sugars should be low. We can measure these in blood from a finger prick. If they are high it might be an indication that you have diabetes. There are other things you can measure. In type 1 diabetes you can measure in blood some of the markers that are believed to contribute to the condition (from the autoimmune reaction, like antigens). You can also measure insulin (or better still C-peptide) which is the hormone that lowers your blood sugars after a meal and that people with Type 1 diabetes can’t make. People will usually go to the doctor with symptoms like weight loss, thirst,very frequent peeing, hunger and sweating and the first line of diagnosis is a blood glucose sample. They can also measure glucose in urine. We should have very little glucose in our urine but people with diabetes can have a lot because their kidneys cant process it all. Happy to give a more detailed answer of the different tests that can be done if you would like.