I have had unexplained vision loss over the past few years, gradually getting worse that the doctor's aren't really sure what it is. To try to rule out every possibility myself I bought a Accucheck glucose meter. I was wondering if I could get advice on when and what to eat to induce a reading that might tell me if I have diabetes. I actually am a little concerned with a couple of the initial readings. I ate a Costco "chicken bake" which I think contains a lot of the three basic food groups, fat, carbs and protein. I took a reading ten minutes after finishing and the meter read 142. But two hours the reading was down to 92. The next morning after 12 plus hours of fasting the reading was 79. Later on that night, I ate a whole self rising crust pizza (1500 calories, yikes) and the reading immediately after that was 110. Just now I have only had a couple of small meals over the last several hours, the last one two hours ago and the reading is 68. I do seem to be experiencing abnormal thirst although the booklet says that is a symptom of high glucose, not low. Do these readings seem ok? I am worried about the reading of 142 and this recent one of 68. I know it's not horrible but the book gives guidelines of 70-140.

About the vision loss. I am basically monocular, having a lazy eye as a child but the vision in the good eye over the past few years has decreased to a level of about 20/40-20/50 although in real life I think it is even worse then the snelling graph dictates. The symptoms are basically blurriness and loss of contrast, thruout the whole central vision. I have had all kinds of tests including fluroscein angiogram and field vision test and they all were normal. But one doctor sees signs of a cortical cataract and thinks that might be it but other's disagree. Lately I have been noticing wavy straight lines which I know is not a good sign considering the retina. Althought not horrible, it is noticable on the amsler graph I printed out I will bring this up when I see the opthamolgist later on this month. Do you think a non-diagnosed case of diabetes could induce a vision loss the way I have described without it being caught in a test? I have not had any testing for a couple of years and the vision had decreased somewhat since then.

Thanks for any replies. My livlihood, not to mention a driver's license renewal hangs in the balance of trying to solve this. Maybe emotionally I could deal with it better if I could just get a confirmed diagnosis.

I am in australia where the scale is different, ask a pharmacist or diabetes educator what the normal range of readings is in your country
yes many people have eye problems caused by undiagnosed diabetes, the thickened blood damages the small veins in the eye by clogging them

you could also ask a doc to order a glycated hemoglobin blood test, this shows your average blood sugar level over the last 3 months

Thanks Hry33. I think such a test would be a good idea. I have low risk factors for diabetes but my vision seems to have declined even more the past few months and coincidental or not, roughly from Thanksgiving until February I have had the worst eating habits in a long time with lots of sweets, too much alcohol and too much food in general. I have gained about ten pounds. I have been reading more about diabetes also. It seems a diabetes tolerance check can be done by taking a reading immediately after drinking a sugar drink and if over 200, two consecutive times, one is diagnosed with diabetes. After a big meal last night, it was up to 156. I am going to try the sugar drink trick by drinking a coke and eating a candy bar but now my 17 test strip drum is empty. I see at Costco wharehouse here in the US, they offer a three drum kit for $42, nearly a dollar a strip. I see that's where the companies make their money. Also I was looking online and they showed "an example" of diabetes induced vision loss. In the example, there was extreme blurriness in the central vision interlaced with dark blobs. It looked really bad. If this is indeed the case then I am very sorry for anybody that has to go thru that. Mine thus far is a general blurriness/loss of contrast with sharp edges looking slightly wavy. I could describe it almost like looking thru very old glass like you see on very old houses.

Anyhow thanks for your suggestion. I will see if my primary care physician (good old HMO) will authorize a glycated hemoglobin blood test.

geepondy, your bg readings appear to be in the normal range. drs would prefer a level of 80 to 100. it is quite normal for bg levels to spike after a meal but should return to normal lavels within two hours after eating.
consistant elevated readings around 120 would indicate possibly a pre-diabetic situation and should be taken up with your health care provider.
abnormal thirst could be from any number of reasons. you might want to go to this website and check out the sympthoms!

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/encyclopedia.html

oh, and add it to your favorites. there is much info about many common maladies!
good luck

I want to second what romeoii said. Your blood sugar levels sound fine. The 142 isn't bad at all for after a meal. The numbers you should be concerned with are the fasting numbers and they are all good.