Blood Drug Testing

I went for pre-surgery lab tests & my blood sugar was 31. I had no symptoms.?

My half-brother developed Type 2 diabetes when he was 37. It turned into Type 1 diabetes within a couple of years and now he is insulin dependent. I am 37, healthy and in good shape. Should I be worried? No, this was not a fasting test. I had drank about 8 ounces of my coconut mocha before my test. This is what is so alarming to me. My nuerosurgeon was immediately notified of my results, but the hospital called me to make sure I drank some juice quickly. How could my blood sugar be so low and I had absolutely no symptoms??? Not sure this was a lab error. The nurse called me within an hour after drawing the blood. So, who knows? I have been feeling cruddy the last couple of weeks, but I have attributed it to my back. I had back surgery in May and my back never fused, so I have to have back surgery again on Friday! :(

Public Comments

1. Was this a fasting test? meaning no food the night before? If so 31 is still low. You may suffer from hypoglycemia. I would schedule a follow up visit with your doctor
2. One possible answer is that the lab tech may not have centrifuged your sample fast enough. Once the blood is drawn into the tube the cells are still alive and metabolizing sugar as nutrition. If the cells are not removed from the serum (the fluid between the cells that contains sugar, among many other chemicals) then they will use all the available nutrition in the vial before they expire. If the lab tech waits too long to spin your sample (an hour would do it.) then your blood value would be falsely low. (thankfully BG is the only value affected by not centrifuging quite that quickly- it takes several hours for the other values to be affected.) Because of this I always run a blood sugar with a glucometer on the patient at the same time I draw the blood. That way there's no chance I panic over a false low. In case this was not a lab error, check your blood sugar more frequently for the next few days and see how you do.
3. I can not feel the symptoms of low blood sugar anymore. That is due to my neuropathy/ and I can't recall at the moment... But I have been type 1 for 30 years, so I have to check my blood sugars every two hours regardless. I will test and to my surprise, it will be 26...........35........44...with no symptoms! The Dr.s do not like me living alone. I just test ALOT. The same thing when my sugars are high, it could be 300....400+ and I'm not thirsty, or tired, not like I used to feel the symptoms. But if you have no history of diabetes yourself, I would definitely start talking to a Dr. Good Luck, sorry to hear about your back, I have just had 3 shots, no fun :( oh, the back pain!
4. A coconut mocha would have very little to no carbs. It probably wouldn't raise your blood sugar at all, or only a few points. But even so, 31 is still quite low. There is a condition called hypoglycemia unawareness, however. It quite obviously translates as having hypoglycemia (a tendancy to low blood sugar), but not realizing it. You would have virtually no symptoms. After diagnosis with this condition, it is important to check your blood sugar at least 4 times throughout the day. You will probably need to have snacks more often then you used to.
5. There's no way it was really 31...you wouldn't be able to stand up...you'd be near coma with that number. They'll test you again, and I'm sure it will be between 70-100, which is normal.
6. I think the lowest I have ever seen my sugar go was 25. I didn't feel any different than if I was normal. Did your mocha have sugar in it? I would think if it did, this must be a mistake of some kind. I'd have the doctor check you out again just to find out what's going on since that is terribly low. You don't want to take any chances.