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May.7,2010
Is my doctor sending me for the wrong diabetes test?
I went to my doctor to get tested for type 1 diabetes because my 30 year old brother was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes two weeks ago (I’m 21).
My doctor wrote on the paper ’2 diabetes’ and the test is called, ’2 hour oral glucose tolerance test’.
I specifically asked him to send me somewhere to get tested for type 1 not type 2.
Why did he do this?
By the way I’m not overweight, I’m, 165cm tall and weigh 57kg (5’4, 125 pounds).
Thanks.
Ok, you have alot of points here, I’ll try to help clear things up…
first, the “2 diabetes” means “2 hour test” not Type 2 diabetes. (there is a 4 hour test, rarely done, and a shorter test as well) but the 2 hour oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) is the most common, used for all types.
Secondly, people who get type 1 diabetes are rarely overweight, and if they were when they get it, one of the clearest symptoms is the sudden unexplained weight loss. Type 1 is an autoimmune disease. NO one knows for sure what causes it, nor how to prevent it. Obesity is only a factor in Type 2, which can often be prevented with diet and exercise.
Thirdly, yes, diabetes is genetic, and therefore can be hereditary, but you can’t “catch” it from your brother. For you to have Type 1 diabetes right now, you would have to be exposed to a trigger at about the same time he was (by the way, no one knows what the trigger is.)
So it is not impossible, but it is unlikely, that you curently have Diabetes. If you do have the genes for Type 1, like your brother does, there is nothing to say that it will be triggered in you at the same time, or at all. And there is no real way to tell if you will get it in the future.
If you are not already having symptoms of Diabetes (thirsty all the time, peeing all the time, hungry all the time, losing lots of weight for no reason), then I am afraid a Glucose Tolerance Test won’t really tell you anything. It could come back negative, and you could still get Diabetes in 2 years, 10 years, or never.
Good luck. And be supportive of your Bro…..it is a tough thing to deal with, he needs understanding, educated folks around him. I suggest you go buy a book about type 1, and always keep some sugar handy. 
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