I thought this was going to be a simple "I haven't been to the doctor in XX years thread." I was prepared to brag about the fact I haven't been to a doctor, except for quick exams by a nurse for work and by a doctor in the Army, since I was 13. I'm now 72, and you can do the math. Instead, there's something more serious.
I've had many friends with diabetes that ended-up with serious complications, including two that are now mostly blind. I'm not trying to scare you, but I want you to know the ultimate penalty if you do not discipline yourself. I've had a good bit of experience with it via friends, family, and my wife who is a retired nurse who worked for a gp and has diabetes. johnp, get a second opinion from a different doctor. I know that costs money, and coming from someone who has never spent a cent on a doctor or a prescription, the advice to spend money should carry some weight. In the vast majority of cases when a young person tests positive, it is because something else is happening. Are you sure you didn't eat anything before the test? According to my wife, most young people that test positive admit later that they had food before the test. The "but it was just one cookie" can cause a false positive. Where she worked, they stopped testing females under 25, unless they were pregnant, because they almost never had the will-power to not eat before the test. Sad, but true. If you're having another test done Friday, make sure you do what they recommend, times two.
What to do about it? For most people, controlling diabetes can be done without medication. It is done through eating correctly and exercise. Learn what the GI index is. Don't drink grape juice, don't eat white rice, don't eat more than 30 grams (varies for everyone) of fructose per day (a little fruit is very good, too much is bad because your liver can't convert it to glucose), etc.. That is good advice in general, and especially leading-up to your follow-up on Friday. My two friends, who ended-up blind, did not eat correctly or exercise. Decades of rollercoasting between eating carbohydrates and taking insulin shots caught-up with them. When eating properly, neither of them had to use any medication at all, but when they didn't eat right, their condition got much worse. They could have controlled it. If it does turn-out that you're diabetic, fats and protein are your friends. Carbohydrates are the enemy. More advice on keeping the carbs low is available on request. I'm on a less than 35 grams of carbohydrates per day diet, so I have to be creative. You won't have to go to that extreme, but reducing does help.
Finally, don't let the diabetic label get slapped on you if it's not correct. That's another reason to get a second opinion from a different doctor at a different practise. If the label stays, then you WILL have trouble getting health insurance later. Diabetes has so many potential complications that even if you do get health insurance, you probably won't be covered for most problems, because it is caused by a preexisting condition. It's a hard reality.
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