First of all, diabetic urine test can help diagnosing diabetes early and accurately. This test is easily completed and no preparation prior to the test is needed.
Keep in mind that when you perform a urine test, you should ask for the presence of proteins, glucose, urine density, pH, leucocytes, erythrocytes, microbes (bacteria or yeast), etc.
Usually, glucose is not present in the urine, because kidney have filtered it and got back to bloodstream.
Diabetics do have some glucose in their urine because their kidneys are not functioning very well (due to damages caused by diabetes) and because kidneys are overloaded with work (cannot filter too much glucose in a diabetic bloodstream).
On the other hand, if you are not managing very well your diabetes, there are some substances called ketones, that will come out in the urine. You should be worried, because this is not nothing good, you would be about to enter any hyperglycemic coma.
Furthermore,changes in pH and urine density will occur, where certain microbes will thrive causing problems like infection. That's why diabetics should test often for urinary tract infections (UTI) to get adequate treatment in time.
If blood comes out in your urine, that means your urinary tract is suffering or you should do other tests to see if other organs are suffering.
In addition, if you are addicted to alcohol or narcotic substances, urine tests will show you the presence of alcohol or these narcotic substances. In your case, as a diabetic, they could be fatal.
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For your information, the first type of urine tests is the colorful urine test. A strip of paper is used and dipping in the urine. After that, the glucose level is estimated depending on the color that pops up on the band.
1. Benedict’s test. When this test is performed, there is no need to use any strip. Instead, 5 drops of the Benedict’s reagent is put in 8 drops of urine.
When the band is blue in color, that means your urine is free of glucose. When the band turns yellow, that indicates that the glucose level is about 1.0; whilst brick red color shows a glucose level higher than 2.0.
In nowadays, this kind of urine test is not used any longer, because it is not very specific.
2. Dipstick test - Even in this case, it is used the colorful reaction. But, this time, there is a need to use strips, which are put in the urine, and results are getting from the changing of colors.
Even this test is no longer used nowadays because of the false positive and false negative results.
Recently, I have found about some new urine test strips, which can measure the level of insulin produced by our body. A group of UK researches from Peninsula Medical School, headed by Dr Rachel Besser, aimed to find a way of diagnosing two different types of diabetes (maturity onset diabetes of the young - MODY and type 1 diabetes).
What these strips can do is to measure the insulin levels. If insulin is present in the urine, that means the body is still producing insulin, therefore, there is no need to take insulin shots, while the correct diagnosis should be MODY and not type 1 diabetes.
That's quite a good relief for patients and doctors toward correct diagnosis and take correct treatment. In addition, it can be easily performed at home, non invasive (particularly for children), and can be sent directly to the patient's GP or laboratory for analysis avoiding frequent blood tests.
If kidneys are damaged, then, certain proteins will appear in the urine, indicating that kidneys are suffering. If you notice changes in the color or odor of your urine, you should ask your physician to do urinalysis to see what is happening.
The urine testing is completely painless and could be performed by every person, with no need to have any medical experience. They are reliable to give the doctor an idea of what’s wrong in the body. That’s how he/she will think of something specific instead of something general.
Furthermore, if you want to follow up (especially for your child), then they safe and accurate to use. However, no test can substitute the other. In other words, when there is a need to perform blood tests, then you should go for it.
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