Making a diagnosis for diabetes is not the same for everyone. Someone may have typical symptoms for a short time and then deteriorate quite quickly. Another may have atypical symptoms for a longer period, that seem vaguer in nature and only slowly get worse. To make the diagnosis, blood research is needed. A general practitioner or paediatrician can request this research when diabetes is being suspected.

Diagnosing diabetes can be confirmed in the following situations:

• When your complaints match those of diabetes and your random blood sugar is higher than 11,1 mmol/L (200 mg/dL). The timing during the day, or whether you have eaten or not won’t play a role here;
• or if your fasting blood sugar, after fasting for 8 hours, is higher than 7 mmol/L (126 mg/dL);
• or if your blood sugar is higher than 11,1 mmol/L ( 200 mg/dL) during an Oral Glucose Tolerance Test (OGTT). Your fasting blood sugar is being measured before drinking a sugary liquid and regularly in the two hours afterwards.

Not just blood sugar levels are measured during these tests, also electrolytes and the pH- level in your blood will be checked. Also, your urine will be analysed for glucose and ketone levels.