According to the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, an independent panel of experts, if you have hypertension, you should get tested for diabetes. This panel studies the results for prevention strategies such as taking aspirin or diabetes testing. Recommendations from the task force usually become guidelines for primary care doctors and certain specialists.
Since high blood pressure and diabetes often go together, treating them both at the same time is the best solution. People with diabetes who control their blood pressure, cut their chances of having a heart attack, stroke or dying of heart disease in half. On the flip side, people with high blood pressure who control their blood sugar, can reduce the chances of losing their sight, losing feelings in the fingers or feet, losing a limb, and suffering kidney damage.
The American Diabetes Association recommends the fasting blood sugar test for diabetes testing. For this test, a small sample of blood is drawn in the morning before the patient has had anything to eat or drink. If the blood sugar reading is 126 milligrams per deciliter (mg/dL) or higher, and is confirmed by performing a second test a few days later, that person has diabetes. There are some doctors who check for diabetes by testing blood sugar two hours after a sugary beverage is provided or by checking the blood for the percentage of sugar-coated hemoglobin (known as hemoglobin A1c).
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