DKA = diabetic ketoacidosis. A BG meter is a blood glucose meter, it is what PWD (people with diabetes) use to check blood sugars. You can buy a Relion meter at Walmart for less than $20 and the strips are very well priced as well. They are available over the counter and since you do not have insurance they would be your best option. Fasting blood sugar in the morning and then the Captain Crunch test would probably give you the most comprehensive answer to your question "am I a diabetic".
A1C's are not the best test for diagnosis especially with your diet. And good luck, I do sincerely hope you do not have D.
Hi Ray, It's good your bf noticed that, maybe you can look back at the record and see how high it was then. I think that sounds like a very good plan. Just let yourself recover for a while. I would also ask the clinic to do a blood chem because then you'll know if anything else is going on. dka is, as Clare said, diabetic keto acidosis- normally it happens when you no longer have enough insulin in your body to transport glucose into your cells and you start burning fat & muscle tissue to survive, the fat burning produces ketones which change the blood ph to an acidic level. It's very dangerous and life threatening. Many type 1 go into dka at their diagnosis. Once you're off the drugs and the diet drugs your body will naturally go back to its normal state. You always want to test yourself in the morning before food, before each meal and then two hours after to see where you are after carbs. For the glucose test, you test before, then consume 60-80g which could be captain crunch and then test every 1/2 hr I think. You can go to the website blood sugar 101 for more info on bg levels.
BG=Blood Glucose meter. It's the device all diabetics use to check their blood sugar several times a day.
My advice to you is not to spend money at first on the Bayer A1c NOW test. It's quite expensive. For half the cost you can buy a basic meter and 25 test strips. Heck, if you're willing to wait 4-6 weeks, you can get a meter for free from One-Touch, FreeStyle, etc., by filling out a form from their website and sending it in.
The $$ for these manufacturers is in the test strips, not the meter itself. It's the old razor / razor blades pricing model.
I think you should get a meter, then test yourself at some strategic times, write it down, and post it here for your friends to help you interpreting. Take a few readings in the morning just after you wake up, after nights when you did not pig out, had a normal dinner, and then didn't eat much of anything else before bed.
This will be your Fasting Plasma Glucose (FPG). If you want to get really rigorous, make sure you fast for 14 hours before that test in the morning (wake up at 6am, don't eat anything after 4pm the day before).
Then, take a few readings 1, and 2 hours after a typical meal (I don't mean take multiple readings at the same time after a meal, I mean repeat this process for several meals so you have 3-4 readings to analyze).
Finally, do your own "on-the-cheap" Glucose Challenge Test. Perform the 14 hour fast discussed above on a friday, so you can do your GCT Saturday. Find some non-fat candy you like (Dots, Jelly Bellys, Sugar Babies, stuff like that), check carb count for a single serving on the nutrition info, then eat enough to down about 50 grams of carb. Test BG at 1 and 2 hours after eating all this sugar.
Then, post your numbers. We'll give you the low-down on them :-)
I realize I am late to the game here and you have already gotten a lot of great feedback, but here are a couple of thoughts. First, I would definitely buy a cheap blood glucose meter and use it. Check your fasting BG in the morning and your 1-hr and 2-hr post-meal sugars. Also, have you read anything about the paleo diet? I really think you could do really well eating paleo (weight loss, reducing food allergies, better blood sugar levels). I'd recommend the book Practical Paleo by Diane Sanfillippo. The first half of the book is devoted to health stuff, including diabetes, and the second half is recipes.
Best of luck!
Best of luck.