The Medpulse Insights

The Medpulse Insights The Medpulse Insights is a health organization which seeks to promote healthy living among communities

In just three decades, global diabetes cases have quadrupled, surging from 200 million to over 830 million. Don’t wait f...
06/05/2026

In just three decades, global diabetes cases have quadrupled, surging from 200 million to over 830 million. Don’t wait for symptoms to appear; take control of your health today

Own a glucose meter now.

Check your blood sugar regularly, at least twice a month for non diabetic people

| Dr. Ewua-Gyan | Medpulse Insight | Health media and Education|

A client checked her blood sugar herself every morning for three months. Every reading looked normal. She still had diab...
04/05/2026

A client checked her blood sugar herself every morning for three months. Every reading looked normal. She still had diabetes. Here's what she didn't know? Dr. Ewua -Gyan writes…..

Glucometers are everywhere in Ghana. You’ll find them in homes, pharmacies, churches during health screenings, and even at market health fairs. Millions of people prick their finger every day and stare at a number on a small screen.

But do you actually know what that number ( Results) means? Do you know whether you should have eaten before the test or not? Do you know when to be worried and when to relax? If not, this post is for you.

First, What Is a Glucometer?
A glucometer is a small handheld device that measures the amount of glucose (sugar) in a tiny drop of your blood usually taken from a finger prick.

It gives you a result in seconds, right there at home or wherever you are.
It is one of the most important home health tools ever invented, especially for people managing diabetes or monitoring their blood sugar. But its usefulness depends entirely on whether you understand the result it gives you

FBS vs RBS; The Difference You Must Know
This is the most important thing to understand before you even switch the device on. There are two types of blood sugar readings and they mean completely different things:

Fasting Blood Sugar (FBS)
This is a blood sugar reading taken after you have not eaten or drunk anything (except water) for at least 8 hours. Usually done first thing in the morning before breakfast.
FBS tells you your baseline blood sugar level, what your body looks like at rest, with no food influence. This is the reading used to diagnose diabetes and prediabetes

Random Blood Sugar (RBS)
This is a blood sugar reading taken at any time of the day, regardless of when you last ate. You could check it one hour after jollof rice or four hours after your last meal. The time does not matter.

RBS tells you how your body is handling sugar at that particular moment. It is useful for monitoring and for quick checks — but it cannot be used alone to diagnose diabetes

Understanding Your Glucometer Results
Glucometer results are measured in mmol/L (millimoles per litre) in Ghana and most of Africa, or mg/dL in some countries. Make sure you know which unit your device uses.
Here is how to read your results:

FASTING BLOOD SUGAR (FBS) — No food for 8+ hours

Normal
3.9 – 5.6 mmol/L Your blood sugar is in a healthy fasting range. 👍

Prediabetes
5.7 – 6.9 mmol/L Higher than normal. Not yet diabetes but a serious warning sign. Lifestyle changes needed now.

Diabetes
7.0 mmol/L and above Consistently at this level means diabetes. Please see a doctor immediately. Do not ignore this.

RANDOM BLOOD SUGAR (RBS) — Any time of day

Normal
Below 11.0 mmol/L Good reading regardless of when you last ate. 👍

Diabetes Range
11.1 mmol/L and above This alongside symptoms (thirst, frequent urination, fatigue) strongly suggests diabetes. See a doctor.

When to See a Doctor, Do Not Wait
If your FBS is consistently above 7.0 mmol/L or your RBS is consistently above 11.1 mmol/l, please see a doctor.

A glucometer is a screening and monitoring tool. It is not a substitute for proper laboratory testing and It cannot diagnose diabetes on its own, a proper lab FBS or HbA1c test is required for diagnosis

Your glucometer is a powerful tool when you understand what it is telling you. Use it wisely, record your results, and always share them with your healthcare provider when in doubt.

— Dr. Ewua-Gyan | The Medpulse Insights | Health Media & Education

02/05/2026

Final Episode: Just One Biscuit? The Myths, The Excuses & The facts? Dr. Ewua- Gyan writes….

If you've followed this series from the beginning, thank you. Genuinely. You now understand your blood tests better than most people who have been getting them for years.

In this final episode, I want to address the things I hear most often from patients, from relatives of patients, and honestly, sometimes from other healthcare workers. These are the myths, the excuses, and the misunderstandings that keep landing people back in the waiting room for a repeat blood draw.

Myth 1: “I Only Had a Tiny Biscuit, That Can't Possibly Matter"
Oh, but it can.
Your body doesn't grade food by size. Even a small snack triggers a glucose response, a fat response, and a hormonal response. Your blood doesn't know it was "just one biscuit." It just knows food arrived and immediately starts processing it.

The fact: If a test requires fasting, even a small snack can compromise the result. Wait until after the draw, then eat everything in sight. You deserve it.

Myth 2: "My Tea Had No Sugar, So It's Fine"
I understand the logic, no sugar, no calories, no problem, right? Tea and coffee both stimulate a cortisol response and can raise blood glucose even without added sugar. They also contain compounds that can interfere with certain test parameters.

The fact: The only safe drink before a fasted blood test is plain water. Not tea. Not black coffee. Not juice. Water.

Myth 3: "I Fasted, But Only for 4 Hours"
Four hours feels like a long time when you're hungry. But your body doesn't finish processing a meal in four hours.
Depending on what you ate, it can take your blood 8 to 12 hours to fully return to a fasted baseline. The fat particles from a heavy evening meal can still be circulating in your bloodstream the next morning if you didn't fast long enough. That's what creates the milky serum we see in the lab.

The truth: 8 to 12 hours is the standard minimum. Go to bed, let your body rest, and schedule your test early in the morning.

Myth 4: "The Results Were Fine Last Time and I Ate Then Too"
This is a tricky one, because technically, you might have gotten away with it once. But here's what you don't know: you have no way of comparing what your fasted result would have looked like versus what was reported. The result may have appeared "normal" on paper while still being inaccurate compared to your true baseline.

The fact: Getting away with it once doesn't mean it was accurate. Your health decisions deserve reliable numbers.

From the perspective of a Biomedical Scientist-
I've spent this entire series bringing you behind the curtain, into the part of your healthcare that most people never see. The centrifuges. The milky samples. The rejected samples. The silent frustration of a lab scientist who just wants to give your doctor the most accurate information possible.

And it all comes down to this: you are part of the process. Your preparation before the test is just as important as the test itself.
Fasting is not punishment. It's preparation. It's how you give your body the best chance to tell the truth.
Thank you for reading every episode of this series. I hope it's changed how you think about your blood tests and made the next early morning fast at least a little more bearable.
Until the next series, stay curious, stay informed, and please, drink more water. 💧🔬

~ The Medpulse Insights.

01/05/2026

Why Overnight Fasting Matters for Certain Blood Tests? Dr. Ewua-Gyan writes…….

Episode 4: Which Blood Tests Actually Require Fasting, And Which Ones Don't?

Welcome to Episode 4, and this is probably the most practically useful episode in the whole series.

The truth is not every blood test requires fasting. And just as importantly, not every test that says "fasting" requires the same fasting window. The confusion around this leads to a lot of unnecessary hunger, and sometimes, people skipping the fast for tests that actually needed it.

Tests That Absolutely Require Fasting

1. |Fasting Blood Sugar (FBG) |
Fast required: 8–12 hours (Overnight fast)
This is the big one. FBS is the primary test for diagnosing diabetes and prediabetes. Your glucose must be measured in a true fasted state to get a reliable baseline. Eating anything beforehand, even just fruit will spike your sugar and could lead to a misdiagnosis.

2. Lipid Profile (Cholesterol + Triglycerides+ HDL+LDL)
Fast required: 8–12 hours
Triglycerides are extremely sensitive to recent food, especially fats. A non-fasted lipid panel is almost meaningless for assessing cardiovascular risk. If your doctor is checking your heart health, please take this fast seriously.

Folate
Fast required: 6–8 hours (confirm with your lab)
Recent dietary intake can temporarily raise folate levels. For the most reliable picture of your nutritional status, these are best tested fasted.

Tests Where Fasting Helps but Isn't Always Mandatory

Liver Function Tests (LFTs)
Technically, most LFTs don't strictly require fasting. But eating can temporarily raise some liver enzymes like ALT and AST. If your doctor is investigating liver disease, they may prefer a fasted sample. When in doubt ask your healthcare professional.

Kidney Function Tests (Urea & Creatinine)
A high-protein meal, like grilled tilapia the night before can temporarily raise urea levels. For routine kidney screening this isn't always critical, but if kidney disease is suspected, a fasted sample is preferred.

The Golden Rule
When in doubt, always ask. Call your lab or hospital before your appointment and ask specifically which tests have been ordered and whether any require fasting. One phone call can save you a wasted trip and an unnecessary test repetition.

And if you're told to fast, please fast properly. Water is always okay. Plain water. Not juice. Not tea.

One more episode to go! In Episode 5, I'll take on all the myths and excuses we hear in the lab and I'll do it with love 😁
See you in the next episode. 🔬

30/04/2026

Why Overnight Fasting Matters for Certain Blood Tests? Dr. Ewua-Gyan writes….

Episdoe 2: What Actually Happens Inside Your Blood the Moment You Eat?

Most people imagine their blood as a kind of steady, quiet river flowing calmly through the body. But that picture changes completely after you eat. Within minutes of your first bite, your blood becomes something more like Accra's Spintex Road during rush hour 😁

Everything is moving fast, things are being picked up and dropped off, and the conditions are very different from just an hour ago.

Here's what specifically changes when food enters your body:
1. Your Blood Sugar Shoots Up
The moment carbohydrates like rice, bread, bananas, whatever you had hit your gut, they're broken down into glucose and absorbed straight into your bloodstream. Within 30 to 60 minutes, your blood glucose can jump significantly.
In a healthy person, the body responds quickly by releasing insulin to manage that spike. But the key word is quickly, meaning your glucose is already elevated by the time most people arrive at the hospital for a morning blood draw.

Why this matters: The Fasting Blood Glucose test is how we diagnose diabetes. If your glucose is high because of breakfast and not because of a health condition, you could receive a completely wrong diagnosis unless we interpretes the resuits within the context of Random blood glucose. That's not a small mistake, that's life-changing.

2. Your Blood Fats (lipids) spikes up.
When you eat fatty foods, your intestines package those fats into tiny particles called chylomicrons and release them into your blood. Triglyceride levels, which are normally well controlled can spike dramatically after a meal.
We're not talking a small increase. A single fatty meal can push your triglycerides 5 to 10 times above the normal range within just a few hours.

Why this matters: The lipid profile test checks cholesterol and triglycerides to assess your heart health risk. If you've eaten before this test, your results are essentially useless for clinical decision-making.

3. The Liquid Part of Your Blood (plasma) Changes Color.
Here's the one that always gets people talking. Your blood isn't just red cells. When we spin a blood sample in the centrifuge, it separates into layers and the top layer, called serum/plasma, is normally clear and pale yellow.
But when someone has eaten, especially something fatty , that serum can turn milky white. Cloudy. Almost opaque. We call this lipaemia. And trust me, when you see it in the lab, you know immediately that something is off.
We'll dig into lipaemia more in Episode 3. But for now, just know this, we can literally see when you've eaten. The sample tells us.

4. A Wave of Hormones Floods Your System.
Eating also triggers a hormonal response. Insulin rises sharply to manage glucose. Cortisol which is already naturally higher in the morning interacts with food in ways that shift various test parameters. Hormones that regulate digestion also fluctuate. All of this can affect results in ways that are difficult to predict or correct for.

So What Does Fasting Actually Do?
Fasting gives your body time to settle. After 8 to 12 hours without food, the glucose spike has passed. The fat particles have cleared. The hormones have returned to a stable baseline. Your serum is clear again.

That's the version of you we need to see in the lab for certain tests like lipid profile, Fasting blood glucose etc not the version that just had jollof and fried plantain. 😄
The fasted state gives your us a clear, honest picture of how your body functions at rest. That's the only foundation for accurate clinical decisions for the above tests.

In Episode 3, I'll take you behind the scenes of the lab and show you exactly what we see and what we have to do when a sample arrives that clearly wasn't fasted. It's more dramatic than you'd expect.
See you in next episode.
- Medical Press

29/04/2026

Why Overnight Fasting Matters for Certain Blood Tests ? Dr. Ewua-Gyan writes…

Episode 1: That One Biscuit Before Your Blood Test, Does It Really Matter?

Okay, be honest with me for a second.
You've done it before, haven't you? You were told to fast before your blood test. You set the alarm, went to bed early, woke up... and then at 6am, you snuck one small biscuit. Or a sip of tea. Or you thought, it's just a tiny snack, what's the worst that could happen?

Well most of us have done this before. Nobody ever really explains why fasting matters. They just say "don't eat" and send you on your way. So you're left guessing, and honestly, that's not fair to you as a patient.

I’m a Biomedical Scientist, I work in the lab that receives and processes your blood samples every single day. And today, I want to have an honest conversation about what actually happens when you eat before a blood test that needs an overnight fasting state, because once you understand it, you'll never skip the fast again.

So Does That Biscuit Really Matter?
Short answer? Yes. More than you'd think.
Over the next four episodes, we'll break it all down, the science, the lab secrets, the specific tests affected, and the myths we really need to put to rest.

A quick preview; when you eat even something small, your blood changes. Your sugar goes up. Your fats spikes up. The liquid part of your blood (Plasma) can literally turn cloudy. And when that happens, the results your doctor gets back may not reflect your true health and wellbeing. They might reflect your breakfast instead.

Why Nobody Tells You This?
Here's something I've noticed after years in the lab, there's a big communication gap between what happens on our end and what patients are told. You get a slip of paper that says "fasting required" and that's it. No explanation whatsoever.

No explanation. No reason. Just instructions. And when people don't understand why they're doing something, they're less likely to do it properly. That's not a criticism, it's just human nature.

That's exactly why I started this series to bridge that gap. To bring you into the lab with social media and show you what's really going on with your health.

What's Coming in This Series?
Here's what we'll cover over the next four episodes:

•Episode 2: What actually happens inside your blood the moment you eat, explained simply

•Episode 3: What we see in the lab when you don't fast, a confession from behind the bench

•Episode 4: Which blood tests need fasting,and which ones don't (yes, some don't!)

•Episode 5: The myths and excuses we hear all the time, and the honest truth behind each one

By the end of this series, you'll understand your blood tests better than most people who've been getting them for years.
So stick around. Share this with someone. And I'll see you in Episode 2.
— Medical Press.

28/04/2026

Why overnight fast matters for Certain blood tests? (The fasting series) Dr. Ewua-Gyan writes…..

I've worked in a hospital laboratory for a while now. Every single day, I receive dozens, sometimes hundreds of blood samples from patients across the hospital. I process them, analyse them, and generate the results that Medical Doctors use to make decisions about people's health.

And every single day, there are samples I have to look at and think: this isn't right.

Not because something is wrong with the patient. Not because the nurse made a mistake. But because somewhere between the doctor's instruction and the patient's blood draw, a critical piece of information got lost.

The patient ate before their test.

Blood tests are one of the most powerful diagnostic tools in medicine. A single tube of your blood can reveal whether you have diabetes, whether your heart is at risk, whether your liver is struggling, whether you're anaemic, whether an infection is brewing in your body. The information locked inside your blood is extraordinary.

But that information is only useful if the sample is collected properly. And one of the most common and most preventable ways that accuracy gets compromised is through something as simple as “eating before the test”.

"But does every blood test require fasting?" The honest answer is No, not all of them do. Knowing which ones do and which ones don't is exactly what this series is about.

I am writing this series about blood testing, because I got tired of the communication gap. Patients deserve to understand what happens to their samples. Healthcare workers deserve patients who are properly prepared. And honestly, the whole system works better when everyone is informed.

There are about 5 episodes and all focused on one topic: fasting and blood tests. It sounds simple but full of things most patients have never been told.

Here's a preview of what's ahead:

Episode 1 — Does Your Blood Test Actually Need Fasting? Here's How to Know Not every test requires fasting — and knowing the difference before you even arrive at the lab can save you a lot of unnecessary hunger and confusion.

Episode 2: What Actually Happens Inside Your Blood the Moment You Eat, We take a journey into your bloodstream right after a meal. The science is fascinating — and once you see it, you'll understand fasting in a completely new way.

Episode 3: What We See in the Lab When You Don't Fast. I'll take you behind the bench and show you exactly what a non-fasted sample looks like — and what it forces us to do.

Episode 4: Which Blood Tests Need Fasting and Which Ones Don't. The practical breakdown you've always needed. Specific tests, specific fasting windows, and the golden rule for when in doubt.

Episode 5: The Myths, The Excuses and The Truth. The finale. We take on every common myth about fasting and blood tests.

This series is for everyone. Whether you're a patient who just wants to understand your own healthcare, a student or a fellow lab professional who wants content to share with patients — you're welcome here 😊✌️.

19/10/2024

Hidden dangers of galamsey: Neurological disorders and mercury exposure

The most dangerous form of mercury is called methylmercury. It can build up in the body and affect brain cells.

How It Damages brain cells

Mercury attaches to important proteins in the brain, making them not work properly. This can lead to the death of brain cells and problems with how the brain functions.

Risks for Pregnant Women and Children

If a pregnant woman is exposed to mercury, it can affect her baby’s brain development. This can lead to learning difficulties and other developmental issues as the child grows.

As we grapples with the challenges of illegal mining, it’s essential to know that mercury as chiefly used in galamsey has dire consequences on brain development especially in kids.

Be mindful of the kind of water / food you take and give to ur kids.

.

18/10/2024

The Hidden Dangers of Galamsey: Mercury and Kidney Health in Ghana

A serious problem is emerging due to illegal gold mining. While many people are drawn to the promise of quick money from gold, this practice has dangerous hidden risks, especially concerning health issues like chronic kidney disease among young people.

The Danger of Mercury

To extract gold, miners often use mercury, a toxic metal. This substance can stay in water for up to 1,000 years, creating long-lasting pollution. When mercury contaminates rivers and fish, local communities can be exposed without even realizing it ( Manful, 2024).

How Does Mercury Affect Kidneys?

Our kidneys help filter harmful substances from our bodies. When people are exposed to mercury over time, it can lead to chronic kidney disease (CKD). This condition often goes unnoticed until significant damage has occurred, making it hard to treat early on.

Recent studies show that areas with high galamsey activity have more cases of CKD among young people. The connection between mercury exposure and kidney problems is clear: as illegal mining increases, so do health risks.

What Can We Do?

The situation is serious—not just for individual health but also for the healthcare system, which struggles with rising treatment costs. Here’s how we can help:

1. Educate: Teach communities about the dangers of mercury and promote safer mining practices.

2. Regulate: Strengthen laws against illegal mining and protect the environment.

Galamsey is not just an environmental issue; it’s a public health crisis that needs urgent intervention.

Let’s come together to address this important issue and create positive change for our communities.

All we want is safe drinking water; Our Kidneys need intervention!

Did you know that coconuts are not just delicious but also packed with health benefits? Here’s why you should add this t...
06/09/2024

Did you know that coconuts are not just delicious but also packed with health benefits? Here’s why you should add this tropical gem to your diet:

Hydration: Coconut water is a natural electrolyte drink, perfect for rehydrating after a workout! 💦

Healthy Fats: Rich in medium-chain triglycerides (MCTs), coconuts can boost your metabolism and support weight management! 🔥

Nutrient Powerhouse: Packed with fiber, vitamins, and minerals, coconuts can enhance digestion and promote heart health!

Skin protection: Coconut oil is a natural moisturizer that can nourish your skin and hair! 🌟

A coconut a day does the magic🥥✨

03/09/2024

I just saw a disturbing video of students carrying a stabbed student at O'Reilly SHS.

One thing was clear: the naivety in handling emergency situations was striking.

First aid and managing medical emergencies should be incorporated into our SHS curriculum.

Proper handling and first aid could have saved the student. Sad 😔

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