Rehab Medical

Health information

Diabetes follow-up

Diabetes follow-up is the routine that keeps diabetes from taking anything from you: an HbA1c every three to six months, blood pressure and kidney function once a year, and a proper look at your feet and eyes once a year. Most of the harm diabetes does is silent until it is advanced, and almost all of it is preventable at the stage where you feel completely well. If your sugar has been steady for a year, the visits are short. If it hasn't, this is where we find out why before it becomes a complication.

When it cannot wait

Signs that mean today

These are not reasons to book an appointment. They are reasons to be seen now, or to call an ambulance on 123.

  • Vomiting, deep or rapid breathing, abdominal pain and a fruity smell on the breath with high sugar — this can be diabetic ketoacidosis. Go to an emergency department now.
  • A low sugar you could not correct yourself, or any episode with confusion, fitting or loss of consciousness.
  • A foot ulcer, a black area, spreading redness, or a foot that is hot and swollen — a diabetic foot infection is an emergency, not a wound to watch for a week.
  • Sudden blurred vision, a curtain across your sight, or new floaters — same-day eye assessment.

When to book

Reasons to be seen

  • Your last HbA1c was more than six months ago, or you have never had one.
  • Your readings at home have drifted up, or swing between very high and very low.
  • You have new numbness, burning or tingling in the feet, or a sore that is slow to heal.
  • You have stopped a medicine — because of cost, side effects, or because you felt fine. Tell us; we would rather change the plan than have you skip it.

Published data

Diabetes follow-up in Egypt

15.5%
of Egyptian adults have raised blood glucoseRaised blood glucose has no symptoms for years. A single blood test finds it, and finding it early is what keeps eyes, kidneys and feet intact.Source: Egypt STEPS survey, ages 15–69 (WHO, Ministry of Health and Population, CAPMAS), 2017
Top 10
Egypt is among the ten countries with the most adults living with diabetesThis is not a rare disease here. If it runs in your family, testing is a routine part of a check-up rather than something to wait for.Source: IDF Diabetes Atlas, International Diabetes Federation, 2025
35.7%
of Egyptian adults are living with obesityWeight is the single biggest driver of the diabetes and blood-pressure numbers on this page — and the one most open to change with steady, unglamorous support.Source: Egypt STEPS survey, ages 15–69 (WHO, Ministry of Health and Population, CAPMAS), 2017

What a visit looks like

What a visit for this involves

  • 25–30 minutesClinic visitAt the clinic, unhurried
  • 20 minutesVideo consultationFrom anywhere in Egypt
  • 15 minutesFollow-upAfter a recent visit, same complaint

In the room

What the doctor checks

  1. HbA1c — the three-month average. The target for most adults is under 7%, but it is loosened deliberately if you are older, live alone, or have had bad hypos.
  2. Blood pressure, weight, and a look at the whole cardiovascular risk — in diabetes the blood pressure and the cholesterol do as much damage as the sugar.
  3. Kidneys once a year: a urine albumin-to-creatinine ratio and an eGFR from a blood sample. This is the test that catches kidney damage while it is still reversible.
  4. Feet: shoes and socks off, every annual review — skin, pulses, and sensation tested with a monofilament. It takes four minutes and it is the single best predictor of whether you will ever have a foot problem.

Come prepared

What to bring

  • Every box and strip you actually take, including anything from the pharmacy without a prescription and any herbal remedy.
  • Your home glucose meter or a photo of the readings — the pattern across the week matters more than any single number.
  • Any lab report from the last year, even from another clinic, and the date of your last eye photograph.

Next step

Tell us what's happening and we'll arrange the right kind of visit.

Message the clinic on WhatsApp. We reply with the times that are free and what the visit costs, before you agree to anything.

Book on WhatsApp

At home

Between visits

  • Look at your feet every day — top, sole and between the toes. If you cannot see the sole, use a mirror or ask someone. Numb feet do not warn you.
  • Test at the times we agree, not constantly. Four well-chosen readings a week tell us more than forty random ones.
  • During Ramadan, talk to us before you fast, not after a problem. Doses and timings usually need changing, and for some people fasting is not safe that year.

Before you write

Questions patients ask

Written and clinically reviewed by Dr. Rehab Ahmed, MBBCh, Ain Shams University · Diploma in Family Medicine. Last reviewed August 2026.

What this page is based on

This page is general information written by the practice. It is not a diagnosis and does not replace seeing a doctor. In an emergency, call 123.

We also treat

Other things we look after