How would this affect your A1C? I still have anemia if I don’t take iron supplements, even though I’ve been period-free for at least 15 years…
If you have iron deficiency anemia, for example, the Hb1Ac correlates less well with long term blood sugars than someone without anemia. So it might reflect 30 days of sugars more accurately than 120.
I don’t know much about different brands of glucometers and am curious what makes some brands good or bad. Price? Convenience? Pain? Accuracy?
Accuracy is definitely the main concern, although there is a certain level of acceptable variance. One rule of thumb I’ve heard is, if BG is < 200, +/- 20 points is ok (although this sounds high to me). If >200 it’s 20%.
Here is a 2017 article comparing glucometer brand accuracy.
Pain is a feature of the lancing device/lancet. You can adjust the depth of the lancet on all devices, so that is universally manageable. Some generic lancing devices are crap, though. If acquiring blood volume is a problem some are designed to require less blood (OneTouch Verio, for example).
There are price variations, especially in the test strips. I would not trust the bottom feeders for accuracy.
Finally, some meters are just glitchy. The True Metrix, for example, randomly loses stored data. It also, weirdly, likes to reset its date and time to 1/1/2001. This is a problem if you bring it into your physician and they want to create a printout of the data.
Others are non-intuitive and just a pain in the ass to use or program (Reli-On, Glucocard).
Follow-up questions:
Does blood clotting affect the sugar of the blood droplet itself? It seems that if I test my blood sugar immediately after the pinprick, it reads high, but if I test that same oozing droplet of blood on my finger 30-40 seconds later, it shows a lower reading. Did the blood clotting during those seconds somehow alter the sugar of that blood drop on my finger?
What causes a high fasting blood sugar but low A1C? I’ve had times where I had abnormally high fasting blood sugar, yet an A1C that was perfectly normal.
I hope you’re not asking us instead of a medical professional.
It’s been over a week. I hope you’ve at least talked to a nurse or someone.
As has already been explained to you, you will not get consistent, reliable info for diagnosing glucose intolerance or diabetes from a glucometer. The numbers you’ve quoted as “high” thus far are NOT high, and thus won’t translate into a high A1C.
Talk to your health care provider. :dubious:
This:
Blood glucose levels can be affected by many, many things.
I’ve been a T1 since I was a toddler. I’ve never been a brittle diabetic until recently. I’m personally trying to re-adjust my life to maintain compliance to my needs. As I age things are going a little haywire. I’m now sporting a CGM and an Insulin pump. It has normalized my readings a great deal.
I’m looking right into the monsters mouth at chronic kindney disease and failure.
I know complications of diabetes will kill me. I’ve made my peace with that.
Please, please see your Doctor. Untreated diabetes is not something to ignore. If you’re just being a bit paranoid you’ll find that out as well. Peace of mind is a wonderful thing.
I visited a doctor two days ago. She had nothing to suggest other than, “Get an A1C done,” which I’ve done many times before.
So what was your A1C?
5.0, and my fasting blood sugar was 102.
And yeah, a week ago it was 115. So it does seem out of whack; the two (A1C and FBS) ought to be going hand in hand.
Talk to another doctor. Or a specialist.
There are just so many variables. You need another doctor. IMHO
So you’ve had your A1C tested multiple times, presumably over a long period of time and it sounds like it’s been in the normal range every time. Is that correct? If so, why are you obsessing over this?
Unnecessary.
You eat healthy, you exercise, your weight is normal, your A1c is 5.0.
Your “high” fasting blood sugars would not concern me. Because:
[ul]
[li]The highest BG you report is 115. Some references consider that within normal limits[/li][li]Your fasting BGs are all, I think, obtained from a glucometer? See previous posts about glucometer accuracy and proper testing technique.[/ul][/li]
You seem to be ignoring many of the recommendations and explanations offered in this thread. Some folks may start losing patience with your obtuseness.
they are hand in hand. The precision levels of fingerstick testing are not so exact.
Your A1C indicates no evidence of either glucose intolerance or diabetes. Let it go. Check it yearly if you must, or if you develop genuine symptoms of hyperglycemia. Otherwise, let it go.
I disagree. It seems that adequate evaluation has been done, and his glucometer readings do not merit further investigation.
For peace of mind, maybe? He’s clearly concerned about it. Maybe his doctor is not explaining well enough. Or he’s not understanding the explaination.
You’re the doctor, though.
If his behavior in the real world is similar to his behavior in this thread and other posts of his on this board, I suspect it’s been explained quite well to him, but he is unaccepting of the answers he has received.
The thing about peace of mind is you don’t want to overthink simple things. Everyone has times when their blood pressure is higher or lower. You may weigh less in the morning than at night. Your blood sugar is meant to be higher after you eat and is affected by many things.
The solution is not to measure your blood pressure all the time. Or your weight, or sugar. Anxiety will make blood pressure high, even when it is not an issue. The solution is to have a professional check it once in a while and be happy instead of anxious when the numbers are acceptable. This is why buying a glucometer when not needed is a bad idea — it makes you worry more than is warranted.
Your doctor is well placed to help you decide if it is a problem — or not. No one over the Internet can replace personal medical advice. But the numbers you list don’t, by themselves, seem concerning. The responsible thing is not to go to the emergency department every day for the next three months and get blood tests. It is perhaps to see your family doctor in six months or a year, or whatever you were advised, and make sure it is still not a problem. This IS dealing with the problem and hopefully you can let it go until then.
Hb1Ac is used because it varies less than fasting glucose. You should be reassured if your Hb1Ac is low. Your sugar will be high after most meals you eat. This is normal. It is not surprising if your blood sugar is higher than the Hb1Ac.
Hb1Ac is a somewhat unstable covalent bond between glucose and beta-chain hemoglobin affected by a number of things. Iron deficiency, for example, results in smaller and more lightly pigmented erythrocytes. The size affects the stability of these covalent bonds.
Oh, okay. I got it.