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A1C Now Diabetes Management HbA1c Test

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pkumar

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Hi All

Wondering if anybody is doing hba1c testing using A1C now kit. While I wait for 3-4 months to do HBA1C in clinic, thinking of doing everymonth to monitor and take corrective action prior to the visit to clinic.

any pointers would be helpful

thanks
kumar
 
A BG meter is so much more useful than a one-off test. Because you can not only test your reactions to meals that you may be uncertain of, but you can also monitor your progress. The blood cells tested for glycation in an HbA1C test live for 3 months, so at best it is an average of you you did over the last 3 months with a slight recency skew.
If you are eating to your meter, then an HbA1C blood test more often than 6 months or even every year is pointless, because you will already know how well o9r badly you are doing rather than trying to correct things you mistakes you may have made months ago.
 
I've reached the conclusion that the HbA1c test ..is a ✻diagnostic tool✻ used by the medical profession ..it is a 'function of a function' if you will ..for that reason, I don't read too much into it.
 
pkumar said:
Hi All

Wondering if anybody is doing hba1c testing using A1C now kit. While I wait for 3-4 months to do HBA1C in clinic, thinking of doing everymonth to monitor and take corrective action prior to the visit to clinic.

any pointers would be helpful

thanks
kumar
Click to expand...

I tried this once, and the result was nowhere near the venous blood sample taken by the surgery.
I may not have used it correctly, but I am not convinced of the accuracy.

The problem with relying on finger pricks, of course, is that you don't know what your BG is doing between tests.
That is where devices like the Freestyle Libre come in - they give you a continuous readout 24 hour per day.
However they should be cross checked with finger pricks at regular intervals to make sure they are reading more or less in line with you finger prick tests.
 
I did one last week. It was easy enough to do, but I don't trust the answer it gave as I couldn't 100% fill the blood sampler tool with blood, it just wouldn't fill past about 90% full. Its a bit of a vampire, wants a lot more blood than a standard blood test.

I get my official HbA1c test Monday. I've also been trialling a Freestyle Libre 2. I was thinking I'd probably post the results of the libre predicted HbA1C from the app and from the online Libreview service, the ACnow test as mentioned and finally the actual NHS test next week once they give me the results, in case anyone is interested in seeing how they all compare.

EDIT: Results now in this thread to avoid a thread hijack: https://www.diabetes.co.uk/forum/threads/hba1c-test-results-vs-libre-acnow.183819/#post-2433697
 
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