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Do you hold off getting hbA1c?

Mep

Well-Known Member
Messages
1,461
Type of diabetes
Treatment type
Insulin
I've got my diabetes bloods pathology form so I know I need to get them done... it includes a cholesterol check so I have to be fasting for it.

In a way I want to know my hbA1c and in a way I don't. The reason I do is because I want to know if it will indicate I could be having more night hypos than I thought. The reason I don't is I've been so **** sick and I'm currently sick again so I can't even get the tests done anyhow. I just read on my antibiotics med info that it affects sugar in urine so it will change the test results. ugh. Plus the other downside is the result will just show what my hbA1c over a period when I've been mostly sick.

So I think I will be hanging on to my pathology form for a bit I guess until I can get some normalcy. My body just wants to keep my sugar level at 11 at the moment and it driving me nuts. I'm eating half my usual and struggling at eating really soft food. I woke up with a sugar level of 11.4 this morning and so I bolus'd more than usual for my usual breakfast only to get another 11 when I'd normally get 5-7 on less insulin. I just don't go lower than 11 very often when I'm sick for some reason. Even when I was in the ER and hadn't eaten for hours they had my sugar level at 11 every time they checked. I could increase my basal again but my doc doesn't want me to. It is frustrating.

Do you guys hold off your hbA1c as well? What's your reasons?
 
Didn't know I could hold off from getting it done. In England you just get a letter from a manager giving you the appointment date. You could cancel I suppose but you couldn't keep on doing that.
 
I have held off twice - I'm in England and I have to make my own appointments- my reason for holding off was I was going on holidays both times and didn't want to be wondering all hols what my results were.i have an acquaintance who tries to "skew" his results by behaving 6 weeks a year before his tests so he gets better results then the rest of the year does what he wants - fooling no one but himself
 
I'm in England and I get a computerised letter calling me in, but I then have to ring to make the appointment.

I was called in to have my 6 monthly test with a health care assistant a week or so ago. When I rang to make the appointment they couldn't give me a suitable one until late July. I am going on holiday this weekend and wanted my bloods doing before my hols so that I can have a couple of ice creams and other holiday delights without fretting it was my HbA1c when I got home. Manipulation? Yes, but I do like to enjoy my holidays.
 
Still enjoy your hols- being good the rest of the time and enjoying your hols inst manipulation- it's life and very different from what the guy I posted about does - the both times I left mine until after my hols it didn't make a difference - eat and walk at the same time lol
 
It is what it is.
If I have had an illness, or a holiday, or a series of carb fests to celebrate a lunar eclipse, then it has probably impacted on my HbA1c. I would rather know the damage, accept that it was done and then move on, than not know.

I guess I am funny like that.

Mind you, now I have the Libre I place very little trust in my HbA1c. I will never know my personal rate of glycation. Nor will I know how much the result is weighted to recent weeks compared with the weeks before that. And I get 1000x more info from the trends, peaks and troughs on the Libre screen.

- haven't said that to taunt people who don't have Libres. Honest. I said it to show that IMHO the A1c is vastly over rated as a monitoring and diagnostic tool. I would like every diabetic in the world to have access to a Libre (or similar) for 2 months. I think it would transform their experience of diabetes.
 
I have a medicines review date (6 monthly) on my repeat prescriptions and for years before I was diabetic I've had regular blood/HbA1c tests as part of my review. My GP was switched to be my diabetes support last year so I just make my appointment as normal and we arrange my blood tests when I see him. It gets delayed occasionally if I'm a bit lazy about making my appointments, but I don't otherwise put it off. But since I test regularly I know more or less how I'm doing anyway, and I get far more valuable information from this data (and dare I say from occasional use of the Libre) than a six monthly average blood check. Like Brunneria I'd much sooner know what's going on as a part of monitoring my diabetes - I don't think of it as a pass or fail test, and some things are way beyond our control so if I don't achieve the results I'd hoped for I don't consider I've failed in any way.

Robbity
PS I do have an "Oh sod it all!" moment occasionally, and don't always test if I know I'm going to get a higher reading, but the only thing I'm fooling is my meter ... my body still knows.
 

I don't hold off, as it'll be what it'll be. Fooling myself is the worst kind of foolery in my world. The tests I had in December, I knew would be as they were as I hadn't exactly been ill, but had had surgery and a tricky recovery since the previous one, immediately before my op.

On a more general note. I appreciate I'm not on insulin, but have you tried a new pen/vial or whatever you're using? Ideally something from a different batch, just to ensure your insulin is OK.

Obviously, I may be well off beam, but it could be worth a go?
 

I'm on lantus for basal and apidra for bolus. They're both a fresh batch I've got at the moment... only just got them and they look fine... not cloudy or anything. I've already adjusted my basal several times before and my doc doesn't want me touching it for now. I just try and control with bolus but when I'm sick I just seem to stay high no matter what.

I just came from seeing my doc just now and he told me I have a throat infection. So that explains why I'm still feeling lousy. But he thinks I have another bug on top of it as well which seems to now be affecting my stomach. He has me on very strong antibiotics. I can't even get the tests he wants until I finish those because they interfere with sugar in urine tests apparently... well that's what the leaflet says.

So I will get the tests done once I recover from this sickness. It's a test my GP wants to get my endo to view so I haven't seen my endo in a while so it will be me having to explain my bumpy ride I've been having. I guess I'm a perfectionist though and I know how much my endo looks at those hbA1c results. But on saying that he does know I have multiple illnesses and he usually discusses my overall health when I do see him as he thinks I'm doing well with my diabetes considering. But in my mind I'm never doing well with managing because I can't control a lot of the things that affect my diabetes. I have to admit I miss the early days when I was diagnosed as at least then it was just I had 2 diseases to manage and I had a good idea what was what... now it's just a bit of a mine field and give it my best guess.
 
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