Does anyone know??

Hi Fallenstar!

Happy New Year!

Which meter have you got? I use the Accu-Chek mobile which lets me see the average over the last 30 days. It always seems a little higher than my HbA1c turns out, but I guess that's because I test at my highest (fasting) and lowest (after food) times and the meter uses that to average it out, whereas the Hba1c actually measures how much glucose is attached to the red blood cells and uses that to form the average. Mine is generally about .5 out.

Smidge

Or highest (after food) and lowest (fasting) points And I haven't even had a drink today :lol:

Hi Smidge,

I see you have the Accu-Chek Mobile device. I bought that about a year ago but have been unable to get the refill test cassette on the NHS. What do you do, buy it yourself? It is quite pricey.

Ant

The 60 day average on my Aviva Nano is usually pretty accurate on past experience give or take +/- 3, so an average over 60 days say on your meter would return a Hba value of between 6.9-7.5 working on what I've experienced.

Much depends on the frequency that you test, someone who tests 4 times a day will have a less accurate result than someone who tests 8-10 times, also if you are using two meters.......say one at work and one at home then this would make it a less reliable prediction.

Hope the above made sense! :crazy:

Hi Everyone!

Antmos - I get my test cassettes for the Mobile on prescription. It was after an enormous row with the nurse at my surgery and me threatening to sue them for misdiagnosis - they diagnosed me as Type 2 and told me I didn't need to test. I turned out to be Type 1ish and my BG was going very high after food without anyone noticing for year! I didn't know what meter to get and my nurse wouldn't help, so i bought the Mobile. After my first reading was 26 something, the doctor immediately put the cassettes on prescription to try to placate me! I'm sure they'll cause another fuss when they realise I still get them though :roll:

Fallenstar - glad you're well and have those BGs under better control! You certainly seem like an expert to me I reckon I'll be back for more advice before long, as my BGs are edging up gradually - think my own basal might be on the slide I'll try to see the DSN in the New Year - I'll be running short of Apidra by then, so I might have to have a change of Insuman basal and Apidra at the same time :roll:

Speak soon - Take care!

Smidge

Fallenstar said:

Yes Noblehead that does make sense, thanks.
I test on average everyday at least eight times. Two of those tests on my meter are "controlled highs" IYKWIM for my runs...so it will look higher on my meter then, as these are equated in everyday two test close together.... But, they are for a very short duration of time compared to the rest of my readings over the courses of 24 hours

Click to expand...

Also remember any hypo's will be taken into consideration in the average figure even though you'll be in this range for a very short time, so someone experiencing one or two hypo's a day could get a higher a1c then they would expect going from the meter averages.

As I say, it's a very rough guide using meter averages to predict an Hba1c result so it can't always be relied upon......good luck anyways and hope it is 7 or below!

Hi Fallenstar,

Hope that you are well and had a great Christmas. Just npticed this thread and that you use the Aviva Expert. Was wondering if you have downloaded your data to your computer? You wouldnt be on a mac by any chance would you? I cant seem to find out how to in light of no infra-red output. Eek!

Thanks everso

Kylie

Ahh, don't worry, just found the software.

Whoops!

Hi fallenstar! Sadly, comparing your meter averages with an HbA1c is fraught with difficulties. As pointed out, the A1c refers to the number of glucose platelets attached. As they have a half life of 3 months, it's said to give a 3 month average, although it's extremely weighted to the last month and even to the last few weeks. If you had a true average BG for your blood, then it would be easy to convert it to an A1c; there is a set equation for doing that. The problem is getting the true average. Just averaging your meter readings gets nowhere near that other than by accident! For example; if you take two hour post meal readings, your peak BG is perhaps an hour earlier and could be 40% higher for example. Two hours is used for consistent comparisons, and as a stage at which your BG should be back to reasonable levels. Similarly, if you look at before bed BGs and fasting ones, you don't neccesarily know what happened in between. Did your BG go up in the night as a result of a late meal or snack and then come down again by the morning? Or did it go really low then come up by the morning with the Dawn phenomenon? The only way to get a real average is to get enough meter readings to construct a mathematical model of your true average. Of course, a large number of low readings will indicate a better A1c than a load of high ones, but any direct comparison that comes true is almost accidental without that model. Happy new year anyway!

Hi, notice you use acu chek mobile. Mum was given one of these as well but unable to get it on prescription as doctor cannot find it on his system. He keeps giving the wrong prescription. Called acu chek who gave me exact wording of lancet and cassette product along with chemist pip code but doctor does not work on pip code. What exactly does it say on your prescription for lancet and strips as mum and i have been going round in cirlces for 9 days and mum is unable to test her sugar as no longer has old machine. Complained to acu check that doctor having diffuclty finding it on there system to prescribe. Waiting phone call from her doctor this morning to ask why he is doing this. Please advise. Many thanks.

smidge said:

Hi Everyone!

Antmos - I get my test cassettes for the Mobile on prescription. It was after an enormous row with the nurse at my surgery and me threatening to sue them for misdiagnosis - they diagnosed me as Type 2 and told me I didn't need to test. I turned out to be Type 1ish and my BG was going very high after food without anyone noticing for year! I didn't know what meter to get and my nurse wouldn't help, so i bought the Mobile. After my first reading was 26 something, the doctor immediately put the cassettes on prescription to try to placate me! I'm sure they'll cause another fuss when they realise I still get them though :roll:

Fallenstar - glad you're well and have those BGs under better control! You certainly seem like an expert to me I reckon I'll be back for more advice before long, as my BGs are edging up gradually - think my own basal might be on the slide I'll try to see the DSN in the New Year - I'll be running short of Apidra by then, so I might have to have a change of Insuman basal and Apidra at the same time :roll:

Speak soon - Take care!

Smidge

Click to expand...

If your HbA1c does turn out to be around 7% then to a certain extent it's coincidence. Remember the HbA1c is measuring the amount of sugar that sticks to your haemoglobin, so it depends very much on how long you have higher glucose levels for. Taking spot glucose levels, even several times a day can miss out long periods when glucose levels are moderately high. (overnight for example)
It also depends on whether you are someone who is a 'high glycator' or a 'low glycator'. (ie we're all a bit different and some people , for some unknown reason, have more sugar getting attatched to their haemoglobin and others less).
If you were an average glycator, and had tests that truly reflected your glucose levels, for example using a continuous monitor , with an average of 7.2mmol/l then your HbA1c would actually be about 6.1%

An HbA1c of 7% reflects an estimated average glucose level of 8.6mmol/l
http://professional.diabetes.org/GlucoseCalculator.aspx

The average on my meter for the last 90 days is 5.3, it's a bit higher this last month. This if it were a true average should give me a HbA1c of 5%, it won't ... from past experience it will be in the high fives and maybe above 6 since I've done far less exercise recently and as a result higher fasting levels and fewer long periods with readings in the low 4s.

As ever a good explanation Phoenix!

Hi Kiren!

My doctor had the same trouble finding the supplies for the Mobile too. On my prescription request it says: Mobile Test Cassette for the cartridge an Fastclix Lancets for the lancets.

If your doc still can't find them, get him/her to search under Roche - that's the company that makes them. Otherwise, go and speak to your pharmacist - they seem to be better at finding medicines than GPs and can tell you, or preferably the GP what to type in to find the item!

Hope you get them!

smidge