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Hba1c ???? Help me understand?

Terryrhino

Well-Known Member
Messages
231
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
Hi I've only been diagnosed a week with T2,

I think I was told that last year when I has a test my Hba1c level was 48 and last week it was 99 can anyone explain what Hba1c actually is in easy words haha

I'm not blaming myself for it but I wonder if I've done this to myself or if it just happened because that's the way it is ??

Thanks for any advice
 
Every time you make a red corpuscle some sugar sticks to it. The amount of sugar reflects the amount of sugar in your blood at the time so it's like taking lots of finger prick tests. The red corpuscles don't live long, anything from zero to three months so finding out how much sugar they have attached will give a historical reading of your blood sugars for about three months with a bias for the the most recent month.

It's not an average as such but it's a whole lot better than a spread sheet with lots of finger prick tests.
 
thats a hell of an increase in a year (or less). has it been questioned if youre type 2 or type 1?
 
Engineer88 said:
thats a hell of an increase in a year (or less). has it been questioned if youre type 2 or type 1?
Click to expand...
He's right about that so either you have been tying one on or you have a (as yet unknown) problem.
 
Engineer88 said:
thats a hell of an increase in a year (or less). has it been questioned if youre type 2 or type 1?
Click to expand...
Been told I'm T2 and taking metformin 500mg a day for a week then 1000mg for a week then 1500 I'm only on day 6 so everything is so new hence why I don't understand much at the moment
 
The Human body is constantly producing fresh new blood cells to replace cells that over a 6 month time period are eventuall worn out and are discarded by the body. During the period that the each red blood cell is circulating within the blood stream 'Glucose' within the blood stream will coat the cell. As the mean average life of each individual red blood cell is 2x120 days by analyising the amount of 'coating' that the cell has from a blood sample that is taken, will give a mean average of the amount of 'Glucose' that the cell has been in contact with, both Old nearly worn out blood cells as well as the newer ones, giving a mean average over what is in effect 120 days.
It is a mean average, so will not show by how high or low your blood 'glucose' was during this time period and though related to readings that we conduct ourselves using our 'Home Testing B/G Meter' it isn't quite the same thing (The measurments being scaled differently) though they are related.
As for your earlier HbA1c of 48 this is pretty good, but your latest reading of 99 is definately cause for some concern and needs to be addressed as to what is going on to give such a dramatic increase.
What are you eating, what lifestyle do you lead. when do you test are all factors as could be any number of medical reasons.
You would need to consult with your Dr. as to what has caused this dramatic increase in your HbA1c and in the meantime study all you can from this site on diabetes, how to control diabetes through diet and what foods to eat and avoid.
 
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Thank you for your message and advice I had what I thought was a healthy diet although carb high and I did drink more than I should but over the last two years I've had huge mental trauma with my mother passing away it hit me very hard and I too to not eating well and drinking pretty much every day I really wasn't looking after myself at all do you think that would be the cause of my increased levels?? Only in your opinion of course!?!
 
@Terryrhino - Hi. I can identify with you on your Mother's passing. I had excellent control for 10years (cared for my Mother for 9 years who had Alzheimer's) when my Mother died I went off the rails for a year, ate what I wanted, stopped taking my medications and shot up to over 15 stone, HBA1C got to 82. Now 5 years later got Down to 13 stone -HBA1C is 54 and take 4 Metformin a day and 45 Units of Insulin, my diet is much more sensible, even stopped the Alcohol, apart from odd occasional glass of Red Wine.
 

Sorry about your mother . But you're very encouraging I like your attitude I'm only on day six but I've started in the right direction I think low carbs no alcohol ( till tomorrow) exercising regularly so fingers crossed I'll lower my levels in time
 
Thanks @Terryrhino . Once you get over the initial shock of diagnoses and accept that you have to change/alter your eating habits and diet. It does get easy if you have a positive attitude.
Ask questions to learn about Diabetes - no matter how daft you may think the question is! We are all friendly, helpful and support each other. If one person does not know the answer? Someone else will come along with it.
 
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