Hba1c vs glucose levels in monitoring

[Maxima120]

I just bought glucose levels monitor. Are glucose level same as hba1c? If not - are there monitors for hba1c specifically? How often should I monitor hba1c?

 

[Rachox]

Hi @Maxima120, blood glucose meters record your blood sugar level at that moment in time in mmol/l. An HbA1c is a clever measure that looks at the excess sugar stuck to your blood cells. As blood cells last up to 12 weeks it will give an estimation of your levels over about 3 months, but measured in mmols/mol. You can buy a single use HbA1c meter for home use called A1c Now, but they work out quite expensive.

 

[catinahat]

How often should I monitor hba1c?

As Rachox said the hba1c is a sort of 12 week average, it will hardly change from day to day or even week to week. Any changes you make to your diet or medication could take quite a while before you would see a marked difference in your HbA1c.
The HbA1c is useful for Dr's as a diagnostic tool and for them to assess how well our treatment is working. For us though it doesn't give any information about when our levels were high, how high they were and more importantly why they went high.
Your glucose monitor will give you information about your levels in real-time. You will know immediately what your meals are doing to your levels, how high they go and how long it takes for them to come back down. You will be able to see day to day how well your medication is working.
How much testing you do really depends on what medication you are taking and how determined you are to learn about your diabetes and how different foods affect your blood sugar.
Whatever testing regime you decide on it will be more useful to you than a rough average of your last 12 week's, which is all the HbA1c is.

 

[Maxima120]

Understood. Thank you
P.S. so called doctor didnt even suggest doing HBA1C test.. I have no idea what is my figure. I think he is hoping the metformin will fix me up and he wont see me again..