Hi & question about HBA1c

[Spacecadet74]

Hi, it was hoping someone on here could help me with some information. I have Graves Disease (autoimmune thyroid) & see an endo, so I went for my routine bloods last week prior to my endo appointment. While I was there, the nurse mentioned an annual check up (just hit 40 & I think they do routine tests for over 40's!) so I had BP, weight, height, glucose & cholesterol tests done. I received a follow up letter today saying I needed to have bloods redone to clarify something. When I called the surgery, they said it was something to do with Plasma Glucose & I needed an HBA1C test.

I've since briefly read up,on this & believe that this test can analyse the blood over a period of weeks, presumably to get a clearer picture of what's going on. Can anyone advise me if this is a standard check to see if I'm diabetic/pre diabetic (I thought they'd have done a fasting bloods) or if they'd only do this test if they strongly suspected diabetes?

When I went to the nurse, I was only anticipating having thyroid bloods done, so I'd just eaten a banana (hate having bloods so I like to have something prior so I don't keel over) & I've also been juicing recently (among other things) to try to lose weight. I was wondering if they could've caused any results to alter (or am I clutching at straws?). The receptionist wouldn't give the figures over the phone & now I'm panicking a bit (not good when I'm not supposed to get stressed cos of thyroid!), so I hoped someone on here might be able to help?!

Finally, does this test check for Type 1 or Type 2 diabetes? Just asking as I know Type 1 is autoimmune & I already have Graves & also have Vitiligo & possibly other AI conditions.

Thanks in advance

 

[Spacecadet74]

I wouldn't worry about it at all If you ate a banana just before the blood tests
That would have raised your normal blood sugar if they did a Fasting Blood glucose test. Which is probably what they did.
They'll now want to do a HbA1c to check your blood sugars over time.
You could say you slipped up on a banana skin

Thanks for that. The banana was only about 30 mins before. Would that've made a difference? Also, it definitely wasn't a fasting test as I hadn't anticipated having the bloods done for glucose, I'd only gone in for thyroid bloods which aren't fasting. Does that make a difference? Sorry for all the questions!

 

[Spacecadet74]

Yep, that would've had enough of an effect on your blood glucose, be it random or fasting
They're just being thorough

Thanks again!

 

[uart]

I've since briefly read up,on this & believe that this test can analyse the blood over a period of weeks, presumably to get a clearer picture of what's going on. Can anyone advise me if this is a standard check to see if I'm diabetic/pre diabetic (I thought they'd have done a fasting bloods) or if they'd only do this test if they strongly suspected diabetes?

Yes Spacecadet, it's a very standard test to detect diabetes.

As you've seen, just measuring blood glucose levels can be prone error due to the variability of levels in relation to what you've eaten and when you've eaten it.

HbA1c gives a much better indication of what the long term average blood glucose levels (BGL) have been over the previous few months. So if your BGL has been normal and the banana just caused a temporary high reading (compared to fasting) then your HbA1c will come back as normal. If on the other hand your BGL has been consistently high over the past month or more, then your HbA1c will be high.