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Numbers! What are the units / measurements

T

TrickyStillSticky

Member
Messages
12
Hello,

I've seen some silly numbers for fasting bg, HBA1c etc and I'm confused.

My diagnosis HBA1c was 106 uk units (whatever that is) amd my fasting bg was 19 two weeks ago and 8.8 now.

Now I've seen posts with fasting bg of 100+ and I'm confused???

Would someone be able to explain how units works across the world? I don't know what to compare to honestly and I am really confused about what is a good number and what is not.

Thank you
 
High @TrickyStillSticky , and welcome to the forum!
There are 2 main ways to measure bg (fasting or not), they are mmol/l, which are the numbers you use, and mg/dl, used in some other countries. You can simply find conversion charts by googling mmol/l to mg/dl.

For hba1c there are also 2 different units used, mmol/mol, which you use, and %, used in other countries.

All different units are nicely found in this chart, very handy when reading international:

 
For my hba1c I use both % and mmol/mol, for my bgl testing I use mmol/l.

In the android app I use it has a calculator that will convert all of the different names / types of blood tests.
 

ahh thank you
 
Gotta be honest as a newbie it would be easier for me if we used the units used in the uk but meh ok. I still don't really understand what they are all are so gonna shut up and go with the measurement my gp uses and ignore all anything else.
 
TrickyStillSticky said:
Gotta be honest as a newbie it would be easier for me if we used the units used in the uk but meh ok. I still don't really understand what they are all are so gonna shut up and go with the measurement my gp uses and ignore all anything else.
Click to expand...
Most of us use the UK units. But we don't force people who are newly diagnosed and as confused as you are by all the new lingo to convert all their numbers if they happen to live outside the UK. This is a worldwide forum.

There are only a few members using different units than you do, so you could also choose to ignore those posts and stick to the ones with familiar units.
 

Sounds reasonable. I do though find it really confusing.
 
@TrickyStillSticky I got really confused with the units too. The chart that @Antje77 posted is really useful though. I made a screenshot when I first came across it and I still refer to it on a regular basis.
Like you say, it’s probably easier to stick to one set of units - the ones your GP uses, and so long as your numbers are gradually reducing, ( well done for bringing your fasting numbers down so much by the way) who cares what the units are?
It looks like you are making really good progress. Keep reading around the forum and ask as many questions as you need to.
 
I noticed that your profile has no info where you live, so I am taking a guess that you live in the UK.

Your meter if you have one, will be set to mmol/l by default, as is mine here in Australia if sourced from either country
 
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