Prediabetes levels

[ChrissyW]

Thank you. I did enquire about one in Boots Pharmacy, but was told they didn't recommend them unless you had been diagnosed with Type2 diabetes.

 

[Resurgam]

Ah - the man walking in front with a red flag option.
You might not have heard that was the original ruling on self propelled vehicles.
Buying a meter and supplies for it is cheaper if you get a Tee 2 or 'Codefree' meter mail order - though you might be better off phoning to enquire about your situation as pre diabetic, as diabetics do not pay VAT on testing kit. The Tee 2 people are in the UK - they are Spirit Health.

 

[Mr_Pot]

You have mentioned something that I find confusing. This is that HbA1c is an average level over the previous 12 weeks. When I asked her he diabetes dietician about this, she said it was usually described as an average but it was actually the amount of glucose that had attached itself to your blood cells, which die off after 2/3 months. So if you’re spiking some of the time but your blood sugar is low at other times, your average could appear a good level but you’re still spiking to high levels - not good. If it’s how much glucose attached to your red blood cells and it’s a good level, that indicates you are not insulin resistant and that’s a good thing! So which is it? As I say, I’m confused. (And also apparently in ‘remission’. Nevertheless the less I still regard my self as diabetic and follow a lowish carb diet.)
Thanks if someone can sort this issue out for me.

I have just noticed you asked this 4 days ago but I don't think you got an answer...
HbA1c measures the amount of glucose that has attached to the haemoglobin molecules in your bloodstream and gives an indication of what your average glucose level has been over the past 2-3 months. Similarly I can get an indication from the length of my grass what the average rainfall has been, but it is not a measured average that you would get by actually collecting the rain. In my example if there is a drought for a week and then a thunderstorm that would give the same average as light rain every day. So what the nurse was saying is that a good HbA1c can mask the fact that you are having some short duration spikes. Measuring your BG with a meter after meals you can see if there are any big spikes and make changes to your diet. One day continuous glucose measurement might be accurate enough and cheap enough to be used for routine diagnosis and testing, but for the moment HbA1c is the most reliable measurement doctors can use.

 

[Bluetit1802]

I have just noticed you asked this 4 days ago but I don't think you got an answer...
HbA1c measures the amount of glucose that has attached to the haemoglobin molecules in your bloodstream and gives an indication of what your average glucose level has been over the past 2-3 months. Similarly I can get an indication from the length of my grass what the average rainfall has been, but it is not a measured average that you would get by actually collecting the rain. In my example if there is a drought for a week and then a thunderstorm that would give the same average as light rain every day. So what the nurse was saying is that a good HbA1c can mask the fact that you are having some short duration spikes. Measuring your BG with a meter after meals you can see if there are any big spikes and make changes to your diet. One day continuous glucose measurement might be accurate enough and cheap enough to be used for routine diagnosis and testing, but for the moment HbA1c is the most reliable measurement doctors can use.

@ChristieM

Agreed, and also it assumes we all have standard haemoglobin cells that die off in 2 to 3 months, because that is yet another average of the world's population. Of course, we don't all have standard haemoglobin cells. Some folk have short lived ones, and these people will see low HbA1c results. Some people have long lived ones, and these people will see higher than expected HbA1c results. Sadly, testing for how long our haemoglobin cells live is long, difficult, expensive, and only done in research situations. We are all stuck with 2 to 3 months.