Recommendations on accurate blood glucose kit?

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  • earlnabby
    earlnabby Posts: 8,171 Member
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    Pamela_Sue wrote: »
    @nighthawk584 Perhaps the glucose monitor wasn't technically necessary, but if it helps you in your wellness journey, then it was a wise choice for you. From what I have read, "for people without diabetes, the normal range for A1C level is between 4 and 5.6. A1C levels between 5.7 and 6.4 mean you have a higher chance of getting diabetes. Levels of 6.5 or higher mean you have diabetes." Your A1C of 6.1 was definitely creeping up there, especially considering your parental factors. Glad to see you taking steps now and not until having full-blown diabetes as I do.
    On another note, when you do have your next A1C test, know that the test somehow looks at the recent 3-month period of time, with more emphasis on recent days and less emphasis on 90 days ago. So don't be discouraged if it hasn't dropped to your desired goal yet. The downward trend is what is important.

    Drastic action CAN have immediate results for some people, others take a while, and some do both. I was diagnosed with an A1c of 7.2. Four months later it was 5.6 but after that it dropped very slowly (like 1/10th each quarter) until I reached my lowest of 5.0. I have maintained between 5.0 and 5.3 ever since (5 years). The sudden drop after diagnosis was because of a drop of 35 lb. I wasn't following macros yet so I reduced my carbs as part of overall calorie reduction but was not counting them or staying below a recommended number.
  • lorrpb
    lorrpb Posts: 11,464 Member
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    A1c evaluates blood glucose over a 90 day period, so short term changes may not impact it as much.
  • rheddmobile
    rheddmobile Posts: 6,840 Member
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    Just FYI what a1c is measuring is the percentage of glycated hemoglobin - red blood cells which have a sugar molecule stuck to them. This happens more often when your blood sugar is high, and these particular cells live about 90 days, so that’s how long it takes the old ones to die off and be replaced.

    There are some issues with blood cells which can cause misleading a1c readings. For example some athletes have red blood cells with exceptionally long lifespans, which accumulate more sugar over time, and thus they have falsely high a1c readings. And some people (such as me!) have illnesses which can cause red blood cells to die off, which may give falsely low readings because many cells are younger than expected.

    In general though it’s a good indication of the level of sugar in your blood for about the past 90 days.

    I like the Bayer contour next myself, because it got the highest accuracy rating on consumer testing.
  • NovusDies
    NovusDies Posts: 8,940 Member
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    Pricklypineapple422 wrote: »
    What are you planning on doing with the information? Are you going to change something? You are already losing a significant amount of weight. If nothing you do is going to change then I would personally just wait and have your A1C checked again in a month like you said. No point in spending money and poking yourself if it isn't going to change anything.

    You could log the results. You could spot check yourself periodically to see if you need to see a doctor sooner. You could check yourself when you felt poorly to confirm or rule out low or high blood sugar. Any or all of these might be worth spending the money.

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