56 mmol

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Lancsamb

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Type 2
I have received an email from my gp after my recent blood sample stating my HBA1c is 56 , what does this mean as on my finger prick the numbers are so much lower usually around 7 mmol so how can 56 mmol be right? . My gp says my diabetes is stable.
 
They are measuring different things.
The Hba1c ranges were worked out with a bit of guestimation - and I was eating 50 gm of carbs max and got a Hba1c of 42 for a couple of years. I thought I'd try to reduce it, so ate below 40 gm of carbs per day - at the end of the year - Hba1c of 42 - the best laid plans eh?
Hba1c is the glycated haemoglobin test - giving an indication of how much glucose is stuck onto your blood cells.
The blood glucose monitor gives the amount of glucose swimming around in your arteries and veins.
I try to remain under 7 after eating in order to get 42.
 
Yes Hba1c is the three month average gained from the blood test - the finger prick shows your BG at that moment in time, using mmol measurements. Hope that helps it to make sense.
 
janw said:
Yes Hba1c is the three month average gained from the blood test - the finger prick shows your BG at that moment in time, using mmol measurements. Hope that helps it to make sense.
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Thanks for your response but I don’t think you understood my question.ie the email says 56 but the blood finger tests say 7 how can these numbers be so far apart?
 
Lancsamb said:
Thanks for your response but I don’t think you understood my question.ie the email says 56 but the blood finger tests say 7 how can these numbers be so far apart?
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They are measuring different things and are in different units.
 
I am confused as the both say mmol so how can they be so far apart? What am I getting wrong does anyone on the forum explain to me why this is
 
Lancsamb said:
I am confused as the both say mmol so how can they be so far apart? What am I getting wrong does anyone on the forum explain to me why this is
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Your fingerprick units are "mmol per litre". Your HbA1c of 56 units are "mmol per mol". So different units, and measuring different things.
 
Lancsamb said:
I am confused as the both say mmol so how can they be so far apart? What am I getting wrong does anyone on the forum explain to me why this
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The HbA1c, which is the 56, is measuring how much glucose has stuck to your red blood cells over three months, and this is measured in Mmol/mol.
Your finger tests measure the amount of glucose free in your bloodstream (but not stuck to the red blood cells) at the present moment. This is measured in Mmol/Litre.
So they aren’t using the same units, although they sound similar.
 
I think this confuses everybody at the start. Just think of them as 2 totally different tests. The finger prick you do at home can vary a lot during the day, and you are checking it at random points. The hba1c is a specific test that look at 3 months at a time and tells you the average blood sugar for those 3 months. Mine was 55 or 7.2 for conversion. This 7.2 doesn’t mean my blood sugars were at 7.2 as an average though. I use this website to get a rough idea https://www.accu-chek.co.uk/tools-and-resources/hba1c-calculator
 
Lancsamb said:
Thank you for the chart but I think you are wrong as 56 is 7.3 on the chart you sent.
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A hba1c of 56 converts to 7.3% but that doesn’t mean your average blood sugar is 7.3 on your meter, the % is a different unit, your finger prick average would be higher than this.
 
Lancsamb said:
I have received an email from my gp after my recent blood sample stating my HBA1c is 56 , what does this mean as on my finger prick the numbers are so much lower usually around 7 mmol so how can 56 mmol be right? . My gp says my diabetes is stable.
Click to expand...
when you say your finger prick numbers are around 7, when are you testing,before eating, 2 hours after? how many times a day?
 
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