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Biohermes A1C measurement

S

SilverShaded

Member
Relationship to Diabetes
At risk of diabetes
Curious if anyone has tried the device for home A1C measurement. Ive been using it for several weeks and curious what people thought of the accuracy/reluability?
 
SilverShaded said:
Curious if anyone has tried the device for home A1C measurement. Ive been using it for several weeks and curious what people thought of the accuracy/reluability?
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I have not seen anyone mention it. I know people have used tests offered by pharmacies or privately and those results have been surprisingly good given they are from finger prick rather than a venous sample which is the norm.
Testing for an HbA1C is not usually done less frequently than 3 months due to the turnover of red blood cells.
How often have you been testing?
 
Leadinglights said:
I have not seen anyone mention it. I know people have used tests offered by pharmacies or privately and those results have been surprisingly good given they are from finger prick rather than a venous sample which is the norm.
Testing for an HbA1C is not usually done less frequently than 3 months due to the turnover of red blood cells.
How often have you been testing?
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After improving i wanted to stop frequent fingerpricks and using a CGM so figured a test once a week would give me a trend. Biohermes uses boranate chromotography so less accurate than high performance liquid chromotography used in most labs so i figure more fequent testing would average out any variation due to testing errors.

Originally i was borderline diabetic but now gone the other extreme and A1C values are heading to an unhealthy low area.
 
SilverShaded said:
After improving i wanted to stop frequent fingerpricks and using a CGM so figured a test once a week would give me a trend. Biohermes uses boranate chromotography so less accurate than high performance liquid chromotography used in most labs so i figure more fequent testing would average out any variation due to testing errors.

Originally i was borderline diabetic but now gone the other extreme and A1C values are heading to an unhealthy low area.
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What sort of numbers are you seeing that are considered unhealthily low? (Just curious)
 
Biohermes isn't a system I am familiar with.

A few years ago, I used several A1c Now+ kits and found them to be within 0.1% accurate - for me. I was using one a month, from a pack of 10, so the first I did on the same day as a venous draw for comparative purposes.
 
AndBreathe said:
What sort of numbers are you seeing that are considered unhealthily low? (Just curious)
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Just heading below 30mmol/mol. Last reading was 28.2, ok im not going to assume thats accurate but its not totally out of wack with any other values including GP test.
 
SilverShaded said:
Just heading below 30mmol/mol. Last reading was 28.2, ok im not going to assume thats accurate but its not totally out of wack with any other values including GP test.
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These are my various test results, the 44 value was after a few months of dapafliglozin for a heart conditions so take off the effect of dapa and it would have been about 50mmol/mol. When the glucose is at low values dapa appears to have no effect on glucose.
A1CMMOL.jpg
 
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SilverShaded said:
Just heading below 30mmol/mol. Last reading was 28.2, ok im not going to assume thats accurate but its not totally out of wack with any other values including GP test.
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I've been at 29 in the past, although my natural place now seems to be toggling between 31<>33.

Who is suggesting your numbers are too low, bearing in my your profile suggests you don't have a diabetes diagnosis, therefore unlikely to be taking medications that would drive your bloods down into medically concerning hypo areas?
 
Was your Biosense kit in date?
 
AndBreathe said:
I've been at 29 in the past, although my natural place now seems to be toggling between 31<>33.

Who is suggesting your numbers are too low, bearing in my your profile suggests you don't have a diabetes diagnosis, therefore unlikely to be taking medications that would drive your bloods down into medically concerning hypo areas?
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I was on dapafliglozin for a heart condition so the 44 reading without it would have been nearer 50. My question is really about experiences using the BioHermes kit but there are published papers showing A1C results much below 30 are at a higher risk of complications, not particularly concerned about it but would like to be a just a little higher, definitely don't want to drop further.
 
SilverShaded said:
I was on dapafliglozin for a heart condition so the 44 reading without it would have been nearer 50. My question is really about experiences using the BioHermes kit but there are published papers showing A1C results much below 30 are at a higher risk of complications, not particularly concerned about it but would like to be a just a little higher, definitely don't want to drop further.
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Do you have any of the papers suggesting that? I'm not disbelieving you, but want to understand the the research.

Are you still on Dapagliflozin? If not, when did you stop it?
 
I stopped dapa for a while after my A1C came down, but actually it seems to not make any difference once its low (it wont drive you to go hypo for example). However have started it again now as doctor wasnt happy i stopped, even heart is now fixed.

Heres one of the publications. Theres a few recent articles that talk about a J shaped response, meaning the optimum seems to be mid 30s give or take.

 
AndBreathe said:
Biohermes isn't a system I am familiar with.

A few years ago, I used several A1c Now+ kits and found them to be within 0.1% accurate - for me. I was using one a month, from a pack of 10, so the first I did on the same day as a venous draw for comparative purposes.
Click to expand...
I tried A1CNow and yes it did seem generally accurate (even lab A1Cs have accuracy issues). Im getting similar results from the bio-hermes kit.
 
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SilverShaded said:
I tried A1CNow and yes it did seem generally accurate (even lab A1Cs have accuracy issues). Im getting similar results from the bio-hermes kit.
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Did you import it from China? The only sales type entries are from China.

Interesting process. For fingerprick testing it is generally not recommended to clean the fingers with alcohol - just a soap and water wash.
 
Yes via aliexpress, a lot cheaper than buying outside of china. Theyre being extra cautious with the finger cleaning. After a heart operation its something to be very aware of, any ingress of bacteria via a cut can be a serious issue. If i go the dentist i have to inform them about the sternotomy so they can take extra pre-cautions. Its wise to sterilise before a fingerprick (although i dont usually).
 
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