Blood Glucose Levels

[pm133]

Ok. Why not? The testers we use gives us a reading immediately

Your tester is not measuring hba1c.

 

[rebrascora]

@TazRef
If it helps, for the purposes of generalising, Type 1s are advised that 10g of carbs will raise our BG by approx 3mmols and 1 unit of insulin will roughly counteract that rise. That is a very approximate generalisation but it works as a starting point to help us figure out how much insulin we actually need to inject. People often have to adjust that a bit to get the actual ratio of carbs to insulin that works for them as an individual and we have to factor in the timing of that insulin, so that it intercepts the glucose as it hits the blood stream and that varies depending upon any number of factors including the type of carbs, how much fat and fibre is eaten with it, the gut biome of the person eating it and the time of day to name but a few, so it is much more complicated than you might expect.
For a Type 2 diabetic there are other factors to consider too because usually Type 2 diabetics are able to produce insulin and sometimes in quite large quantities but it takes longer to be effective, due to insulin resistance or slow messaging between the liver and pancreas which causes delayed insulin release, so the BG goes up really high but then comes down later. These changes in BG cannot really be transcribed into an estimated HbA1c reading unless you were taking readings every few minutes, rather than just a few readings a day.... which is how the Freestyle Libre works.

 

[Ralph-YK]

It's not just how much food makes your BG levels rise, it's the BG in total. That is, it's the starting point too. You can have too people each the same food, and get different HbA1c results.
For example, when I self tested, first thing in the morning I'd start at 5 and rise to 6 before food. A cooked breakfast took me to 8.5 (a rise of 2.5).
If you started at 4 - 5, then that 2.5 rise would take you to 7.5, and quit possibly a lower HbA1c. And that's not taking into account any variations between people, in terms of how they react to food.
At least, that's my understanding.

 

[TazRef]

@TazRef
If it helps, for the purposes of generalising, Type 1s are advised that 10g of carbs will raise our BG by approx 3mmols and 1 unit of insulin will roughly counteract that rise. That is a very approximate generalisation but it works as a starting point to help us figure out how much insulin we actually need to inject. People often have to adjust that a bit to get the actual ratio of carbs to insulin that works for them as an individual and we have to factor in the timing of that insulin, so that it intercepts the glucose as it hits the blood stream and that varies depending upon any number of factors including the type of carbs, how much fat and fibre is eaten with it, the gut biome of the person eating it and the time of day to name but a few, so it is much more complicated than you might expect.
For a Type 2 diabetic there are other factors to consider too because usually Type 2 diabetics are able to produce insulin and sometimes in quite large quantities but it takes longer to be effective, due to insulin resistance or slow messaging between the liver and pancreas which causes delayed insulin release, so the BG goes up really high but then comes down later. These changes in BG cannot really be transcribed into an estimated HbA1c reading unless you were taking readings every few minutes, rather than just a few readings a day.... which is how the Freestyle Libre works.

Rebrascora, That's a great help thx. I will use the 1 insulin = 3 mmol = 10g carbs as a rough guide for the BG which is far better than nothing. I obviously did get my BG & Hba1c slightly crossed but at least you got my drift. Your very helpful.
This will help when shopping & counting up the carbs to get my BG down.
Martyn.