Confusing Information

[Footman]

Hi I'm new to diabetes having been 'borderline' for some years.
I am just so confused. After a search of the internet everyone seems to use different blood sugar units, sometimes not even giving what units were used at all. I have found many disagreements between as to what levels are deemed normal etc. For example what I am told by my NHS nurse as regards a 'safe level' is not in agreement with Diabetes UK. Also my fasting and non-fasting levels are not distinguished.
Any advice?

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Hello @Footman

Welcome to the forum!

Sorry you are a bit confused, but I confess I’m a little confused by your post and I’m not sure exactly what you are looking for.

Here are some basics

General ‘how are you doing’ check (HbA1c)
This is measured in mmol/mol but *used* to be measured in percent. And many of us old timers have the familiar imperial/metric type confusion when told a distance in Km, but want to know what it really is 😉

People with diabetes (both T1 and T2) are told to aim for an HbA1c of 48mmol/mol (6.5%) or less. The lower the number the more reduction in risk of long term complications you have, but also there is a degree of increased risk of hypoglycaemia.

This test doesn’t need to be fasting as what is being measured changes over 120 days, rather than it being a spot-check.

What’s happening now check (BG, SMBG or fingerstick)
These are the readings that you can take yourself with a meter and strips that give you your BG level right then and there. In the UK it’s measured in mmol/L but in the US and some parts of Europe it’s measured in mg/dl (for which you multiply UK readings by 18).

The recommendations for T1 are generally 4-7mmol/L before meals and no higher than 9mmol/L approx 2 hours after a meal.

Individual targets should be agreed between each person and their Dr/clinic but usually this is to aim to stay between 4-10mmol/L as much of the time as possible, and to treat readings below 4mmol/L as hypoglycaemia.

Depending on how your diabetes is treated there are also guidelines around driving from the DVLA.

On the forum many people use BG checks before and 1-2 hours after food to monitor how their body responds to different meals and tailor their eating plan for better numbers. Fingerstick BG checks can be significantly affected by food so what you eat and when you check can help you build a picture of how to keep your levels level 🙂

Hope this helps

 

[Docb]

Read around the forum and you will find that you are not alone when it comes to confusion after diagnosis. Main reason is that there are no rules but a lot of guidelines and different people see the guidelines differently. Not helped when the opinion is angled to sell something or when somebody bangs on about something that has worked for them and shouting that because of that it will work for everybody. As you get better informed you can filter out the extremes and begin to see where the consensus lies and reading and using this forum is a good place to do that filtering.

When it comes to units there are different standards and whichever is prominent depends very much on the country the testing was done. In the UK, and so mostly used on the forum the units are as follows.

HbA1c is mostly quoted in mmol/mol. It gives a measure of the averge blood glucose over the last 2-3 months and is obtained from a blood sample as part of a blood test. A reading of over 48 gives a diagnosis of diabetes. If it gets into the 80's and above then your GP should be sitting up and taking notice because it means you have been running at levels which are likely to result in long term damage if nothing is none.

The instantaneous blood glucose measurement you get from a finger prick is measured in mmol/l. If it gets below 4, then you are running into a Hypo red zone. It is only of concern to those taking insulin or drugs that promote insulin production. For everybody else you can assume that the bodies natural systems will keep you above that level. If it gets into double figures then it can have some annoying short term effects ( feeling thirsty and peeing a lot as you system acts to flush out the glucose ) but if it gets into the 20's then alarm bells should be ringing amongst the professionals because not nice things can happen even in the short term.

So, fingerprick readings, depending on time of day, what has been eaten, when and when it was eaten varies from a low of around 4 mmol/l up to a high of 10 mmol/l for most people. If you have diabetes that range increases but quite how high it gets depends on the individual and the state of their pancreas. What constitutes a "safe level" is a matter of opinion and I suspect the training that the DN has been given. Most on here try to keep their blood glucose in single figures but don't panic on the odd reading in double figures. Regular teens would get you calling the DN or the GP looking for a change in medication and anything over 20 would mean a call to the GP practice asking to be seen urgently.

Hope that gets you started. If you are borderline or just over the border, the border being an HbA1c of 48, then there is no need to panic. A bit of adjusting of diet and maybe loosing a pound or three if you need to will almost certainly push you back over the border.

EDIT - posted at the same time as everydayups and downs. Sort of says the same ting.