Fingerprick test

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Hi

Just wondering about a test done in clinic yesterday. I was expecting a vial or 2 of blood being taken, but the nurse came in to get a drop of blood from my finger, the results I got back have an asterisk beside the h1bac number. Is this a less accurate measurement? In a way I was glad because I hate getting my bloods done but just wondering what's the main difference ?

Thanks
 
jazzchicken said:
Hi

Just wondering about a test done in clinic yesterday. I was expecting a vial or 2 of blood being taken, but the nurse came in to get a drop of blood from my finger, the results I got back have an asterisk beside the h1bac number. Is this a less accurate measurement? In a way I was glad because I hate getting my bloods done but just wondering what's the main difference ?

Thanks
Click to expand...
I know some clinics have instant readout machines that do HbAa1cs from a fingerprick, I would assume they’d have to have passed accuracy tests before they were adopted for use in hospitals.
You’d have to ask them what the asterisk means, Was it in range? Some of my abnormal blood results have an asterisk by them, and my HbA1c is always out of range, because even though mine is 'good for a Tyoe 1 diabetic' it’s still above the threshold for the general non-diabetic population.
 
Research shows that they are just as accurate as venous samples

Not every place has the machine capable of doing it hence why not many talk about it, I however had it done this way many times at my local hospital as my hba1c was very low and they wanted to keep a very close eye on it
xx
 
Thanks for the replies. Yeah I might just ask em then, at time I was like oh okay do you not need more. The result is 29* hba1c which is probably way too low right ? I know it's probably because between meal spikes im very low and hypo a few times a day, which im working on improving .My libre predicted 41 hba1c
 
jazzchicken said:
Thanks for the replies. Yeah I might just ask em then, at time I was like oh okay do you not need more. The result is 29* hba1c which is probably way too low right ? I know it's probably because between meal spikes im very low and hypo a few times a day, which im working on improving .My libre predicted 41 hba1c
Click to expand...
Yes they won't be happy with that at all, mines was 30 and they were checking me every month because of that, it's worrying for an insulin dependant to have such low hba1c as with it comes increased risk of losing hypo awareness, I wasn't waking through the night when I was hypo (Libre trial showed that), my DSN and consultant gave me a very scary talk telling me they didn't want their next call to be one telling them I was on a slab cause I'd died whilst sleeping through a hypo, I won't lie I burst into tears but I'm still here 5 years later after sorting out all those hypo's etc and regaining hypo awareness on many occasions over the years, please be careful and work with your team to get those levels up a bit xx
 
I'd also add that is 1 helluva drop in hba1c and you should've been warned to take things slowly, unfortunately I wasn't and ended up with eye problems due to a drop from 101 to 33, they began just 1 month after I was diagnosed and required quite a few treatments xx
 
@Kaylz have to say you have freaked me out a bit They did stress I need to reduce the hypos but I have been waking for hypos in the 2s, just not the 3s. My awareness isn't the best, I get a few signs sometimes like hunger , feeling anxious or confused. Haven't heard from them so they must not be that concerned. Also my average has came up in the last month so that blood test would be taking into account the months before aswell.

I know my main issue is probably having too much insulin for meals because I thought it would help keep the peaks down but at the same time it's bringing me down very low within 3 to 4 hours. They said it was more the food I'm eating rather than the dosage or timing, though Im finding that aspect difficult. Said it could also be my pancreas working sporadically. Cause I'll get very different results for the same meal from one day to the next.

Of course I don't want anything bad happening. Is there anything you changed in particular to get your levels up without being too high at the same time ?

Thanks
 
I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to freak you out, I just hate to see that like me people haven’t been warned of the dangers a sudden drop in hba1c can cause, my basal needed reduced, I was on 8u when I was discharged from the hospital and had to reduce it right down to 1u, as for spikes after meals it’s completely normal and non D’s spike as well, working on the timing is a far better thing to do than take more when it isn’t needed

What sorts of things are you eating?
xx
 
No it's fine, just bit surprised they said that to you. Yeah I'm down to 6u basal, started at 12u. It was discussed that I might not even need any.

Yeah see regarding spikes after meals, I get it happens. Just I had consultants and dieticians telling me my numbers after meals were fine but then this new consultant is telling me the peak should never be more 3mmol after a meal. And I'm going from 4 or 5 before meal to 10 or 12. So there is a jump. I'm coming back down though. That was a new thing threw at me. Dietician said I should keep eating as many carbs as I'm having so its about 75g for each meal and snacking is around 30g. Yesterday's meals

Breakfast : slice of granary and peanut butter, banana, porridge with milk


Lunch: sandwich bacon egg, strawberries and apple, crisps, some salad


dinner : basmati rice and chicken with some veg ,some dark chocolate

Nothing alarmed them when I told them usual stuff I have except that if I'm buying shop sandwiches to look out for salt and might be better to make my own. I bought a few books but one of em seems extreme, like most meals no more than 10g of carbs. I need the calories to put on weight, most low carb diets are very low in calories even when adding loads of protein and fat. Head melt.
 
jazzchicken said:
I bought a few books but one of em seems extreme, like most meals no more than 10g of carbs. I need the calories to put on weight, most low carb diets are very low in calories even when adding loads of protein and fat. Head melt.
Click to expand...
Most diabetic recipe books focus on low carb as this is something which can help people with type 2 (and some people with Type 1) but with Type 1, we can inject insulin for the carbs so most of us decide we don't need to limit them.
As type 2 is the most dominant type of diabetes, generic "diabetes" books/news reports/recipes/etc seemed to be focused on type 2.

Regarding spikes after meals - everyone gets them. I am surprised your consultant is getting upset by your spikes if your levels come down but you may be able to minimise them by pre-bolusing earlier.
Different foods are digested at different rates - this is why we use fast acting carbs to treat a hypo. However, our fast acting insulin acts at a fixed rate. The art of timing (yes, I thin it is an art) is to time the peak of the carb absorption wit the peak of the insulin action. This will take some trial and error as we are all different and food is different.
Typically
- we are more insulin resistant in the morning due to Dawn Phenomenon so may need to pre-bolus earlier
- fatty foods (such as pizza or pasta with a creamy sauce or cheese and biscuits) peak later so we may be able to bolus as soon as we start eating. Some high carb, fatty foods such as pizza and curry may need to split bolus ... but tat is advanced diabetes
 
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