Further Help Needed Please

[Stan78]

Since being diagnosed with T2 and a reading of 53 I have lost a stone in weight due to changes in diet and upping exercise.

I am due to go back for bloods end of November. Today I used my dads glucose measure gizmo with the finger prick test and the reading was 5.8.

Can anybody advise what the reading of 5.8 is compared to the reading of 53 when I had the blood test??

Is this positive?

Stan78

 

[Docb]

One off readings don't actually tell you a lot because they vary throughout the day, and depend on what you ate and when you ate it. That said, 5.8 is within the range somebody with diabetes under control might expect so chances are you are on the right track.

 

[Jodee]

53 blood test HbA1c is one that gives an average over a 3 month period.

5.8 on the finger prick is what your blood glucose was at that time only.
finger prick tests are usually done before food then again 2 hours after food 3 x daily and one before bed every day or every other day for over 3-4 weeks to get an indication of what the BG is doing day to day.

 

[Stan78]

Thanks both...that makes great sense.

The reading of 5.8 was a couple of hours after I’d had cereal.

Might just stick to diet control and exercise and see what blood results are in November...

Thanks again🙂

 

[Eddy Edson]

Thanks both...that makes great sense.

The reading of 5.8 was a couple of hours after I’d had cereal.

Might just stick to diet control and exercise and see what blood results are in November...

Thanks again🙂

As people have said, you can't tell what's what from a single fingerprick, but FWIW 5.8 a couple of hours after cereal is the kind of "post prandial" reading a non-diabetic would get.

If you test yourself after waking not having eaten for 8 hours or whatever, and your reading is in the low 5's or 4's, that's the kind of "fasting" level a non-diabetic sees.

Still not definitive and you still need the HbA1c, but it's the reason for testing at both times. Generally T2D has some mix of two components: "hepatic insulin resistance" which shows up most clearly in fasting levels, and "peripheral insulin resistance" most clearly in post-prandial levels. Plus maybe not enough insulin affecting both.

 

[Flower]

An HbA1c result of 53mmol/mol gives an average blood sugar finger stick reading of 8.5 mmo/L- highs/lows/everything between - over the preceding approx 12 weeks

If your blood sugar has averaged at 5.8 mmol/L over the 12 weeks prior to an HbA1c that would give an HbA1c test result of approx 34 mmol/mol.

As has been said a one off finger prick test is just a moment in time and even with multiple tests a day there's a lot of hours where your blood sugar will fluctuate and contribute to the HbA1c test result value .

A 5.8 is a very nice result to see on a meter 🙂

 

[Stan78]

Thanks guys. I’ll stay away from the finger prick...lol.

Going to continue with losing weight and diet control and see what blood tests are in November. 😎

Weight has gone down from 12st 4lb to 11st 4lb due to exercise and change of diet of cutting sugar out and less fried food (damn carbs😡).

 

[Drummer]

If you are eating cereal then you can improve your overall levels just by cutting it out - high carb foods are not your friend.
As a spike from grain usually showed up quite soon after eating when I was checking such things, your test might have been too late to catch it - but it is promising that having eaten cereal you were in the normal range fairly soon afterwards, your metabolism must be improved.

 

[Stan78]

Thanks people. It was first time I’d used finger prick test. I’m hoping the weight loss will definitely reduce the next Hbac1.