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HbA1c tests or testing machines?

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A

Ally G

New Member
Relationship to Diabetes
At risk of diabetes
Hello. I'm new here as I had a test showing pre-diabetes in February. For various reasons I've only just managed to get on the WW-run Healthier You programme. I'm not convinced by the original blood test but look unlikely to get another at my GP's until the new year. Does anyone know if there are any machines that test for this? The only things I see mentioned on this site (which is excellent) are about blood tests showing your glucose level at one point in time. Thank you.
 
Well, the HbA1c blood test, measures the amount of glucose that whilst floating about in your blood and which has nowhere to go because the body can't assimilate it right now (either because you haven't enough insulin or because there's something a bit haywire within the metabolism of the body) so sticks to the red blood cells instead. The natural life of a red blood cell (haemoglobin, Hb) is between 90 and 120 days and hence the test measures what has become stuck, over an average of c, 3months. That which has done this in the previous 4 weeks-ish , has over 50% influence on the actual result of the test. The changed you make to lifestyle, diet and exercise therefore, all take time to reflect in that result and so the intervals between them are deliberately not short. Think of the NHS manpower involved to get the test result, let alone the price the lab has to pass on the the GP surgery.

There are some machines which can give a quicker result but as far as I'm aware costs thousands of £££ each even without the 'peripherals' and expert interpretation of the results for the patient. I'm not aware of any individual having been able to purchase their own and have never personally even seen one.

Glucometers OTOH tell us what our BG is, right now this second - so is a really useful tool to discover what the effects of normal for us food, exercise or lifestyle actually are, on any time on any day. It's a waste of time measuring that though, if you don't learn anything from it, and the mantra therefore is 'Test, Review, Adjust' (see the following for a good explanation)

Test, Review, Adjust

Managing blood glucose levels for type 2 diabetes. Learning how to achieve long term control by testing and diet.
loraldiabetes.blogspot.com loraldiabetes.blogspot.com
 
There are HBA1C test machines which some hospitals use and give results in 5 minutes but these are not even used by surgeries (why?). At my last private operation they used one of these machines.
 
trophywench said:
Well, the HbA1c blood test, measures the amount of glucose that whilst floating about in your blood and which has nowhere to go because the body can't assimilate it right now (either because you haven't enough insulin or because there's something a bit haywire within the metabolism of the body) so sticks to the red blood cells instead. The natural life of a red blood cell (haemoglobin, Hb) is between 90 and 120 days and hence the test measures what has become stuck, over an average of c, 3months. That which has done this in the previous 4 weeks-ish , has over 50% influence on the actual result of the test. The changed you make to lifestyle, diet and exercise therefore, all take time to reflect in that result and so the intervals between them are deliberately not short. Think of the NHS manpower involved to get the test result, let alone the price the lab has to pass on the the GP surgery.

There are some machines which can give a quicker result but as far as I'm aware costs thousands of £££ each even without the 'peripherals' and expert interpretation of the results for the patient. I'm not aware of any individual having been able to purchase their own and have never personally even seen one.

Glucometers OTOH tell us what our BG is, right now this second - so is a really useful tool to discover what the effects of normal for us food, exercise or lifestyle actually are, on any time on any day. It's a waste of time measuring that though, if you don't learn anything from it, and the mantra therefore is 'Test, Review, Adjust' (see the following for a good explanation)

Test, Review, Adjust

Managing blood glucose levels for type 2 diabetes. Learning how to achieve long term control by testing and diet.
loraldiabetes.blogspot.com loraldiabetes.blogspot.com
Click to expand...
trophywench said:
Well, the HbA1c blood test, measures the amount of glucose that whilst floating about in your blood and which has nowhere to go because the body can't assimilate it right now (either because you haven't enough insulin or because there's something a bit haywire within the metabolism of the body) so sticks to the red blood cells instead. The natural life of a red blood cell (haemoglobin, Hb) is between 90 and 120 days and hence the test measures what has become stuck, over an average of c, 3months. That which has done this in the previous 4 weeks-ish , has over 50% influence on the actual result of the test. The changed you make to lifestyle, diet and exercise therefore, all take time to reflect in that result and so the intervals between them are deliberately not short. Think of the NHS manpower involved to get the test result, let alone the price the lab has to pass on the the GP surgery.

There are some machines which can give a quicker result but as far as I'm aware costs thousands of £££ each even without the 'peripherals' and expert interpretation of the results for the patient. I'm not aware of any individual having been able to purchase their own and have never personally even seen one.

Glucometers OTOH tell us what our BG is, right now this second - so is a really useful tool to discover what the effects of normal for us food, exercise or lifestyle actually are, on any time on any day. It's a waste of time measuring that though, if you don't learn anything from it, and the mantra therefore is 'Test, Review, Adjust' (see the following for a good explanation)

Test, Review, Adjust

Managing blood glucose levels for type 2 diabetes. Learning how to achieve long term control by testing and diet.
loraldiabetes.blogspot.com loraldiabetes.blogspot.com
Click to expand...
Many thanks for this. So I'll give up on the idea of an HbA1c test! So can you recommend any of the glucose kits on the market? Or any experience of any? (And I do intend to learn from all this. I'm not at all overweight and have a decent diet, a reasonable amount of exercise - so I'm following the WW system for the moment but really don't want to lose too much weight.) Thank you.
 
DaveB said:
There are HBA1C test machines which some hospitals use and give results in 5 minutes but these are not even used by surgeries (why?). At my last private operation they used one of these machines.
Click to expand...
I suspect cost!
 
Bruce Stephens said:
And size, I imagine. (The one I've seen at a hospital was kind of fridge sized. Fine for a place used by DSNs but not the kind of thing that could be easily justified in a GP surgery.)
Click to expand...
I have not seen one so, I had no idea about size. When I had my knee replacement 3 years ago in Private Hospital, they sent my HBA1C, along with other bloods to their own labs.
 
At a talk given by a diabetes consultant she said they only used a HBa1c test machine in the children's clinic because of the cost. She gave £5 as the cost of a machine test compared to £1 for a lab one. So I am guessing these machines are not cheap. This was a number of years ago so those costs may be different now.
 
@Ally G I understand your desire to see the difference, hopefully improvement, in the value your surgery gave you - you Hb1Ac.
However, as previously mentioned, this gives you a long term average. It's interesting but there is not much you can deduce from it for improvements.
The lovely thing about a "glucose kit" is that it you can see near instant impact of food types, exercise, medication, etc.
You can test your blood sugars, eat a sandwich and then a couple of hours later, take another reading to see the impact of that sandwich and, if the second reading is higher than the first, decide to try something else tomorrow.
Or, take a reading, go for a walk and, maybe see a drop when you do another reading upon your return and decide walking really helps your blood sugar ... which, in turn will reduce your next Hb1Ac.
(These are examples and you may see different results because we are all different.)

Whatever you find, good luck.
 
helli said:
@Ally G I understand your desire to see the difference, hopefully improvement, in the value your surgery gave you - you Hb1Ac.
However, as previously mentioned, this gives you a long term average. It's interesting but there is not much you can deduce from it for improvements.
The lovely thing about a "glucose kit" is that it you can see near instant impact of food types, exercise, medication, etc.
You can test your blood sugars, eat a sandwich and then a couple of hours later, take another reading to see the impact of that sandwich and, if the second reading is higher than the first, decide to try something else tomorrow.
Or, take a reading, go for a walk and, maybe see a drop when you do another reading upon your return and decide walking really helps your blood sugar ... which, in turn will reduce your next Hb1Ac.
(These are examples and you may see different results because we are all different.)

Whatever you find, good luck.
Click to expand...
thanks for your message, and good luck to you, too
 
Ally G said:
Many thanks for this. So I'll give up on the idea of an HbA1c test! So can you recommend any of the glucose kits on the market? Or any experience of any?
Click to expand...

If you need to self-fund (which is likely) the two most impkrtant factors are the ongoing cost the strips, and whether or not the results are reliable (all home meters have a degree of variability, but some are steadier and more reliable against lab results than others!). The most affordable meters members here have found which still give very usable results are the SD Gluco Navii or the Spirit Tee2 which both have test strips at around £8 for 50.

You can use a BG meter, taking a reading before and again 2hrs after eating, to see what the differences are, to identify any carbs that seem to be spiking BG (initially in a way the numbers themselves matter less than the differences between them). Once you can see how you respond to different meals you can begin experimenting with reducing amounts of carbs and trying different types (sometimes just having things at a different time of day makes a difference). Gradually tweaking and tailoring your menu to find one that suits your tastebuds, your waistline and your BG levels 🙂

If you are interested in this approach you may find test-review-adjust by Alan S a helpful framework.

If you gradually begin to see lots of ‘in range’ numbers in your home results, before and after meals you can be confident that these will be reflected by a significant improvement in your HbA1c 🙂
 
everydayupsanddowns said:
If you need to self-fund (which is likely) the two most impkrtant factors are the ongoing cost the strips, and whether or not the results are reliable (all home meters have a degree of variability, but some are steadier and more reliable against lab results than others!). The most affordable meters members here have found which still give very usable results are the SD Gluco Navii or the Spirit Tee2 which both have test strips at around £8 for 50.

You can use a BG meter, taking a reading before and again 2hrs after eating, to see what the differences are, to identify any carbs that seem to be spiking BG (initially in a way the numbers themselves matter less than the differences between them). Once you can see how you respond to different meals you can begin experimenting with reducing amounts of carbs and trying different types (sometimes just having things at a different time of day makes a difference). Gradually tweaking and tailoring your menu to find one that suits your tastebuds, your waistline and your BG levels 🙂

If you are interested in this approach you may find test-review-adjust by Alan S a helpful framework.

If you gradually begin to see lots of ‘in range’ numbers in your home results, before and after meals you can be confident that these will be reflected by a significant improvement in your HbA1c 🙂
Click to expand...
Thank you, that's useful. I'll look up those monitors.
 
Bruce Stephens said:
And size, I imagine. (The one I've seen at a hospital was kind of fridge sized. Fine for a place used by DSNs but not the kind of thing that could be easily justified in a GP surgery.)
Click to expand...
The one my hospital used was desktop set-top box size
 
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