Hba1C When should you have your first one taken.

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annj

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Type 2
Hi All

Having just read another thread of a lady that was diagnosed T2 in December and has already had her first Hba1C, I was diagnosed in October, saw the diabetic nurse for the first time in November and no-one has even mentioned this to me - if it wasnt for this site I wouldnt even know what it meant. So is there a time scale? Should I get in contact with nurse and ask for one? I know that we are all different but this has got me thinking.
 
I had my first after three months of being diagnosed, but it might just be the hospitals/diabetic nurses.
 
HbA1c

I had my first HbA1c taken just after i was diagnosed at my first appointment at the diabetic clinic, and it is then take everytime i go back
 
its the average of the past three months, so you may not get it until you have your next hospital check up.
 
When I was admitted to the hospital they measured it, it was 11.8. I then had a follow-up appointment about 7 weeks later when it was 6.7. As it is an 8-12 week average I expect you can wait up to 12 weeks after diagnosis otherwise it includes an element of your pre-diagnosis (and therefore probably high) sugars and is less indicative of your 'current' state. Errr...if you see what I mean!🙂

I'm due another one in 2 weeks, which is 6 months after the last one.
 
Annej

As a Type 2, I had one HBA1c at the point of diagnosis then 3 monthly until I stabilised and now 6 monthly. Over the first year I went from 11.2 to 6.5 (via 7.4 and 7.2) as I started with metformin, then added 40 mg gliclazide twice a day on second reading, doubled that to 80mg a day on third reading. If you aren't offered a test by 12 weeks of diagnosis ask for one as it is the key measure that the medics will go by for Type 2s as most do not seem interested in any daily tests we might do (see other threads) although mine has varied when I take my gliclazide when I was able to demonstrate that mid morning hypos were becoming more of a regular occurence as I continue to up my exercise.

If in doubt, the DOH think this measure is important enough to give GPs "quality" payments linked to how many diabetics they get down to varying levels of HbA1c - the "best" payment was initiated at 7 but now that is 6.5

As a vrey minimum your HbA1c should be measured every year as part of your annual review along with cholesterol/triglycerides. If you want to know what care you should be getting then look at the NICE guidelines - there is a quick reference guide issued in May 2008 "Type 2 diabetes: the management of Type 2 Diabetes" available online http://www.nice.org.uk/nicemedia/pdf/CG66T2DQRG.pdf as is the full version

Hope this helps

Vanessa
 
vanessa is right at least once a year, but I think it should be 6 monthly really. I have mine done every 3 months because I need to know where I'm at.

I think 3 months after diagnosis should be your first one. If you don't get called ring for an appointment around that time.
 
Thank you all so much for all of your replies.

I will definitely be keeping my eye on this and when I next have my appointment with diabetic nurse (which should be in February) I will make sure that I ask her about this. I would really like to know what my reading will be, prior to knowing that I was diabetic and being put on metaformin, my two previous blood test came back with a reading of 15, when I last tested myself it was 5.7 (first thing in the morning).

Once again Thank You.
 
the HBAC1 is differnt to a striaght blood sugar.
I just pulled off my latest one of the system yesterday at work(NHS).
There is a comment on the bottom of the report saying there is no benefit in doing them more frequently than every 2 months.
 
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