Dissapointed and Confused-A1C results?
Question:
Went to the doctors this morning for my blood results.A1C is 6.8,last one in May was 6.4.As you can imagine I was shocked as I thought I was doing well.My meter is showing averages of around 5.Spoke to the doctor who said obviously it's not worryingly high,but not good enough,so he has increased my Insulin to 12 units from 10.
I know meters aren't completely accurate,and the A1C gives an accurate reading,but I feel I am being given a false sense of security by my meter.The morning I went for my fasting blood test,I was 4 on my meter,apparantly I was 6 from the blood tests.I feel so down about these results,what's the point of testing if the meter is telling me I am doing well.Am totally confused and fed up with the whole thing,and feel like I've taken a backward step.
Answers:
Hi Jacqui. I'm sorry you were so disappointed with the results. You are still doing well though, try not to get too down about it. Have you thought about getting another meter to compare them with each other? You haven't taken a backward step, you've done everything you could with the info you had, it's not your fault the meter isn't accurate.
Answers:
The meter will always test lower than an actual blood test. You just have to take that into consideration.You are still not doing bad at 6.8 A1c. The extra insulin should help or you can get a product like Glu-Control and take that instead of increasing the insulin. I have many friends that have done that and they have reduced the amount of insulin by significant amounts.
Answers:
Thought of that Mandy.Have an Accu-Chek spare meter,did reading tonight,my Optimum exceed which is what I use every day said 4.5 the Accu-Chek said 4.8 so not a lot of difference.Thanks for your reply.
Answers:
Jacqui,
I'm so sorry about the confusion. There is nothing more frustrating. What meter do you use? Does it measure your blood in plasma glucose or whole blood? One reading gives you much lower numbers. Look
to read about it and find out about each meter. This might explain your different readings??? Just a thought and I might be totally off.
Answers:
Hi jacqui,
Mandy is right ( as always) you are still doing good. Some meters are better than others, but they are all indicators at best for that moment of the test. That is why the A1c test is so important because it tests for an average over a long peroid of time. We all spurge occassionally even though we may go days without eating the wrong thing and testing good during that time. The A1c test, however, takes that in to consideration and tells the whole story.
My target is to keep mine about 7.0 or lower don't let this discourage you.
Jim
Answers:
I just had another thought, b/c this happened to me years ago. My meter had a wonderful average and my A1c came back much higher than expected....twice. I tested like crazy and logged everything so that my doctor would not think I was lying about my results. She put me on a
and we found out that at night for about 3 hours I was spiking way high and then coming back to normal in the morning and I had no idea. These high night sugars were giving me my higher A1c. Perhaps you should check your sugar at 3 am a few nights and see if something odd is going on there?
You are still doing wonderful.....don't get too frustrated!
Answers:
Hi Jacqui, I know how you feel, my a1c was 6.6 then i changed to the sr metformin and my a1c last week was 6.9 the receptionist told me "doctor has seen results and is quite happy" at least your doctor changed your dose of insulin. Good luck and take care Moe
Answers:
Sorry to hear you were disappointed Jacqui. Maybe testing through the night might be a good idea.
Answers:
My meter averages are loads higher by double than my hba1c so I don't take much notice of them. Meter averages are so much different but I'm sure your next one will be better
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