Just discovered the Bayer A1C meter. It's about $35 at Amazon and come with 2 test set-ups. My questions are:
1. Is this a useful item or just another expense?
2. Can you get extra test set-ups or do you have to buy another meter?
3. If you can buy extras test, what is the cost?
Thanks, Cindy
It’s useful, because it’s not off by very much, and it’s sort of like a prelude to knowing your more accurate lab numbers, and knowing if what you’re doing is working… I use them frequently, and they are okay. They are disposable, and you don’t use them all the time like a regular meter… Just one test, once a month or so, is fine. You can buy them for a lot cheaper than just $35… Check out this google shopping list, from lowest to highest price, with free shipping… Some kits have 2 tests, some have 10 (and those, are a lot more money)… http://www.google.com/products?q=Bayer+A1CNow&hl=en&freeshi… There’s sometimes some for as low as $12… so long as the expiration dates are still valid, they’re good to go. Others without free shipping… http://www.google.com/products?q=Bayer+A1CNow&hl=en&scoring=p
2 and 3 I dont know.
I personally will not be buying this again, I think its a waste of money. My insurance covers the a1c done in the office every 3 months and if you are keeping accurate logs, you should be able to calculate an estimate a1c from your log book averages. I just wanted to waste my money on this to see if its worth it.
now if your insurance doesnt cover the a1c tests done in office, totally worth it.
wouldnt it be approved as a primary test??
no, of course not. If it was people wouldnt be going into the doc offices unless they had a huge problem they are dealing with… I know if I could rely on a test I could pay for, especially if I didnt have insurance, I wouldnt want to pay doctors office costs to get the same test done.
my a1c in office was 7.9
at home 7.8
no big difference to me.
I don’t know the answer to your question except that your average BG level is only average from the times that you test. If you test infrequently, it won’t present the fulll picture.
There are formulas for coverting A1C into BG numbers, but I’m not aware of the reverse, although surely it exists. It’s just math.
Your name cracks me up. My dad refers to us as the fam damily. (Spell check did not like that!)
Ok, this is my opinion, but it seems to me at a cost of about $15/month, it is worthwhile to test monthly to check on A1C. It’s another way to check on your levels. However, according to the book (and website) Blood Sugar 101, consistency of numbers is more critical to long-term health than A1C. Your A1C can still be acceptable if you are fluctuating both high and low, so your numbers average together nicely. So it’s another test, but not the be all and end all. (Heck, if we had the be all and end all, we might not need TuDiabetes!)
I bought this the other day and have used one. My appt. with my endo was a month ago and I plan to use these as motivation to see if what I’m doing is lowering my A1c is working. I know, I can see that as well with regular testing
Not sure if I will buy another one. It was $30 @ walmart. I can spend $30 on lots of other things!!
It’s soooooo much cheaper on the internet. I got mine for $12 using a google shopping search, with free shipping…
I just bought one to test it out the other day!
My take on your questions:
It is useful for me. I bought it for 30 bucks, you get two tests out of it, which comes to be like $15 a test. WAY cheaper than paying a co-pay for a doctor’s visit just to get my A1C ordered, not to mention any lab fees I might incur too. And, from what I understand, it’s pretty accurate. The testing cartridges take a LONG time to expire, too, so you can buy one packet, take one test, and then wait three months (or however often you want to test your A1C) and take the next one without having to worry about anything expiring.
You can’t get extra test set-ups. One package is good for two tests only. You can’t use the meter for more than two tests and it doesn’t have a memory or anything like that. You can’t just buy extra “strips” like you can for a blood glucose meter.
Can’t buy extra tests, which is kind of a bummer, but I think it’s really reasonably priced. I got mine for $29.99 at CVS.
Good luck!
That’s my undersatnding. Certainly if you’re trying to follow your trends, it would be better than nothing!
Buy the one that costs around 110 bucks for the larger test kits. That will give you enough for a year of testing. Each test is calibrated only to that meter is my understanding. They have lot numbers and they have to match. Here is one link for the larger amounts. http://www.a1ctest.com/
I find with mine I am within about a point or two of my Doctors Lab. I like to check it each month and set a day for testing month. It gives me a better idea than BG alone.
Each test is around 10 bucks.