I took some advice and searched for another endo. The one I saw in October told me to follow the Mediterranean diet and come back in April; although he did order an A1c that I just got done today at the lab. The new endo was recommended by a nurse I spoke to regarding a study on the Genetics of LADA and I will see him on Friday. In the meantime, I bought an A1c test from Walmart to compare the results to the lab. The test was exactly like the Bayer A1C Now and not the mail-in to heritage labs like I did before. I got the results right away and my A1c is now 6.3! It was 5.9 in July, went down to 5.5 in October, and now is higher since on this new diet. I'm questioning the accuracy of the home test since my meter average was around 124. Has anyone used the RELION FAST A1C home test and know how it compares to the lab? Apparently the mail in test is no longer available.
I had good luck with the home tests and there was never more than a .2% difference when I compared one with a lab test done within a few days of the home test. I would think your A1c will start to climb at some point and you will be forced to start insulin...yes your A1c may even go down at first when you start being proactive and cut your sugar intake but in the end you will see higher A1c's and be forced to take insulin...your diet will only slow down the progression, If you really have type 1 diabetes. You are probably not a good candidate to question the accuracy of a A1c test. The A1c test is just the % of Glycated hemoglobin in your blood sample at the moment in time that your blood sample was taken....lower is better but there is nothing wrong with a 6.2....
Do you do any fingerstick testing with a meter? The A1c is just an average. Fingerstick data upon waking, mealtime, and post meal BGs would help give you a clearer picture. In fact, it would be very interesting to temporarily use a continuous glucose monitor to see what the ebb and flow of your BGs are.
I've never used a store-bought A1c kit but I have seen lab results that stretched credulity.
Hi bjm, I haven't used them. I have had a1c at my regular insurance lab which have not matched my meter records. I think there is room for error obviously as with any test or device. How are you feeling overall with the new diet? I'm glad you're going to a new endo, hopefully he will start you on some sort of treatment plan soon.
I'll be interested in exactly that this new Relion A1c test is. The old one actually performed accurately in assessments. The BayerA1c Now on the other hand never met certification standards. In 2013 I did a comparing side by side with a top level RocheCobra and compared it to the BayerA1c Now and there was a 0.5% difference. That is about a 10% difference in results, far too much.
I think the RELION brand is actually the same one marketed under the RELION name. Here is more info on it: http://www.mendosa.com/blog/?p=2586
Admittedly my 30 day average has gone up from 114 when I had the 5.5 to around 125 when I had the test done. I have more symptoms after I eat (sleepy, thirsty) and I wake up at night to go to the bathroom. I'm thinking if this A1C is accurate that I'm missing the peaks taking 2 hour readings. The endo is supposed to be very knowledgable about LADA and has published research on the genetics so I'm hoping to get treatment.
Thanks Terry, I have been taking fasting, before meal, 2 hrs. post and bedtime although I staggered the readings across the week because the last endo told me to only test once a day. I used two meters and so took readings more regularly on the one touch ultra. However, that meter had an even lower average.
Thanks for the info on the accuracy. I am not questioning the validity of an A1C in general...just this particular home test. It's important for me to know how I am doing on this diet so I know how I am progressing and whether I need to make changes. Although an A1C of 6.3 isn't that bad to some people it is showing me that what I am currently doing isn't working. Jumping from 5.5 (normal) to 6.3 in 3 months is not progress in my opinion. Thanks for the information..I do appreciate it.
Thanks, I looked into this a bit and I'm a bit disappointed by this. Bayer had announced they were getting out of the business, I believe because they found they could not make an A1c meter that could meet NGSP standards. The last result from 12/13 found that the Bayer A1c Now had a bias error of up to 0.62%, really terrible performance. And while Polymer systems certified their method this month they have not submitted any results for certifying their accuracy. Until there is a demonstration of better performance I'll still harbor doubts.
I’m convinced it is not a 100% direct correlation between average BG and A1C. Also you’re corrext the tests aren’t 100% accurate (neither is your meter for that matter). Boiled down to the simplest terms there is little difference between an a1c of 5.9 and 6.3… They both indicate mildly elevated blood Gluccose levels, which you already knew, right?
True I did know that, but the comparison is to the 5.5 I achieved on the low carb diet, then was advised to follow the Mediterranean diet, I agree that there is little difference between a 5.9 and 6.3, but there is a significant difference from 5.5 to 6.3 being that one is normal and the other is not. I was just wondering how closely it compared to a lab result so I know if it's worth using them to monitor the changes I make. The kit came with two tests, so I guess I'll find out in a few days when I get my lab results on whether to bother using the other one in a few months or not. Also, it would be helpful to know if my meter averages are running lower or higher so we shall see. Thanks for the input Sam and hope your son is doing well :)
I hope he can help you. I guess you could be missing spikes. There are two other tests, one which measures how high you spike after meals which my endo does: fructosamine(gives an idea of the past 2-3 weeks of bg patterns) & glycomark(gives average of 2 week peaks)
http://labtestsonline.org/understanding/analytes/fructosamine/tab/test/
http://www.glycomark.com/.
Thanks! The glycomark test looks interesting. I'll wait to see what my lab A1C turns out to be then go from there. I hope you're doing well now and your numbers have stabilized.
You're welcome :-) My glycomark tests showed that I still spiked to the 190's, assuming it was accurate, even when I do tons of testing and have had low a1c and ate low carbs. I'm not really stabilized but maybe somewhat better in that I'm having less lows but now according to pump data spending 62% of my time above my range which I hope isn't true. My cde says this is the most stable I have been though, maybe she has a different way of analyzing the data and is more used to doing that. The pump is a big adjustment and to be honest I'm still not sure if it's for me yet due to the added stress of high bg which can happen which doesn't happen on long acting insulin, at least not for me so far. Managing it all in the middle of having vertigo probably isn't helping much.