Trunkles at Large

In some of my posts you will see numbers followed by another number in brackets and I thought a little explanation of what they are might save confusion. Well controlled diabetics - read no further, you know all this. Everyone else - read on!

Blood glucose is measured in two different ways, as either Millions of MOLecules of glucose per Litre (mmol/L) or Milligrams per Decilitre (mg/dl) of blood. Most countries use mmol/L, the USA use mg/dl. To convert mmol/L to mg/dl multiply by 18. Here in New Zealand we use mmol/L so I post readings like that with the mg/dl value in the brackets.

There is an additional number you will see diabetics discussing, HBA1c (often shortened to A1c). During the life (about 4 months) of haemoglobin, glucose molecules will combine with haemoglobin molecules. How much glucose combines is dependent on how much you have in you. The important bit is that once it has combined, it stays combined. The amount of this glycosylated haemoglobin is measurable. Non-diabetics will have between 4 and 6% of their haemoglobin glycosylated (that can vary, but not by much), diabetics are (usually) somewhat higher than that. Measurement of HBA1c gives an excellent indication of how well controlled a diabetic has been over a significant (weeks) period of time.

The closer us diabetics can get to the normal range, the better. My average is in the sixes, but I’m aiming for the fives, and I WILL get there!

It saddens and frightens me that many health professionals and organizations seem to think that an HBA1c in the sevens or even eights is nothing to worry about and completely acceptable. I am sure that they are not giving their patients good advice. The higher your HBA1c, the higher your risk of complications. That’s a cumulative effect too. High blood glucose causes damage, persistent high blood glucose causes damage to the damage and so on.

So, there you have it, an explanation of what the numbers mean. If you aren’t diabetic then your knowledge has been increased, if you are diabetic…