To understand diabetes testing, we must first understand the disease. Diabetes is a lack of, or improper use of, the insulin that our body produces. Our digestive system breaks down the foods we eat into a sugar substance, called glucose, which our body uses as fuel. When glucose enters our bloodstream, growth and energy occur. Our body's cells require insulin in the blood to use glucose. Insulin is produced in the pancreas. While we eat, the pancreas creates insulin.
This production moves the glucose from the blood cells to other cells so that it can create energy and growth. If enough insulin is failed to be produced, or our cells do not use it properly, you end up with the disease known as diabetes. Insulin is essential in regulating the body's blood sugar levels.
The disease, diabetes, can be life threatening if left undiagnosed and untreated. It can also lead to kidney disease, heart attack, stroke, nerve damage, and even blindness. It is extremely important that if a person experiences symptoms, to get tested immediately. One popular test requires a small amount of blood to measure the glucose level in the blood. However, a person cannot have anything to eat or drink for at least eight hours prior to the blood being drawn.
But unfortunately, these tests are not found to be accurate for patients who are already on dialysis. For the hemodialysis patients, the hemoglobin test doesn't prove to be a true glucose control test. Although controlling glucose level is necessary as the high level hardens the arteries thereby leading to more kidney diseases, heart attack, stroke, nerve damage and blindness. In the process of hemodialysis, blood is passed through the artificial kidney machine for cleansing which is used in the case of kidney failure. There is one more test known as peritoneal dialysis often conducted at home in which fluid is passed in to the abdomen. The diabetic dialysis patients have very high blood sugar level and hence A1C test may not prove to be accurate for them.
Almost 200,000 diabetic hemodialysis patients in US undergoing this test may not be getting accurate care for their blood sugar. This test was going to be accepted as the gold standard but it suddenly proved to be inaccurate. Still, there are issues with the test. This test is very much helpful for diabetes care. No research is done to get in to the bottom of the issue. Almost 95% of diabetes patients fall under diabetes dialysis category.
To measure the hemoglobin percentage, the A1C test is most helpful because it reacts to the glucose. Reflected by this test is the previous 120 days of controlled blood sugar. The glycated-albumin test measures the amount of blood sugar that reacts with albumin, which is a protein in the plasma. Reflected by this test is only the past twenty-one (21) to thirty (30) days of controlled blood sugar. More recent sugar levels could also be monitored. The drawback to this test as opposed to the A1C test was that it brought about higher blood sugar levels and glycated-albumin levels for hemodialysis patients compared to those patients without kidney failure. The difference stems from the medications that hemodialysis patients receive. These medications stimulate the production of the red blood cells, which is what the A1C test depends on.
However, it has not been proven how effective the glycated-albumin test is for patients that have kidney failure, but are not yet on dialysis. Nor has the effectiveness been proven for those patients on peritoneal dialysis.
Julia Hanf author of the book How To Play the Diabetes Diet Game and Win Through a real life crisis Julia figured out how to live diabetes free. Visit www.yourdiabetescure.com and learn more about your solution for diabetes.