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Before we can go into the effectiveness of diabetes testing, we must understand what diabetes is. Diabetes is our body's way of providing growth and energy. The foods we eat get broken down into glucose, which our body uses as fuel. Glucose enters our bloodstream where it is then utilized for growth and energy. The pancreas produces a hormone called insulin. In order for our cells to use glucose, our blood requires the insulin. The pancreas produces insulin while we eat for the movement of glucose from the blood to the cells. These pancreases may or may not produce a good amount of insulin or the insulin produced may not be used effectively by the cells. This is when the body develops diabetes because insulin is very important to regulate the blood sugar level. If left untreated, diabetes can cause serious health issues, and be life threatening. If a person experiences symptoms, they should be tested right away. There are a number of tests to diagnose or rule out diabetes. The sugar level test requires a drop of blood to measure the glucose levels in the blood. This particular test requires a person to fast, which means no food or drink, for at least eight (8) hours prior to testing. For patients that are already on dialysis treatment, this test has not been found to be accurate. The hemoglobin test does not give an accurate reading for those patients on hemodialysis. Hemodialysis is where the patient's blood is purified of toxins by passing through an artificial kidney machine. A patient must undergo this treatment in the event of kidney failure. There is another form of dialysis, called peritoneal dialysis which passed fluid in to the abdomen. This dialysis treatment can be performed in the comfort of the patients own home. Due to the fact that the diabetic dialysis patients have higher blood sugar levels, the A1C test may not give accurate results. While this test was once going to be accepted as the standard, it is now being proven that it is not nearly as accurate as it was once thought. Nearly 200,000 hemodialysis patients might not be receiving proper treatment for their diabetes. With nearly 95% of diabetic patients needing dialysis treatment, there has not been any definitive research done to sway the experts one way or the other. Until such a time, the A1C test is still the most helpful test for diabetic patients. In the United States alone, it is possible that nearly 200,000 hemodialysis patients, using this testing procedure may not be getting the proper care to control their blood sugar levels. Though this test was once considered the "gold standard", there are issues with the accuracy of the test. Regardless of those issues, this test is still helpful in the care of diabetes patients. 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. According to some researchers, the glycated-albumin test is more accurate than A1C test when it comes to measuring the blood sugar among patients who are on hemodialysis. This information is also confirmed by the Japanese diabetic patients. This glycated-albumin test is yet to be proved with patients on peritoneal dialysis as well as to patients with kidney disease but not yet on dialysis.
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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.
