I was totally unaware that the assay used for A1c was variable. I’ll have to take a look at that.
my friend complained the other day that his Dexocom constantly undervalues his blood glucose by 5-10% (I am not sure how relevant is that, but just remembered reading your post).
I did find a really good paper on the ketoamine/aldimine issues. From memory immunofluourescence will tend to just get the ketoamine, but ion chromatography will pick up some of the aldimine as well. Aldmine follows glucose (to some extent both ways) by about 2 hours so you will find that HbA1c also metabolises in a sample if that is the case.
When I look at my results it is clear that some labs are picking up the aldimine as well. They tend to be in the range 4.5-5 whereas others are in the range 4.18-4.6. My spreadsheet obviously tracks which Lab I am using.
Glucose is hard to measure that reliably either by fingerstick or CGM. They all tend to vary. Dexcoms can be calibrated, however. I have used Dexcom a few times. I am not diabetic, but I wanted to have a baseline as to how my body handles my normal diet.
Looking at other comments here I load some comparative results from my Dexcom data:
Incidentally I tend to have the same breakfast every day which looks like this:
(the supplements vary)
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A full English half-breakfast. 
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@John_Hemming I’m so envious! You eat TOAST and beans … and breakfast and have an A1c in the 4’s. Wow.
Thanks for the insights about the A1c test variability- this latest test was at a Labcorp site in SF when I visited there. My previous annual tests were at Canadian labs with no hints at how it was measured.
Will maybe do another round of using a Dexcom but had trouble isolating the issue causing the highs as they tend to occur hours after eating. Not sure it’s an RBC issue since CGM showed similar scores.
Glad to hear it may not be the Rapa because I definitely feel better on it. Not wildly better but more like I felt in my 50’s.
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I thought I would look at HbA1c around taking rapamycin (which I have done twice and intend to do again quite soon, but I have not yet managed to get time in my testing schedule). I have these results:
(quoting percentage then mmol/l with a code for the lab)
24-Aug-22 LM 4.6% 27.1
31-Aug-22 LM 4.7% 27.7
Rapamycin 2mg 4th September
07-Sep-22 LM 4.5 25.9
12-Sep-22 MPS 4.18 22
26-Oct-22 LM 28.2
06-Jan-23 NWP 4.9 30
Rapamycin 2mg 10th Jan
11-Jan-23 LM 30.5
19-Jan-23 NWP 4.7 28
25-Jan-23 NWP 4.8 29
31-Jan-23 NWP 4.9 30
I think MPS don’t test for aldimine and that is why HbA1c was 4.18 rather than Rapamycin. Otherwise I think the varations are noise.
The Dexcom claims not to require calibration but that is because they accept a +- 20 on the glucose measurement since it is FDA approved for treatment of type 1 diabetes and the numbers are usually quite high >120. When it isn’t calibrated the numbers can be off by 20+ points.
For those of us who use it to optimize glucose levels it needs to be calibrated almost daily. When I’ve calibrated it daily (using two separate glucometers) the numbers are generally quite accurate.
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I do find the Dexcom G7 better than the G6. I tend to buy three sessions at a time, but I plan when I use a session to overlap with other tests I am doing. It was interesting, for example, to see a blood sugar drop on Dexcom whilst I was sleeping and a time release concoction of my own using melatonin kicked in.
(I make up time release versions by using multiple delayed release capsules inside each other - this takes a bit of time, but it enables useful delays before things kick in.)
Grabovac
Which glucometers{GM] do you use?
Do you check the GM with references solutions before actually blood test?
I envy you! Your breakfast looks amazing. Please post pictures of your lunch and dinner!
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sounds like a hassle 
Lunch and dinner are perhaps more orthodox for the biohacking community.
Every day i aim to have 25g of chia seeds
You can see how the chia absorb something over 8 times their volume in water from the smoothie.
And a bit of ginger first thing on the day
I decided not to calibrate the G7. I am interested in how the levels of glucose respond to food and whether I have managed to reduce the peaks (which on the information posted I have). I am currently thinking of taking 4mg of Rapamycin as soon as the school holidays start (that is because it has disrupted my sleep and I don’t want bad sleep on a school day as I have to get up at 6am.).
What I might do this time is to strap on a G7 a couple of days before taking the Rapamycin. Then I will probably fast to go with the Rapamycin, on the other hand I might simply have my normal breakfast to see if there seems to be any immediate effect (there probably isn’t).
In any event the Spring term ends this friday.
Do you prepare ginger yourself? What is your recipe?Why first thing in the morning?
I dont prepare it myself. It is part of a large packet of sushi pickled ginger most of which is frozen. I have no metabolic reason for taking it first thing. I like the flavour and it seems gingerone may be helpful. I also drink tea with collagen and a bit of vanillin. (And breathe molecular hydrogen)
I went to a restaurant with two of my children and had steak and salad.
I did not have a starter or dessert and now am eating a piece of dark mint chocolate
Cut into pieces
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For those interested in this (remembering I had my usual breakfast yesterday). I woke on Sunday and weighed in at 82.50kg and woke this morning weighing in at 82.15kg. That’s a BMI of 23.2. I was eating out and drinking alcohol probably most of the week until Thursday last week and have decided to stay off the pop and focus on reducing my BMI for a while. I have got better at not over eating when I am drunk, but although ethanol metabolises to acetate and does not go as readily to lipids as the other calories in drinks, there are other reasons for reducing alcohol intake. I am awaiting a blood test at the moment where I am particularly interested in the uric acid/urate level. I would like to drive this down as well and there are arguments alcohol pushes it up. It may be that beer particularly pushes it up, but I shall see.
Does anyone have the optimal protocol for an OTT that I could ask for?
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What is the optimal timing of taking rapamycin?
The morning before food? As you are already in fasted mode, so addictive.
Evening? The rationale is to further the autophagy into the night
With meal?
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Some people like me take rapamycin in the morning because it interferes with my sleep if I take it in the evening.
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