New A1C results -

Ruth, I know the A1c is disappointing because you thought it would be lower but there are some variables as you said.  Being sick or stressed can raise your levels even though you were doing everything right.  Last week, I had such a severe headache that made me nauseated.  I took Tylenol.  I thought if I ate something small it would help me feel better, so I ate literally 2 or 3 bites of guacamole and some shredded lettuce.  An hour later I threw up, then took a nap.  After a couple of hours my blood sugar was 164.   I can't imagine how except that it was because of getting sick.  I'd had nothing out of the ordinary that day, and avocados and lettuce do not raise my levels.  So, if you were sick with the flu for a period of time, maybe that's why the test came out higher than you expected.  Please don't despair.  Get on the treadmill or do jumping jacks in front of the TV.  Your next test will be better! 

Lanie

I just had my blood drawn.  I'll get my results today.  I am expecting it to be higher because I have been sick too.  There just isn't anything you can do about getting sick.  It has an effect on blood sugar, but it isn't something you can control like diet or exercise.  My a1c dropped significantly when I went on the pump and I was really aiming for an even better a1c this time.  I'm just not sure that is going to happen though because of being ill.  Don't worry too much over it being up by .2.  It isn't that much higher and it probably was caused by illness, not anything you did.  I have not ever reached an a1c as low as 6.2 in my 27 years with diabetes.  I was really hoping to see that this time, but we'll see.  I wish I had a pump all my life.  I really believe lower a1c's would have been the norm for me if I had had one.  I have found it so much easier to keep control with my pump.  My blood sugars were dangerously high for years.  I didn't have insurance and I needed more help than I could get.  I'm just fortunate that I didn't develop more complications than I have.  So, don't be too upset over that one a1c being up a little bit.  I still think you are doing great!  Being sick really can do that to you. 

Ruth,

If you google melantonin, effects on blood glucose, you will find that there is a correlation between the two. Mice, rabbits and other test animals experienced a rise in BG, and some showed increased insulin resistance. I don't have the time to chase down any human studies right now, but my guess is that there is probably a similar effect in humans and that your abnormal AM readings showed you that.

Being sick raised my BG levels and I am still battling them down. An A1c of 6.2 is quite respectable, it does not vary too much from your last test, and there is some variation in evaluating individual test results anyhow because the machine readers have an allowable range of imprecision just like our meters do. So, it could very well be that your A1c hasn't changed one bit!

Keep up the good work, and don't let the stress over numbers get to you too much

sandy (who is currently trying to follow her own advice-yikes!)

I guess I have to say that I am jealous of your wonderful numbers! My son was 10.2 at our visit yesterday. I cried. I knew he had been running hi and we couldn't bring it down no matter what we did. I even tripled his insulin intake - and still couldn't get it under 300.

Anyway, I know when you're working for a goal and don't achieve it it is hard. Just don't beat yourself up too much - like you said, keep plugging, and good luck.

Dawn

AMM, My son is 10. We have been trying to get him on the pump for several months now. There has been one problem after another to keep us from getting it. I have to admit to being very frustrated about it all. The endo said we would be on it by the end of next month, so I hope he's right. He also said we should see much greater control then. I hope so.

Okay, I'm going to vent...just because I can, LOL.

UGGGGHHH!!! I agree with Dawn! That's a wonderful number! I got a 6.2 this time around and I was a happy camper! Then I read your post 4Sons and I'm thinking, OMG get real...My doctor says that's good, the info book on my meter says it's good,(actually it says it's on the lowside of EXCELLENT put out by the ADA) heck even the attendant at the Healthfair Diabetes booth said it was good! But here it sucks???????

Does anything short of absolute perfection "suck" here???????????? I swear, there is enough gloom and doom in this world. Can't we cut ourselves some slack?

Darn it! I wanna be a happy camper again! LOL I want to feel good about myself!!(I'm stomping my foot)

YES, CONTROL our Diabetes but be reasonable about it.

Oh well...maybe I'm just sick of all the OTHER gloom and doom outside of D-world. I listen to too much talk radio!

Diane -

Wow.

I never said you "suck." I never said anyone "sucks." I said I was disappointed in MY A1C.

Did you intend your "LOL" to negate that tongue lashing?

Because it didn't.

It wasn't a tongue lashing towards you at all! I'm SO sorry. I just felt bad that you felt bad about a score that I thought was REALLY good. I'm sorry, so sorry. I was just venting out of frustration about not feeling that I'm good enough. We had wonderful scores, so I thought. I was sad that you felt so discouraged. I guess it came out wrong in writing. PLEASE forgive me... :-(

Honest??? Thank you...I just get too frustrated these days. We had a great score. I probably shouldn't be so comfortable when I write here. I'm used to writing all the time in the privacy of my own journal where I always know exactly what I mean and I can share anything I need to. My fault for the misunderstanding...It's hard to remember that HealingWell is a collection of people and not just the non-personal everpresent "They" ("they" say this and "they" say that) I probably stepped on some toes there too. My appologies, I get carried away...

Hi,  The reason I was upset about my number 6's were they were creeping upwards.  So I just knew when I see doctor they may try to get me to take meds, and I am trying to avoid it as long as possible.  I have had A1C's in the fives, so it creeping up to the upper 6's made me know I was not doing all I could be doing.  I was disappointed in myself, however, recognized I had been sick.  Being sick for me means not doing exercise, and eating the wrong things to comfort myself.  I still like to have those goodies, and I can not get my head around that I should avoid them.  I am also at the stage in my diabetes that if I am good most of the day, I can get away with eating the goodies and still be ok.   But when I was sick, well I acted like I did not have diabetes at all sometimes, just ate what my lil heart wanted, and it showed on my A1C.  So for me the A1C is like a wake up call, I need to pay attention.  I know that the 6 numbers are not critical, but I also know if  I don't  pay attention it will soon creep up the 7's like when i was first diagnosed, then creep up to the 8's.   Take Care, Donna 

I think you are doing really well, but I have to wonder why it is so important for you to not take any meds at all. At this point you are doing well enough without them and I think that's great. I just can't help but wonder why you are so dead set against it. You probably would start off with a really low dose at first if you do need them.

I can understand those reasons. Hopefully if you do need to go on meds one of the less expensive ones will work for you. Metformin is $4 at Walmart. I went for years without insurance and it is really hard. Sometimes I couldn't afford what was best for me, but I managed to keep myself alive until I got some health insurance.