[Tc99]

Hello everyone. Ok, so i am T1 1.5 yrs now. For about 1.2 years, my A1c were under 7 most of the time, so : 6.2, 6.4, 6.5, 6.8, 7.4.

My latest A1c came back as 7.6
I know i have been doing worse but not because i try less, just takes time to adjust, i guess my work pace changed everything. I test about 8 x/day. So just wanted some input on what 7.6 means. Should i worry a bit with this number ? To me it seems very high, but all of you are experienced, while i am not! Is this A1c ok for a little while, or is this no good at all ?

I am still trying to understand when to start stressing with your A1c and whihc ones are reasonable ?

Thanks

[Emm]

WELL... on this one, it has to be up to you.

Doctors will say one thing, ADA and various other organisations will say another, and some people here will say yet another thing.

So, in my humble opinion, an a1c around 6 is good, under 6 is preferable, and high 6 is acceptable. anything over 7 is asking for trouble.

It depends on your control, your peaks, your diet, your lifestyle... but I think you'd want to get back into those 6s ASAP!

I am still trying to understand when to start stressing with your A1c and whihc ones are reasonable ?

Don't stress (it only raises your BG anyway!) just see if you can find why it's creeping up. Do you take correction jabs if you're a bit high? Is your basal insulin working well for you or maybe needs an increase? Could you perhaps lower what you see as a safe after-meal BG?

[duck]

7.6 means you were close to "averaging" 180 in the last three months. Looking at your other numbers, I would tell you to "fuhgeddaboutit" and move on, buckle down and get your numbers down, but don't stress.

Oh, Wiki has a breakdown of what the A1c numbers mean and what they correlate to...

Glycosylated hemoglobin - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[Cyborg]

I found out at the endo's office last week that each 1% drop in a1c reduces your chance of diabetes related complicated by 43%.

[duck]

Originally Posted by Cyborg

I found out at the endo's office last week that each 1% drop in a1c reduces your chance of diabetes related complicated by 43%.

Based on what?

[LancetChick]

When I was on Humulin N & R, my A1c's were around 6.0, and I had many hypoglycemic episodes, some very serious. After switching to Lantus and Humalog, I had no serious episodes, and many fewer milder ones, so I was a little apprehensive about getting another A1c, since I expected it to go up. To my great surprise, it was 5.3! Woo hoo! And that inspired me to be more diligent, so now I test ~15x a day (I work at home, though, which makes it easier to do that). My A1c's are always 5.0, 5.1 or 5.2 now, which is fine, because when I tested my non-diabetic sister's A1c (I have a home A1c meter) it was 5.0. I've been type 1 for 20 years, which I mention because this is my first post.

[jen_slc]

Originally Posted by Tc99

For about 1.2 years, my A1c were under 7 most of the time, so : 6.2, 6.4, 6.5, 6.8, 7.4.

It seems to me that, if you reported these A1cs in order, you started out very well but that over time they have been creeping up. Considering that you've now hit 7.6, I personally would think it's time to turn it around and get it going in the other direction. Even if it's only 7.6 for a little while, what happens until your next appointment and it's now 7.8? It's not the absolute number of 7.6 that's alarming to me, it's the upwards trend. I would be taking action to reverse it, in case it's indicative of how future readings will pan out.

[BlueSky]

Originally Posted by Tc99

.... i am T1 1.5 yrs now. For about 1.2 years, my A1c were under 7 most of the time, so : 6.2, 6.4, 6.5, 6.8, 7.4.

My latest A1c came back as 7.6 .......

I agree that those levels are too high. That trend probably reflects progression of the diabetes. The productrion of insulin by your pancreas is tailing off. Which means that you need to manage your diabetes more actively using diet, exercise and insulin.

Essentially, you will have to think about what you can do to achieve better control, and change the way you do things accordingly. It will enable you to reverse the trend and give you a greater sense of control.

[xMenace]

I don't like doing this, but the reasons for getting your a1c down are kinda important. There's really no good reason to let it go high.

[REDLAN]

as everyone is saying your HBa1c is moving in the wrong direction, and the most likely cause is that the small amount of insulin being produce by your pancreas is dropping off.

for reference the normal range of Hba1c is 3.0% to 5.9%. Also of note is that HBa1c results can vary by up to 1.0% between individuals with the same average Blood glucose. So your actual level is not as important as the trend.

In the UK, my consultant says that they aim as a minimum for below 8.0%, but ideally below 7.0%. Keeping it below 7.0% significantly reduces your risk of complications - it's hard to say how much of a difference this will make to your life time risk, but it should improve your chances of staying healthy for longer. In general though the lower the better, and if you can keep it below 6.0% then better still

They are no guarantees, but generally the effects of complications take many years of poor control to develop, and the older you are the more quickly you are likely to develop complications. So running a higher than desired Hba1c should not seriously affect your health in the short term and we're talking 7.6 - which in the UK is OK, but not ideal.

personally speaking I'm not much of a gambling man, and I don't like to bet on long term odds, but I find keeping my BG under good control means that I feel less tired, have more energy, and get more out of life right now.

I find this motivates me more than worrying about whether I might go blind have my feet chopped off, or end up on dialysis 10,15,20 years from now.

[It Ain't Over]

The endos goal for all of us was 6.5, I think they are after 6.0 now. The ADA says the goal should be 7.0.
May not sound like it would be that hard to get down from 7 to 6.5, but for some of us it is nearly impossible.
Mine run 6.7 to 6.8 and have been able to keep it there since going on the pump. Endo asked me to try more Symlin, but I just rode the hypo roller coaster too much with that.
I think turning up the exercise will be the best route. Getting too little, with too much time stuck at this desk for me.

[Connie in KC]

I have been on Glucophage and Avandia. The doctor has had me on 1000 mg of Glucophage XR and currently 4 mg of Avandia. I took it down to 4 mg because 8 mg caused me to gain an ungodly amount of weight (20 pounds without changing any eating habits) and I felt dragged out all of the time. Also, I went from being able to walk flights of stairs to the third floor without stopping, to having to stop several times when going up one flight. I simply couldn't summon the energy to go without stopping. Since I lowered the dosage, I finally have lost about 15 pounds of the 20.

My doctor sent me to a diabetes educator/dietician who thought that there were some other drugs that my doctor might want to try. In this dietician's practice, which was in a setting that specialized in diabetes treatment, she saw some other medication regimens that worked well. However, the last time that I saw my doctor, he told me that he wants me to go on Lantus. During my last appointment with the dietician, she spoke with him, about trying different medications, and he wouldn't budge. I raised my dosage of Glucophage, because I saw that 2000 mg is the optimal dosage, and my morning readings have gone down.

I see the doctor Monday, and I am concerned that he will tell me to find another doctor unless I start on Lantus. My question is this: If I go on Lantus to gain tighter control, will I ever be able to get off of it? I know my pancreas still makes insulin, because on infrequent times when I forget my medication, my levels go up to about 195 after a meal and take about 4 hours to get down to 140. I seldom go above 225, (at a wedding banquet) even if I overdo it with food. I seldom go below 120, even though I am extremely careful with my diet.

[MJM]

Originally Posted by LancetChick

When I was on Humulin N & R, my A1c's were around 6.0, and I had many hypoglycemic episodes, some very serious. After switching to Lantus and Humalog, I had no serious episodes, and many fewer milder ones, so I was a little apprehensive about getting another A1c, since I expected it to go up. To my great surprise, it was 5.3! Woo hoo! And that inspired me to be more diligent, so now I test ~15x a day (I work at home, though, which makes it easier to do that). My A1c's are always 5.0, 5.1 or 5.2 now, which is fine, because when I tested my non-diabetic sister's A1c (I have a home A1c meter) it was 5.0. I've been type 1 for 20 years, which I mention because this is my first post.

LancetChik congrats, way to go! What brilliant results. Keep them coming like that.