yingtong
Well-Known Member
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- Type of diabetes
- Type 1
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Aiming for normal levels is the obvious goal for any diabetic but no diabetic can do that safely without a CGM to tell them they are not suffering regular episodes of hypo’s. Without that evidence, then I would argue that sustained HbA1c levels of 5.4-5.7% would only be achieved through numerous hypo’s. Near normal readings suggest that BG levels are almost never raised for prolonged periods of time leading to glycosylation which simply flies in the face of what diabetes is and does.
In the first two years after diagnosis I was never above 6.3% and I know I suffered regular hypo's.
My other concern would be that without a CGM how do you know your hypo awareness hasn't diminished? I could go see my Doc and say, yay no hypo's for ages now but in reality could be having several without noticing.
CGM's for all.
Because you test regularly. I test on waking, before driving, injecting etc etc and as soon as you get any symptoms of a low you test. Hence I have caught any hypos around 3.9. I put my results into On Track software on my phone and my A1C tallies up with the results on there so I pretty much know all is ok. I had a Libre on for 28 days which confirmed that. If you low carb you don't end up with much margin for error for your doses, you don't have the interaction of fats with carbs causing delays etc, it just makes for a much smoother ride.
Thing is though there are always going to be things that you just can't calculate for. Stress and worry for example. Every time my son goes off his food I worry and stress about it (first time parent plus I'm a worrier anyway!) guaranteed my levels will go up. Now I can try upping my ratios a bit but how much? How do you quantify exactly how worried you are about something and how much hormones your body is pumping out?
The more of that type of thing you've got going on in your life the less likely you are to have a great hba1c. Something just has to give..
If you want any help and guidance shout out on the low carb section on here or PM me. Lots of recipes online, cauli rice is lovely for instance.Might give it a go if Abbot ever tell me I can have one!
Thing is though there are always going to be things that you just can't calculate for. Stress and worry for example. Every time my son goes off his food I worry and stress about it (first time parent plus I'm a worrier anyway!) guaranteed my levels will go up. Now I can try upping my ratios a bit but how much? How do you quantify exactly how worried you are about something and how much hormones your body is pumping out?
The more of that type of thing you've got going on in your life the less likely you are to have a great hba1c. Something just has to give..
Why not try going on a "Herbal Life" diet. Two milkshakes a day plus your normal evening meal. It took me from 80 down to 50 in two months. There are similar "liquid" diets which vary in price. There are many different flavours and are very pleasant to imbibe. Not cheap but one you get down to an acceptable HbA1C you can ease up a bit. You also need to keep up the exercise!Thanks Tim, not sure how I can ever get to this, been diagnosed 3 years now and best result was 56 before I started rebelling against Levemir and went haywire, just had another month of elevated results so working with my DSN to get a pump. I eat low carb I cycle 2-3 times a week for 20kms a time, test regularly, not sure what else I can do..
Stress is a big part of this for me, I am disabled myself because of multiple blood clots in my legs 27 in 25 years and multiple blood clots in my lungs 5 in all I got type 2 about 10 years ago but I believe it could have been avoided by a GP that said BS of 7.0 wasn't anything to worry about, a year in a wheelchair and it signed my contract with type 2 and I had massive weight gain I went from 17 stone to 27 stone in that year. back down now to 19 stone out of the wheelchair and on sticks and crutches and holding my weight down my Hb1ac's are never as low as the health professionals would like and in all this time I have had about five hypos one last winter was so serious I thought I was going to die it felt awful and living alone it can be terrifying my sugars dropped to 1.0 yes and I was still conscious just about.
I will never let this happen again. It was very hard to breathe when it happened. remaining on my feet and taking very deep controlled breaths kept me from passing out just.
I also cook and wash up and clean house for my parents as I am the only child my Mother has Alzheimer's
and my Father has Cancer and he is very ill vomiting at least three times a week with the treatments.
I do my best by them both but I do sometimes get so stressed that I just break down in the end fortunately tomorrow is another day and I carry on, it is horrible old age (Don't Get old) and when it comes to a point that you have to undress your parents to put them to bed at night it starts to grind you down. I used to thrive on stress it was in my job description but it is harder and harder to deal with every day.
People keep saying oh but you can get some rest bite care No you cant if have a family that don't want outside interference
from others or are to proud to ask for that help, so I'm plodding along and it is affecting my health slowly but surely and people keep saying look after yourself because they depend on you ha that's the most difficult thing to do of all, especially if your the type of person that likes to put other people first.. I come home at about 7 to 8pm absolutely knackered and people say that people out of work are lazy they should think again. I think if I did have a full time Job my Parents would be dead by now. and as for my Diabetes well I am just about coping with it. even if my Hb1ac's are to high I will know at the end of each day that My parents are safe in bed fed and as clean and comfortable as they can be.
That is the very least they deserve for bringing me up.
Hi
My diabetes psychologist thinks the ideal Hba1c is wrong. It causes so much upset when diabetes is already difficult. He thinks below 8% is fine for making life liveable. Above 9% is where the problems really start.
Interesting non-medical perspective. Mental health is just as important.
I was at 39 but my consultant was worried it months,as too low and I did have a lot of nightime hypos which resulted with ambulances being called, and reduced hypo awareness, my next one was 51 which was after major surgery and my bs were very up and down, and I was told that it should be lower, it's easier said than done! Always juggling those doses!!!!The only thing to bear in mind with this though is that very low HbA1c's for T1's can often result in serious hypo issues. Over the last few years mine have ranged from 35-45 but I often had serious night time hypo's when I was unconscious as well as a much reduced hypo awareness.
Things have improved for me since I went onto a pump in May (after 6 weeks of some very bad teething problems) so it will be interesting to see what mine is at my next appointment in about a months time. I have been told that slightly elevated results do not exponentially increase the risk of complications though.