5% CLUB

Just wanted to hop on with a smile cuz your post is so empty!!

My HBA1C was 5.9 when pregnant does that count?

It is now 7.8 after a year of motherhood, I have recently changed my background from insulatard back to my pre-pregnancy insulin Levimir and am hoping to get back into the 6 zone soon.

Personally I'm not aiming for the 5% club - I find it takes over life too much - how do you manage it??

Last one was 6.3 which I'm well pleased with and cholesterol and bp were all below normal, if 4.5% is where you want to be James I hope you get there soon :thumbup:

Please share how you achieve these results. I am in no way a bad diabetic, I don't sit and eat mars bars etc but haver achieved the results above.
Starting to struggle a bit with it again and give up a bit when results are so up and down
Well done on your great results


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Jamie12.
My diabetes concultants would take my licence awsy if I was under 6, as they do not believe anybody is hypo aware at the levels you are describing..

Actually I may be scare mongering here but if you get an hba1c under 5 on insulin and tick the dvla box as being fully hypo aware, I dont think they would believe you..

From my experience of talking to a person 3 years ago at dvla, they told me basically that info.... Things have got worse with dvla.

I certainly wouldnt want to be trying to renew my driving licence with levels under 5. My consultant wouldnt want to see mine under 6.5 as she believes the lower your levels... The least likely you are to recognise hypo's...

I managed to get mine down to 5.9% in october last year, i haven't had one done recently but i expect its gone up currently pregnant and had to ditch my low carb approach to controlling it! Can't wait to go low carb again, i will be aiming for 5.5%, not sure if i will manage the 4's as i'm very busy with babies lol but hopefully can keep it in the 5's, that will keep me happy :lol: :thumbup:

James12 said:

keep up the good work everyone!

noblehead said:

Last one was 6.3 which I'm well pleased with and cholesterol and bp were all below normal, if 4.5% is where you want to be James I hope you get there soon :thumbup:

Click to expand...

unfortunately the problem is.. 'normal' is highly contested term when it comes to diabetes management. At the end of the day, most people have a1c of 4-5%. If your a1c is higher than this you are damaging your body. Its quite simple.

Think about it like this, would you put petrol in a diesel car?

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Thanks for the concern James and the analogy

The 'normal' I was referring to was my cholesterol levels and bp if you read my post again, as I said earlier I'm well pleased with an Hba1c of 6.3 and don't wish to lower it any further, if I were to aim for the levels you are aiming for I would certainly lose my hypo awareness and consequently my driving license, as I rely on my driving license for work as well as pleasure this is something I am not willing to sacrifice.

After nearly 32 years I don't have any diabetes complications but did develop diabetic retinopathy but have been clear for the last 8 years, I appreciate the risks of complications are lower as Hba1c's decreases but there's still no guarantees, there was a post some time ago about the Joslin 50 Medalists who didn't suffer any complications after half a century of type 1 diabetes, the average Hba1c for this group was 7% so you can see there's a lot more to it than tight control.

As I said I wish you well on the Bernstein diet and hope you reach your goal!

My last HbA1c was 5.something

Low carb has been helpful and so has regular testing. I test about 7 times a day.

Low carbing seems to even out the high and low amplitudes and makes it easier to make corrections when your sugar levels are not rising or falling so quickly.

I don't extremely low carb but actively choose smaller portions of carbs and pick carbs that are less severe, such as opting for a modest portion of quinoa over rice and sticking to fruits such as kiwis, apples and berries rather than satsumas and bananas.

All the best
Ed

James,
Studies have shown that the frequency of complications approaches unity with the non-diabetic population at an HbA1c of around 6.5%. Look up the DCCT trial. Another study has shown that Type 1 diabetics with an HbA1c < 6% have a higher mortality rate.

I'd argue that its dangerous to aim for an HbA1c in the 4s as you will likely lose your hypo symptoms. It only takes a single hypo to kill you.

Agreed totally.

I think the problem is accepting that as a T1 diabetic we are not normal. Yes, we can live a normal life but our body is not working as nature intended. A normal persons level will be between 4 and 5.9% and that is with a wonderfully intricate and complex balancing system going on in their body.

However, HbA1c readings are an average and when you don't possess the necessary tools (ie a fully working pancreas!) to regulate BG levels the maximum and minimum levels are going to show wider variations. I have, until three of my last four readings, always been between 5.9% and 6.2% and have always been told that this is a little tight. They worry that I must be having hypo's at some point to achieve this average. Recently I have climbed to 6.7% and my doc's are loving it.

Personally, I aim for around 6% as it's at the top end of a normal person and I've always been around there so I feel comfortable with it. My recent increases make me wonder why and I'm having exercise issues which I am working on. If I drop back down then great, I know what it was and I will feel secure again.

"Normal" levels don't have to be as low as 5% or 4.5%.......5.9% would still be considered normal.

I really detest the word normal. Doctors seem to love it.. Anyone else dislike it or am I just over sensitive?! Must be a better word. If things aren't running as 'normal' then I'm 'abnormal'!

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I would actually like to see your evidence for a normal level of 4.5%. Dr Bernstein may say it but where was he was getting it from?
Have you read this ?
http://www.mendosa.com/blog/?p=366

Moreover, two people with similar average blood glucose levels can have widely disparate HbA1cs,(as much as 3mmol/l at each end of the spectrum) and people with perfectly normal glycemia have higher HbA1cs as they age.
Have a look at this study which demonstrates the affects of ageing on HbA1c
Effect of Aging on A1C Levels in Individuals Without Diabetes
Evidence from the Framingham Offspring Study and the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2001–2004
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2551641/
This was analysis of 2 large groups, in one group they all had passed OGTTs, the other all had normal fasting glucose. There were more than 5000 of them, so a big sample.

Only the youngest group had an average HbA1c in the fours and that was 4.95% and people at the outer ends of the range (97.5% percentile) were in the mid 5s.
There was a distinct trend . IN each successive age group, the average HbA1cs were higher.
(this also applied when they looked at the same groups over a number of years)

Personally my HbA1c at 5.8% is only 0,4% above the average for my age group and well below the 97.5% percentile. So I'm happy with that and would still be happy if it was over 6% . This would still be well within the normal range for my age.

I'm lucky I'm able to get to this level, I do a fair amount of exercise, I have been lower and as I said on the other thread. I was most certainly losing my hypo awareness. I'm now at a level when I have good awareness, though I realise that doctors in the UK dealing with the DVLA might not be so happy about this level.
Fortunately as Sam says the risk reduction at levels below 6.5% is negligible.

A slight contradiction to the various statements about keeping your HB1AC below 6.5 % in this link. This study suggests > 6 % could lead to complications:- What to believe.

http://www.phlaunt.com/diabetes/14045678.php


Excellent HB1AC James , my last HB1AC was 5.9 % with the previous on @ 5%. I'll get back to 5 % at my next HB1AC test now that it's salad season

Thundercat said:

I really detest the word normal. Doctors seem to love it.. Anyone else dislike it or am I just over sensitive?!

Click to expand...

No your ah,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, normal :wink:

A slight contradiction to the various statements about keeping your HB1AC below 6.5 % in this link. This study suggests > 6 % could lead to complications:- What to believe.

http://www.phlaunt.com/diabetes/14045678.php

Click to expand...

.Heres the graphical summary of HbA1c/complications in the DCCT which is T1 specific.
http://diabetesmanager.pbworks.com/w/page/17680318/The Management of Type 1 Diabetes

There were similar results in the EUROdiab IDDM and complications study as shown in the graph here for A1c and Microalbuminuria (fig 1)
http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NE ... cleResults
The latter study (in lots of papers and haven't found any sort of summary) also looked at other factors including time with T1 diabetes, diet,lipids, blood pressure, BMI, smoking all of which may play a role in the development of complications.

And of course some people may have factors which protect. The Joslin medalist study is looking into that.
edit changed dead link for another with same graph: removed reference to other graph since not there.