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HbA1C confused

Emmotha

Emmotha

Well-Known Member
Messages
1,123
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
Hi all,
Got my first hba1c since diagnosis today.
At diagnoses in June it was 131 mmol which I believe is rather high? Today it is 36 mmol which looking at my table looks pretty ok? But they said it shouldn't drop so fast. I have a few hypos but nothing major.

I'm just a bit confused about whether it's good or bad?
 
my pleb opinion..bad hypos or loss of hypo awareness, raise your A1c, good control and a couple of mild ones you feel, well done.
 
There are conflicting opinions about this. Type 2's usually have a deal of trouble keeping their blood sugar low and are proud when it is. For Type 1's the lower the Hba1c the more hypos they have had or are at risk of having. Sometimes they are advised to aim for a higher figure for safety reasons. There was a presentation for the new Abbott Libre that brought this point out.

I suppose your HCP's are right to be concerned about your few hypos.
 
Perhaps they meant it should not drop so far rather than so fast. If you start on insulin it is bound to drop fast. We are all T2 so far though but a T1 will be along soon I'm sure.
 
Thank you I will read that but I already know I want one :-)
 
For a type 1 of 30+ years with an hba1c that low I would be having many hypo's..... My consultants consider under 40 to be way too low for a type 1.

How many hypo's are you getting in a week? Are you managing them all by yourself or have you needed help at all?
 
Maybe 3 per week, never gone lower than 3 really. Not sure what's going on. I'm on the DAFNE so learning more on carb counting
 
3 per week is quite a fair number, probably best to try and raise hba1c a little.

Over a week, what are the highest readings you get? And how often are these highest levels? Just an approximation..Just trying to see if you are swinging with levels, as this may be helped by DAFNE course too...have you previously been adjusting your own doses?
 
When I'm careful I usually stay below 9... Maybe a couple of times per week I'm naughty and go up to 12. I'm really sensitive to insulin still and just got a half unit pen also. It's all so complicated :confused:
 
Emmotha said:
Maybe 3 per week, never gone lower than 3 really. Not sure what's going on. I'm on the DAFNE so learning more on carb counting
Click to expand...

3 is still a lot, hopefully what you will learn on DAFNE will go some way to reduce them.

Your Hba1c converted to DCCT (%) is 5.4 which most diabetes consultants would argue is too low, they would say by the amount of hypo's you are having is testament for saying this, if you could achieve a similar level with fewer hypo's then then that would be something else.
 
You are right it is complicated!! And you've done (achieved) exactly the same as I did 30+years ago when around your age....in anout the same time span too!

Its good that you now got a 1/2 unit pen.

I'll tell you what happened to me with such good hba1c....I managed a large new store, and we were in process of getting it ready for opening. I went badly hypo.. Was found by a driver who almost knocked me over on a dual carriageway 6 miles away. I had left with the store ketlys and safe key (which somehow I still had!)
The driver had almost knocked me over, thought I was drunk.. ( not in a car!!) at 8pm at night. I had been reported missing to my fella, and to the police. The driver when I was begging him not to leave me realised I wan't drunk.. Found out my address and took me home, where he then called for an ambulance because my fella was out looking for me. He got me in to ambulance, locked up my house and gave ambulancemen my keys. I was actually missing for 5 hours and all I ever knew of this male guy was his name Steve which the nurses told me when I came round.

Now, this was why the consultant wanted my levels higher. As hypo awareness if you keep levels too low can go. This incident was in my early days of diagnosis. I was lucky that this guy Steve was a good guy.

After that I have always maintained higher levels as much as poss but the meters we have nowadays give a lot more info than we had then.

I got my hypo awareness back, but still only 4 years ago almost lost my licence due to a driving incident. I had pulled over and was treating myself.

So its incidents like this that your Consultant is going to be aware of and he is trying to guard you against.

It is good to have good control, I have no complications after 30 years, but I could have been dead from that Steve incident.

You also need to live and enjoy yourself and it is certainly a fine balance to try and achieve.

My personal advice would be to try and stop the drops..(one of my favourite expressions!)
 
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