HBA1C - help!

[lizcoop]

Hi - I was diagnosed with Type 1 a month ago after being hospitalised - am aged 55 and this came as a shock as I have no history. However, am now on insulin and been following a low carb diet, just protein and green veggies with nuts, eggs etc since leaving hospital. My CGM says my A1C is 46mmol. However my blood test results yesterday show HBA1C is 80! How can this be? Can it be brought down? I am so new to this so have no idea and keen to understand the discrepancy. Can anyone shed any light? Am trying to get a consultation with my GP.
Another question - my vision hasn't been the same since I left hospital - I understand that this happens but was told correction should happen in a few weeks. It hasn't. Maybe a very slight improvement (I now have to wear my reading glasses to look at my phone/computer whereas previously before hospitalisation I didn't. Is this concerning?
Thanks.

 

[becca59]

Hi @lizcoop like you I was older on diagnosis 54. Your HbA1c results are what has happened over the last three months, which takes in your high levels pre diagnosis. The Libre is only accounting for what has gone on in the last month since you started insulin and have better levels. Your next test will show a much better level I am sure, though it does tend to be higher than the Libre.
Your eyes may indeed have deteriorated slightly, but it is still early days. They can be affected by the speed of reduction in sugar levels. So how quickly you went from being high to more normal levels. I was told to wait three months before a test. So still time for some improvement. Eye sight for me was the worst aspect. I couldn’t see out of my regular glasses and had to buy an off the peg pair of readers just to function at work. Didn’t drive for three months.
Eleven years in to this journey it is now second nature and a part of my every day life. When I started out I was quite strict with my diet. I don’t go mad but am much more relaxed these days as I know I can manage this rotten condition. Plus overall, I think I am a much better weight and a lot healthier as I approach being a pensioner than I would have been.

 

[lizcoop]

Thank you SO much for your reply - I think, as this is all so new to me, I tend to panic at the slightest thing. I have managed to keep within 98% in range since being discharged so hopefully, as you say, those levels will be lower in my next test. Agree re the eyesight. It is still very blurry when I'm reading/on the laptop without my readers and am praying it will correct. Driving is OK - I managed to drive in dreadfuly rainy conditions a couple of weeks ago and am just determined to manage my sugar as I understand they will take away my licence if I have more than one hypo where I need assistance in a year which would definitely ruin my life! I agree - this horrible disease has at least made me eat far more healthier and even though I do miss chocolate, cake and crisps (my faves pre-diagnosis) I did go overboard on them and simply being unable to have them for now is helpful - my diet has never been better. Again, thank you so much for your reply - it's really helped to put my mind at rest. Best wishes to you.

 

[becca59]

Eleven years in not had a hypo where I have needed help at all. It is rare these days with CGM alarms.