Really Andrew? I need to understand this thing a lot better. You'd never believe I spent my working life as a Hospital Administrator would you???
Koukla - Have a look at the figures below:
HbA1c targets
Targets for HbA1c are as follows:
- For people without diabetes, the range is 20-41 mmol/mol
(4-5.9%)
- For people with diabetes, an HbA1c level of 48 mmol/mol
(6.5%) is considered good control, although some people may prefer their numbers to be closer to that of non-diabetics
- For people at greater risk of hypoglycemia (lower than normal blood sugar), a target HbA1c of 59 mmol/mol (7.5%)to reduce the risk of hypos
Those figures are copied from this site.
As you will see, your 40 mmol/mol is in the non-diabetic range, so you should be very happy, especially as your last was 40, which was also in the non-diabetic range. I wouldn't worry about the +1 since last time. That is such a small variation that I would not consider it to be material, unless it was part of a much longer trend of rising levels - which yours clearly isn't.
As I recall, when you first started posting, it appears your consultant told you that (and I paraphrase bit time here) if you got your act together; lost weight and got your bloods down, that you could be rid of your diabetes. Well, aside from the potential debate about whether diabetes we can ever be truly rid of diabetes, or whether in those circumstances we merely become extremely well controlled diabetics, it appears you have met his criteria. or at least the ones you understand or have shared with us.
So, are you feeling any better these days? You obviously have had a pretty stressful time with it all of late?
Moving forward, the next bit is just a bit of a brain dump from me, and sharing some thinking I have had to do for myself, in the light of non-diabetic range bloods the last three times I have been tested. I think I am like you in that my only bloods in the diabetic range were my diagnostic bloods.
Looking at my levels (and yours), now that I am in the non-diabetic range, I have asked myself how much lower I think I could possibly go. To be honest, after my 37, I thought I had probably reached my optimal level. That was proven untrue by the next test at 34, when I felt for certain I wouldn't go any lower, but then I had 32. I honestly, honestly don't expect to go any lower. We all have a lower threshold for our bloods, where we run in a healthy state (whether diabetic or not), and looking at the ranges, of course there are loads of non-diabetics who run with levels equalling or exceeding ours. The figures above start at 20, but I doubt there are too many non-diabetics running quite that low. If anyone comes up with stats I would be very happy to read them, but those are my feelings.
Personally, I am very content to be running where I am, and indeed if next time (November-ish) I have crept up one or two points, I'd be telling myself not to go into a decline, but to keep perspective. When I read other people's signatures, with their blood scores in there, I realise it's perfectly natural to fluctuate a little bit over time. Let's face it, as well and diet and exercise, there are variables in our lives which can affect our blood scores - like other medical conditions, stress, and so on. But, all of that said, we do need to be mindful of our trends. So, if you don't already, please do get all your blood results and record them in a spreadsheet or some other easily comparable format, so that you can sense check each of your results, without too much effort.
As I said to you before, I really do suggest you do some reading, or re-reading before your consultant appointment in a few days, so that you are prepared and pose the questions to which you would like answers. We only see these people periodically, so we have to capitalise on their time. And, let's face it, they like it that we want to be part of our personal management.
Please let us know how you get on when you see your consultant. Please do concentrate on developing or tuning your eating regime so that you are no longer losing weight. And please remember that not eating enough is a challenge for your body, just as eating too much or too many carbs.
You really have done well, but you must work on becoming a bit more calm about your condition. With non-diabetic levels you deserve to be giving yourself a pat of the back, not a hard time.
