A1C- The Diabetes Report Card

For those who are not familiar with the term "A1C", it is not a new fangled bbq sauce. An A1C is a snapshot of the last 2-3 months of blood sugars. As a type 1 diabetic, this is blood work I have done every 3 months. It takes a look at how my sugars have been overall. A certain amount of sugar remains in the blood stream attached to red blood cells and this test measures that percentage. A percentage of 4.0-6.0 is considered the "non-diabetic" range, 6.0-8.0 is typically considered an "in-control diabetic" range (at least for type 1s and typically less that 7.0 is best). Higher than 8.0 is considered at risk for further complications and not in great control. When I was diagnosed with diabetes my A1C was 14.8!!! It should go without saying that I was very sick.

 

After being diagnosed, I stayed in the 6.0-7.0 range for many years. In the most recent years, I've been hanging around 7.0, my last A1C was 7.3. This March, I found the BEST....can't stress this enough, BEST endocrinologist (diabetes doctor) I have ever had. I've had so many doctors over the years and some have been pretty good, but this woman shows them all up! She is understanding, knowledgeable, experienced, and personable. Her support and guidance has helped me get back down to 6.3, and looking forward to staying as close to that "non-diabetic" range as I can. Please note that even if my A1C goes below 6.0 I still will be and will always be a type 1 diabetic, it just would means I'm probably losing my mind every hour of the day to accomplish those numbers without causing myself more problems with lows!

All the half-marathon training, 5am workouts, walks at lunch, blood sugar logging, carb counting/logging, doctor emailing, Dexcom use, and insulin calculating pays off! (The above picture is from Type 1 Diabetes Memes site on Facebook.)