Well, it’s that time of year again – today was time for my seven-month review at which I’m poked, prodded and vampiric amounts of blood removed from my arm for analysis. My feet were jabbed and I was blinded by the flashes of the retino-eye-camera-blindy-thing-whatsit (I’m sure it’s got a slightly more formal name).
Anyway all that aside, the figure we care about is, of course, the A1C – the roughly three month average of how good, or bad, a diabetic you’ve been. This time, mine was 6.3 – down from 6.5 in March. And all done on MDI – none of this pump malarkey. As Alan Partridge would say, “Back of the net!” Top right hand corner! I give you permission to bask in the glowing glory of my personal A1C magnificence!
While I was there, I also had a chat with the doc about my peaky mornings (I start at about 5, put in 8 units of humalog 20 minutes before a small breakfast and still end up at 13 two hours later). So we’re having a crack at using the slightly newish Apidra – which is made by the same chaps as everyone second favourite long-acting insulin Lantus.
Apparently Apidra kicks in a bit quicker than Humalog (which is pretty quick in itself) so it might be useful for trimming the top off the morning peak. Anyway, I’m going to give it a go and see what happens. Rest assured, beloved readers, I’ll report back with the results in due course.
Well done Tim.. Great to hear success stories as opposed to the scaremongering that usually follows us around.
As another pancreatic-ally challenged MDI person with Diabetes I’m way off that mark, but it doesn’t stop me from trying to achieve a A1C like yours..
@Mike Thanks Mike – shows it’s possible, even with MDI, I guess! 🙂
@Tim
Hey you’re welcome.. I’ll celebrate for you with some Blackcurrant Fruit Pastilles that I have in my possession. Oh wait, perhaps that’s where I’m going wrong! 🙂
Congrats Tim. Great digits!
@Mike Bah! Curse those little, sweet balls of deliciousness!
Well done on the 6.3 !
@Melissa @Crystal Thanks chaps!
Well done Tim. Is your fabulous HbA1c a true reflection of your control, or an average gloss-over of daily swings?
Here’s hoping its the former!
Lesley
@Lesley Don’t piss on my parade Lesley 😉
Yes indeed – a good average does in fact cover up a fairly large daily range – for completeness I should also publish my min and max readings for the last three months!
@Tim
I’m sorry Tim.
INPUT is often contacted by people who are told their control is “far too good” to need a pump – just because their good HbA1c masks horrendous swings in their readings.
@Lesley He he he! That’s fine Lesley 🙂
Yup – that was a worry for me, but I did discuss the highs and lows of my range with the DSN and agreed that a pump would be helpful. Despite some of my PCTs failings, the DSNs are absolutely great.
Wow Tim, impressive figures! (even taking your swings into account!) Congratulations! 🙂
Any update on the pump situation?
Thanks Aileen – there’s a post on the pump thing scheduled for tomorrow at 8am!
Look forward to it!
@Aileen I wouldn’t – it’s not that exciting 😉
@Tim
As long as it makes me laugh it will be worth the wait!
@Tim You are a diabetic genius, congrats!
I *am* aren’t I? Go me!
Re-reading this article, Lesley from INPUT was exactly correct – in hindsite, my ‘great’ A1C results actually did cover up a multitude of swinging sins. Since going on the pump five years ago, my A1C is ‘worse’ but my control and quality of life is far, far better.
I guess this shows that A1C, alone, as a measure of “success” is, well, a bit shit.