{"id":26580,"date":"2012-04-18T08:17:07","date_gmt":"2012-04-18T12:17:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=26580"},"modified":"2015-12-27T15:41:49","modified_gmt":"2015-12-27T20:41:49","slug":"failing-the-hemoglobin-a1c-test","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=26580","title":{"rendered":"Failing the Hemoglobin A1c Test"},"content":{"rendered":"

I feel like a failure.\u00a0<\/p>\n

I got my latest blood test results yesterday and I was so disappointed with my hemoglobin A1C that I just can\u2019t get over it.<\/p>\n

After holding steady at 6.4% for the two previous blood tests<\/a>, my latest result is up to 7%.<\/p>\n

I know this is not a horrible result, and that many doctors consider a hemoglobin A1C of 7% to be in the norm for people with type 1 diabetes, but to me this feels like a huge personal failure. \u00a0\u00a0And it wasn\u2019t the only disappointing result I got. \u00a0Against my doctor\u2019s advice, I stopped taking my statin.\u00a0 The result was not what I had hoped for.\u00a0 Without a statin my LDL cholesterol is up to 150 \u2013 fine if you don\u2019t have diabetes, but far from the 100 result people with diabetes should have.<\/p>\n

Had it only been my cholesterol that was high, I could have dealt with it.\u00a0 It was my decision not to take the statins<\/a>.\u00a0 But I feel like when it comes to the A1c, I do everything I\u2019m supposed to do.\u00a0 I work ALL the time.\u00a0 I\u2019m totally responsible.\u00a0 So seeing a significant jump in A1c put me in a bad mood, so bad I only started to get over it after a good run this morning.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been told many times and have told myself (and others) that I should not judge myself according to my blood test results. During my morning run I tried to convince myself of this repeating it in my head over and over again \u2013 you are not your A1c<\/em>. It didn\u2019t convince me of anything but the heat and hills did the job and at a certain point I just forgot all about my A1c and was left with my run.<\/p>\n

\"A1c<\/a>I have to be honest and say that this result \u2013 despite my efforts – didn\u2019t come as a total surprise. I had blood sugar control issues after my last marathon. Some had to do with not running<\/a> and some with problems I had with my insulin pump and infusion sets<\/a>, which resulted in days of high blood sugars. I also gave myself a bit of a break during the holiday, enjoying a matzo ball or two (what can I say I\u2019m only human), but I checked my blood sugar.\u00a0 I covered for the matzo balls. \u00a0I didn\u2019t expect my A1c to be great or better than my last but I wasn\u2019t expecting a 7%.<\/p>\n

I take my A1c results seriously because although it doesn\u2019t tell the whole story the hemoglobin A1C doesn\u2019t lie. If I have an A1c of 6.4% it means my average glucose level for the last 2-3 months was 136 and if on the other hand my A1c was 7% it means my average glucose level for the last 2-3 months was 156. That is a huge difference.<\/p>\n

But the truth is that my feelings of failure have much more to do with not achieving what I set out to do. It\u2019s kind of like running a bad marathon after training for it for three months.<\/p>\n

I wish I could say that the only reason I feel so bad about my result is because I\u2019m scared of complications, scared of heart disease, blindness and all the other things. But that isn\u2019t so.<\/p>\n

Tomorrow I have an appointment at the diabetes clinic. I know I\u2019ll get shit from the doctor. I can already see her looking at her computer screen and telling me \u201cthis is not good\u201d. \u00a0No, I don\u2019t care what she thinks but it will force me to think about my mistakes again \u2013 and feel worse about \u201cfailing\u201d. Like having my nose rubbed in it.<\/p>\n

But diabetes is a long ride, an endurance sport, and one bad result doesn\u2019t mean much in the long run. So, here\u2019s to a better result next time.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":129,"featured_media":53098,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1501],"tags":[817],"yoast_head":"\nFailing the Hemoglobin A1c Test<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I feel like a failure. 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