Well Joe; my CDE told me just now that my HbA1c was 5.2 in the lab taken Friday September 21, 2007. HOORAY for me. Look, I live in Belgium currently so that cool offer of an airplane ride for me and Per, my husband, is not in the books. Give it to the next person! Actually, I think I would be too scared to fly in a teeny plane. I am an uncompetitive chicken - that is me! What I was trying to get across to you before was that I really try and not judge people who cannot manage their diabetes well. For many many years before I got a pump I failed. I swear to God I TRIED. So I understand those people who just cannot seem to pull off a low HbA1c! For me, the difference was the pump. For someone else it might be that they cannot affort enough test strips. I use 10-15 per day. I have to b/c I cannot feel hypos until they are in the 30s. I donāt have a CGMS, but I am lucky to be able to use as many test strips as I want - although my CDE DISCOURAGES ME! Do you believe it? I have to KNOIW what I need to do no matter what the docs say to me! It has taken me 45 years to learn this. That is also what I was trying to say - we must learn the general diabetic rules, but then we have to try things on our bodies and see what experience shows works for us. And we have to log everything - EVERYTHING- so we see patterns. Sometimes there are no patterns unfortunately. Me, I also eat the same breakfast and lunch everyd day to make it a bit easier to see patterns.All of this is what I was trying to say. I guess I didnāt do it very clearly! About me and proteins - I cannot eat lots of meat or fish b/c then my bg rises in an unpredictable manner 6-14 hours later. I was not in anyway complaing about not being able to eat meat in a normal quantity. I adore vegetables after 45 years of D you learn to like what is good for you. And then also I know other diabetics who are not as lucky as me concerning complications. I do NOT want to criticize them. Do I make more sense no? My blog is at http://chrissieinbelgium.blogspot.com . My very first blog entry gives a quick rĆ©sumĆ© of where I have lived etc. I consider myself Swedish. My passort is Swedish? I LOVE Sweden and my dog Skye - a curly! Another person had trouble getting on to my blog - please let me know if you have trouble too! Thank you Joe. I like doing well, but I HATE squashing others.
Hi Doris,
Me too! I am waiting for another grandchild - the first for my son and his wife. My daughter has three kids. Both my kids live in Sweden and me in Belgium. I am wondering when I will be able to see the next grandchild - it is not nice to push youself on to parents who just got their first kidā¦ I am really excited. Eric, my son is 32, and I have been saying for a long time, so when are you going to have kids?! At least I have been thinking that to myself. FUN with grandchildren - but you do realize you are getting older! Ericās child is expected in Febrary! Also, good luck with you diabetes. I do know it is a tough battle. I have my little tricks like eating the same food every breakfast and lunch. At dinner I vary a teeny portion of meat or fish, which I hope gives me enough protein for the day. It kind of worries me that I eat so little meat and, fish. I EAT tons of "free vegetables. I LOVE vegetables. Since my food pattern is so constant I can more easily understand all the bg values of the day. I log everything like a maniac. But sometimes I donāt see patterns and that is so discouraging. If I see a pattern then I can figure out where I need more insulin or more exercise or less foood. Logging and stability and my WONDERFUL pump which can give teeny amounts of insulin has really helped me. I write about all this stuff on my blog at http://chrissieinbelgium.blogspot.com . Good luck with your HbA1c!
Chrissie,
Isnāt waiting for those grandkids and then like with the one I have now I get to spoil her rotten then send her home!!! Love it!!! That littleinnocent face and full of trustā¦OK now Iām off the subject here! The way you control your D gives me hope to do the same with mine but I still have this thing about logging everything! When I first took it in 73 there was no such thing as a bs moniter so I guess Iām kinda stuck with that thinking 35 years later! HA! I took it at 10 soā¦ wellā¦ you know!! HA!! I am getting there though!! Talk about feeling olderwith grandchildern when Amber told me she was pregnate with Amarie and said she was gonna teach her to call me granny the only thing I could think of was my great-grandmother who I called āLittle Grannyā. A VERY BIG woman with gray hair pulled back in a bun! Then told her I was NANA!!! HA!!!
I was diagnoosed in 1962. I have had D for 45 years, so I DO know what you are talking about! I have to go and get some exercise now, toodles.
I thought you were diagonesed in 62 but couldnāt remember sorry! Go get your exercise ! Have a great day!!
A columnist at dLife has a list of the good things about having diabetes:
http://www.dlife.com/dLife/do/ShowContent/daily_living/Viewpoints/christel_100207.html
I have to agree with Joe. For me, Diabetes has been a good thing. I was diagnosed with melanoma 7 years ago. I was lucky enough to catch it early and am now cancer free. Cancer is a wake up call and I tried to change my life style to eat a mre healthy diet, exercise daily etc. But over the years I had slipped back into less healthy patterns. The diabetes dignosis has motivated me to live a very healthy life. I get up at 5.30 every morning and take a long walk with my dogs and my husband and am much more relaxed when I get to work. I eat mostly raw foods, following a diet which not only keeps my BG nrmal but is known to help prevent cancer and other diseases. My last A1C was 5.6 and this is not because of lows. I aim to stay between 80 and 110 at all times and with insulin, healthy low carb food and lots of exercise, I am staying in that range even after meals. I believe that diabetes may be saving my life, because the lifestyle I am choosing is such a healthy one. I need less sleep and feel full of energy when I keep my BG normal. I do think it is easier for me than for many, because I still have some insulin and donāt get any unexpected ups or downs. That might change at some point. I have a friend with late stage cancer and I feel grateful that I can have a direct impact on my disease in a way that she cannot.
For me I would have to say itās not a good thing at all. Two years before diagnosis I had already dieted like crazy and lost a ton of weight. I worked out daily at the gym and was very active. I had also quit smoking and really started to take care of my health. I was doing everything right and felt great. A couple of years later, still feeling/looking better than I had for 10 years, I suddenly got leg cramps and blurry vision. Two months later I was in the ER with type 1. I find it much more frustrating and more difficult to take care of myself as a diabetic than before. I was already doing everything to take care of myself, dangit! The last thing I needed was this. Everytime I have to eat sugar for a low and wreck my diet, I curse this damn condition, really. I used to forget to eat and then go for an all afternoon hike in the Cascades. Now everything has to be planned and basal rates reduced and sugar stuffed into the pockets just in case, blah blah. Sorry Iām bitching so much, lol, but itās how I feel about it all. I was doing much better before diabetes.
It amazes me when people have a1cās that low (5.2, 5.4). I read on one lab site that a1cās arenāt as perfect as we like to think and can vary naturally even if two people had the exact same sugars. Iām thinking thatās true. I know some people that try and try and canāt get under 7 and Iāve always been under 7, even when I laxed up for a couple of months and ate cake and ran high. Also, the researchers that ran a type 1 study I was in said that only about 50% of us ever drop to undetectable c-peptide and theyāve seen long-term type 1ās who can still make enough insulin to get a 3.5 stimulated c-peptide level (higher than mine was at 1 year). Thatās got to make a huge difference on control, too. However, back when I was in the honeymoon phase I was working out and eating virtually no carbs at all. I had lows a lot (Lantus, ugh) without rebounds and very very rarely anything approaching 170 as a momentary peak. I literally never ate ice cream or even cereal or potatoes. Plain yogurt, salad and chicken. And stillā¦ still!.. I never had an a1c lower than 6.0. Since, on the pump Iāve gotten it as low as 6.3 (US lab/ 6.5 German lab), but Iāve also never had one over 6.9. Anymore I just figure that if I keep getting regular exercise, trying to get the weight off (which is also harder as a diabetic on insulin) and can stay at 6.5 or so, Iāll be happy. Lower numbers for other folks donāt make me feel competitive, lol, but I suppose that works great for others. I just want to know Iām doing as good as my body will go along with and staying low enough that complications probably will not happen.
Such an interesting question.
I do not think that diabetes is a good thing. I wish it on no one. It can have devastating outcomes even with the most diligent of care. It creates all sorts of challenges you must work through from day to day.
Having said that, I would hope there are ways to make something good come out of it. I try to use it as a tool to motivate myself towards overall better health. Before diabetes my health was actually really good, but now I pay extra special attention. Maybe that can set an example for others as well.
I would hope it could be used as a learning tool for those with or without the disease. That maybe it can foster empathy and compassion between people. Hopefully, it can also make people appreciate the delicacy of life and thereby not take anything for granted.
I canāt tell you how much I loved your insight. I am recently diagnosed T1 (at 35) and I was shocked. Iāve been living a healthy life, go to the gym 3-4 times a week watched what I ate, thin etc. Didnāt see diabetes coming. Routine physical showed fasting numbers of 240 and 311. SInce my diagnosis (june) Iāve taken my lifestyle that I had trying to be healthier than I once had been and kicked into even higher gear. Excercise is no longer an optional vanity issue. Itās a must. No more smoking, at all. I already had watched my carbs but now I really restrict my carbs to less than 60 a day. I hate reading the negative things that insinuate that with T1 itās a lost cause and excercise is a nice thought but it wonāt make much difference. Unlike T2s who are told excercise and diet is everything to managing (and/or reversing) their condition. I watch my number meticulously, my first A1C was 5.8. Down from 11.7 (from when I didnāt even know I was diabetic). If you keep your numbers real tight and watch what you eat and excercise and take good care of yourself why canāt you not only live a healthy life but like you said even HEALTHIER because you keep everything in check? Good job man, nice to hear positive things.
While I canāt say that diabetes itself is a good thing, I certainly agree that for a handful of us that take it by the horns, it has improved quality of life and day to day health.
Having a stuffed pancreas doesnāt make me sick - and it doesnāt necessarily take years off my life either, regardless of what a few studies say (remember studies like these are working on old information and working with a wide group of people, including heaps that get a1cs at ridiculous levels and do nothing to look after themselves). It does make me more aware of what I eat, happier to exercise (because I SEE the results more than most people would) and generally more thankful for what I have. So in that respect, diabetes is brilliant and has possibly given me a better life.
Not to mention that Iāve met wonderful people in online communities like this one!
Iāll always be annoyed that I canāt go a day without injecting & testing - but I can handle that. D is a bummer, not a death sentence. Itās a life lesson, and if we chose to learn from it we can do wellā¦ in my humble opinion 
Iād love to join you in your mission for a1cs in the 5s! I used to get a1cs around 7ish or high 6s, then I learnt a lot about carbs and started moderating my diet a little more and was easily able to get a1cs in the low 6s. Any day now Iāll get my act into gear and get serious about keeping a lower baseline and avoiding the munchiesā¦ then I think Iāll sit pretty in the high 5s. Maybeā¦
So Iāll take this challenge - although Iām definitely too far away to fly around Florida!
My last A1C was 5.7, but I beg to differ with your assessment that diabetes has any benefit. You may live more healthily, but the reality is that you are not more healthy, you are still living with a chronic disease that has been shown to shorten the average lifespan by 10-15 years regardless of glycemic control. Not to mention the fact that the treatment stinks and you never get a break from it. Plus, I live in constant fear of hypoglycemia, mainly because I no longer feel lows (I have not felt them for about 25 years, and easing up on control did not restore the symptoms). While I have no complications from the disease itself (hypoglycemia unawareness is a complication of diabetes treatment, not the disease itself), this has come at a huge cost. Diabetes is a serious drain on our wallets, even with insurance, and my co-pays for all the testing supplies, needles, insulin and the like is higher than if I did not have any of that, and I donāt enjoy going to see an endocrinologist quarterly, or having to see an ophthalmologist annually just because I was lucky enough to have spent a majority of my life (31 out of my 38 years) living with this condition. I cannot live as spontaneously as others, and I also feel like my ability to work as an independent contractor is limited because I need healthcare insurance, whereas others have flexibility to work in a more flexible arrangement that would only be available at a huge cost. While Iāve met some great people because of this disease, I would prefer to have met under different conditions! Sorry, diabetes is not a benefit, its a curse!
ditto
Exactly! How anyone can see diabetes as a benefit is beyond me!
Yep!
Good Linsay Gotta go along with you on that one!
Actually, since being diagnosed as a diabetic I have started to drink a lot more. (Calories without carbs are very valuable to me now.) Not to excess - oh, certainly not to excess - but compared to being a teetotaler before itās quite a change. Iām not sure that I like alcohol, or will keep it, but for now liquor has become a small part of my life.
I donāt consider diabetes a āgood thingā. I am very grateful I was diagnosed because there was funky stuff going on in my teens, let alone the five or so years of misery and blackouts which happened pre-diagnosis. I am happy that I know what is wrong with me now; I am not thrilled that what is wrong with me is diabetes. Before diagnosis I was a vegetarian; after diagnosis I am struggling to become a low-carb vegetarian. Diabetes had no impact on my refusal to smoke or be around smokers. It does not make me want to exercise more. It does not make me a better person. Sometimes it makes a convenient excuse to do the ārightā thing, but that does not make it any less of a burden. In fact, it can influence me to become a very grumpy and abusive person to the people I care about if my sugars are out of whack. Ketoacidosis nearly killed me, and I have a large hot water burn scar on my stomach as a souvenir. Letās not even get into the medical billsā¦
I am the sort of person who needs a challenge to keep me sharp, and now I have a permanent one. Great. The rest of it? Sucks. I had a pretty healthy lifestyle already ā except for eating lots of carbs (beans, brown rice, bulgar wheat, squash and peas, etc), and I still donāt consider that a bad thing for someone with a normal insulin response. Diabetes is not helping me be more healthy, itās just compounding my already overwhelming anal-retentive OCD tendencies.
I had the chance to make a few bucks from some market researchers as a person with type 1 diabetes, a person who uses an insulin pump, or (the latest) a person who uses the anti-rejection Cellcept.