Congraulations! Libby. That’s brilliant! you’ve joined the 5%ers
Yes! Unless you were not getting the middle of the night readings and sleeping through, there was no way you would be 6.5 with so many readings. Just as I don’t believe she is really 5.8, but I’ll take the number anyway, LOL
Libby, normal range is 4.2-6.0 which is about 72-136 mg/dl. So your 6.1 is a very good result. To be honest with you, you sound as if you are in extremely tight control. Keep up what you’re doing. I am not familiar with the fructose test.
If you cut back on carbohydrates I am sure you could get your A!C down. 11 is very high and will most likely cause complications. If you do reduce your carbs make sure to test more frequently so that you don’t go too low. Also, you should do it gradually so there isn’t such a big shock to your system.
Good luck!
I don’t believe in cutting back on carbs… As long as you know what you’re doing with them. I eat around 23 gms per meal. I know that doesn’t sound like a lot, but I’m 5’6" and 127 lbs. Mostly muscle. I don’t require a lot of carbs. But, I know one unit of Humalog covers 15 gms of carbs, so if I choose to eat 60 gms at one meal, I know how to cover it. It’s all about understanding what your body does with what you put into it. That includes food and insulin. Most of my home meter sugars are postprandial (I eat 6 or 7 times a day). My A1c usually reads lower than my meter’s average indicates. My last A1c was 7.1 which was unusually high. But, my pump was on it’s last legs and I didn’t realize it… Now that I’ve got a working pump, I expect it to be back in my normal range of 6.5 or so. Which, unless control standards have changed, is perfectly acceptable control. Me and my medical team are quite comfortable with my A1c’s under 7.
And, yes, 11 is quite high. You should really work with your endo and your nutritionist to figure out what’s going on. Some carbs digest more slowly and would require an extended insulin dose (pasta, rice and foods higher in fat content for instance). And measure your food for a while. Make sure that you know what you’re eating and cover it properly. That will go a long way to helping solve your A1c problem. I go back to measuring my food periodically. It always surprises me when I realize I was eating more than I though!
Good luck to you Craving! Keep trying. Either you contol it, or it controls you 
Libby, I am having the same difficulty as you. My readings and the readings from the 72 hr CGMS that I recently completed did not equal up to what my A1C came back at (according to my endo, not even close. CGMS and my meter showed lower than what my A1C actually was). This was done at the end of June/first of July. My endo wants to see me back on August 20th. He believes strongly that my RBC’s are living longer. I spoke with his nurse and asked about the fructosamine test. She said to mention it to him on the 20th as he may want to do one then.
Let me know if you have the fructosamine test. I asked my endo and she didn’t want to order it. If it is the longevity of the RBCs then that would be good news. I just had a new test done and it was 6.3. Doesn’t make any sense at all.
Hey guys, I just found a very interesting bit of information I never knew before. They type of meter you’re using may be causing your problem. Apparently you get a totally different value if your meter uses whole blood vs. plasma. Check out the attached link. My A1c would go from 6.3 on one chart to 6.8 on the other. That’s significantly higher!
http://www.geocities.com/diabeteschart/bloodsugarchart.html
I found it very enlightening…
Look up David Mendosa’s info on meters. It’s all there and will help you chose the most appropria\te one for you
Libby,
I’m still kind of confused myself on all of the A1C results. About 8 months ago I had my results come back as a 4.5 yet my fasting BGs have always been 125-135 quite often at the one hour mark of eating I’m between 178-289…my two hour mark might go back down to 135 with a very commen drop to 42 as I did the other day. Yesterday I couldn’t keep it above 76 for nothing. I constantly had to eat to get it up to 76 just to have it drop back down to 50-58 throughout the day…I myself have been baffled as well as the doctors. I’m not even on medications yet, because the doctors say that I’m “honeymooning” it all right now for type 1. What is more strange is that everywhere I’ve read, it states that I should be on med through the “honeymoon” stage.
I’m confused too…
HI Libby -
I just had the same experience. My last A1C was 5.9% and my meter this time is stating an average of 115. I’m using a One Touch Ultra Smart and I’m not convinced it is all that close to the lab anymore.
What meter are you using?
I just bought some Agamatrix Keynote smeter/trips and am planning on using that along with my CGMS to see if I can get back to 5.6%. I’m also going to so an experiment with that and other meters to see which ones are closest to the labs’ result. I’m going to put this info in a chart to present at my diabetes support group.
If you have a lot of lows, they will cancel out the highs, as far as the A1c is concerned.
Im not real sure why she was upset about the reading in the first place. I think a A1c of 5 something is great no matter what and we are recommended to stay under 7 to stay healthy so… wouldnt your reading be fine no matter how your looking at it. 
does a vegetarian diet really work?i was told by my diabetic specialist,i could try that…but all my life ive eaten meats…
Dear Libby.
Biochemists please chime in at this, since the chemistry is a bit beyond my brain now thanks to many lows.
From the net I found that the formation of glycosylated hemoglobin is a two stage process. Step a) a fast reaction that is reversible. The glucose attaches to the hemoglobin to form a temporary unstable compound. They did not say but it would be reasonable to assume the reaction rate is first order with glucose, that is the rate at which this compound forms is proportional to the concentration of glucose i.e. the higher the BG the faster and more TEMPORARY HA1c forms. More over this reaction has an equilibrium so that if your glucose falls this temporary compound will decompose back into glucose and hemoglobin. Step b) a slow reaction that rearranges the atoms in the temporary compound and turns it into the permanent glycosylated hemoglobin. This compound is permanent and will only be eliminated as the red blood cells get replaced by new ones.
If the above is approximately true, it would suggest that the HA1c depends the most on your daily highs and the more so if they persist for a few hours. This also suggest that one should try to prevent and also treat meal time highs as soon as they are detected. In other words agressive bolus with prompt post meal correction when necessary.
My HA1c are too low compared to the average blood sugar. Your HA1c and average is something I can only dream about at this moment. How do you achieve theese ?
Dear Libby.
In addition to the heavy theory there are more down to earth reasons why we do not agree. The modern glucometers are no longer very accurate because they have cut the measurement time to 5 seconds. Since the FDA allows 20% +/- error which is like the EPA mandating 10 miles per gallon minimum gas mileadge. This gives the manufactures no incentive to make the meters accurate any more. They peddle there stuff based on fancy software and fast measurement. If you think about it, accuracy is way more important than all the showbiz.
When I first developped diabetes I used a Bayer Ascentia that had a 60 second measurement time and was always 5% lower than the lab results. Yes only 5% error and always lower. If any meter peolpe made a 60 second one I would but that one.
CONSIDER THE HbA1C like a guage to measure how much damage has been done by the figurative “knife” of high bloodsugar numbers. a blunt knife–no damage, but as the edge is sharpened, the amount it can do, so to speak, goes up EXPONENTIALLY. Search out any short time highs with the emphasis mentally on the sharpness or damage inducing ability of the deceptively short term but unpleasanlty effective spike in numbers. Protein at about 1:1 with every gram of carb you ingest should take the edge away dramatically as it cuts the rate of absorbtion of carbs in half. Hang in their, the effort is worth it. “Enter the Zone” by PHd Barry Sears–read it. read it.
That’s an interesting way of thinking about things. I haven’t read “THe Zone”, but I shall . I’ll try the library first though, because that’s free.
I’ve read most of the postings here, and see the A1C levels that have been put forth, and I would LOVE to have a low level! I’m on a pump, and sure, it has improved, but it’s not consistently where the endo wants it.
I know that iron can affect the results of an A1C test, have you added a different multi-vitamin to your regimen? Or started eating huge amounts of spinach. Have you decreased your exercise? Sometimes the simplest things, can mess up the readings.
I have a question for the group as well. My last A1c was 5.4 and I know I should be happy, but I am not. I was told that 4.7 is normal, and that is what I am aiming for. My MD told me as a diabetic (type 2) It is highly unlikely that I could ever achieve a reading under 5. Has anyone here done so? How?