I’m new a new 1. although not new to serious health problems. My endo wants to me to do my A1C every 6 months. I tend to be more conservative, as I’m used to taking care of my health. I keep myself on a short leash. I’m thinking I should be getting it done every 3 months? What do you all, with more experience, say?
I get mine done ever 3 months. But I also use a pump.
Before I was pregnant, I was getting my A1C done every 3 to 4 months. However, I had just switched to the pump and cgm and were figuring those out. Now that I am pregnant, I have mine done monthly.
Wow, 5.5 a1c is awesome! If you maintain your current treatments and have good BG numbers, 6 months is plenty for repeating a1c I would think. I’m only down to 6.3, from over 14% few years ago, so I prefer every 3 months until i feel more stable/comfortable. You can always just do the 6 months for doctor, and get the self test kits yourself to check in between. They aren’t super accurate compared to lab testing but they are more than sufficient to spot any problems i would guess. I tried one in January this year and it was 6.7, so getting a 6.3 from lab the next month was a bonus!
I get mine done every 3 months.
i get mine done less than once a year… my parents refuse to take me anywhere
I get an A1c every 3 months/
.
God Bless
every 3 to 4 months at endo’s office. if I get back to going every 6 months, I’ll get it done at 3 months.
It would be three if I ever actually managed to make it back to the Endo’s office in three.
It’s more like six now…
I have a standing order at the lab for one year : A1C every 3 months ; GP ( not Endo ) will have to re-order , when year over …no big deal , only a bit of a nuiseance , when one arrives at the lab and order has expired . Not quite technically set up for automatic reminders here …maybe one day 
I am kind of hit or miss about it. A1C ranges from 5.1 to 5.6, so it is not urgent. My endo does them with a fingerstick in the office. SO COOL! But if I just want to know, my PC will draw blood and check it with other things, like thyroid. Maybe 1 to 2 times per year?
Medicare requires me to see an endo every 3 months (on pump) so I get one each time. However, my endo thinks it is a waste of his time and mine to see me that often as I am in decent control so I see a CDE every other time which still satisfies Medicare.
I think that the A1c frequency should depend on your individual situation. q 6 months can be fine for some. Is your A1c about the same every time? For example, mine has been between 6.3 and 6.7 for two years. That isn’t much variation.
oops! i lied. just looked at my most recent test results again and it’s 5.9. wishful thinking i guess.
i haven’t been a diabetic long enough to have any real history with the A1c results. However, i’m very strict about diet, and my numbers are almost always in my Dr’s goal range. so far. still new to the game.
Good point, Merilee. Over time you will develop your own goals for A1c and BG parameters. But for now, while you are learning, it is wise to follow the endo until you get more knowledge. And, hopefully, the two of you will become a team and work together to agree on your goals. You will learn that there are almost as many personal plans as people with diabetes. But there are general standards to use as starting points. For example, some here work hard to keep their A1c in the 5s, as close to non-diabetic as possible. Recent research, per my endo, indicates that complications start with consistent A1cs above 6.3. So 6.3 or 6.2 is my goal but not always reached. My diabetes is what used to be called “brittle” or hard to manage. And no, I do not think that it is always possible for those of us with big BG swings to stay under 140 BG regardless of how carefully we manage. For others, it is possible. So … I will stop there. As a new T1, you should be finding it fairly easy to manage for now, and I hope, for a long time to come. Good work.
Hi merilee- I get my A1c done between 3-6 months. If you take care of yourself, as you say, there shouldn’t be too much variation in your results. Mine might change .1 or .2, but basically stays in the same area.
I have always gone every 3 months
I get an A1C every three months but I’m not sure it actually does a lot of good to have it run so often.
I think the A1C is valuable when docs don’t trust the patient to do bg checks, or occasionally as a cross-check. But I’m not really sure it has a lot of value every 3 months if things are stable.
I had my first A1C (that I knew about) in 1987 or so, 6 years after diagnosis. For a good while it was done every 6 months.
I’ve been getting mine done every 6 months the last couple of years although my endo would probably write an order for a test every 3 months if something was out of whack or if I asked for one. My first year to year and a half, I was getting an A1c every 3 months.
Maurie
thanks all! I will settle where i’m comfortable and ask my blood Dc to up my tests to every 3 months. I got lucky and found an endo i like on the first pass, so I’m sure she will agree to up my tests until i get more comfie with my latest disease.