A1c testing was not available until 1976. My doctor started A1c’s with his patients in 1980. I was diagnosed in 1945 when I was 6, and I must have had very high blood sugar until about 1988. That is when my A1c’s began improving. Now I am alive after 71 years of type 1, and I have no complications except for some mild nerve damage. As part of my preparation for my taking part in the Joslin Medalist Study I was supposed to have a listing of all my A1c’s. My doctor was very cooperative, but there are several gaps in the list.The years 1990-1994 were not available. Below are the A1c’s that my doc was able to retrieve from his files. I have updated for 2013-2016.
1980…10.6, 9.6, 9.0
1981…11.8
1983…9.2
1984…9.2, 9.7, 8.9
1986…11.1
1987…8.0, 9.8, 10.3
1988…10.5, 7.7, 7.7
1989…7.3
1995…6.8
1997…6.0, 5.4
1998…6.5
1999…6.8, 6.7, 6.5
2000…6.3, 6.1, 5.5
2001…5.8, 6.0, 5.6, 6.0
2002…6.0, 6.4, 6.2, 6.0
2003…5.6, 5.4, 5.9
2004…5.9, 5.7, 5.8, 5.6
2005…5.6, 5.8
2006…5.6, 5.7
2007…5.5, 5.6, 5.7, 6.1
2008…5.7, 5.9, 5.7, 5.6
2009…5.6, 5.8, 5.8
2010…5.7, 5.6, 5.6, 5.4
2011…5.6, 5.7, 5.8, 5.6
2012…6.1, 6.1, 6.0
2013…5.8, 6.1
2014…5.7, 5.6, 5.8
2015…5.8
2016…5.9, 6.0, 6.1
Notice the drop from the 10’s to the 7’s in early 1988. That is when I
read an article in a magazine that said diabetics should follow a low
carb diet. My doctors never told me that. Then in the late 1990s I was permitted to use basal/bolus control. In 2007 I started pumping. My A1c’s have been very good during the new century because I finally knew what to do to get good control. I was very successful for several years before pumping too, but using an insulin pump has made good control so much easier.
I took only one injection of beef/pork insulin per day during my first
35+ years. Can you imagine what my A1c’s would have been during those years? Those were the years before my doctor started having my A1c’s done.
I feel so lucky to be alive and healthy, without serious complications. Is it good genes? The Joslin Study of long term type 1’s in the Us has reported that many of the participants are still producing some insulin. Those individuals are insulin dependant, but any amount of insulin produced in our bodies is very beneficial in helping to prevent complications. My C-peptide is less than 0.1, so I am producing almost zero insulin. There has to be some other explanation for so many of us living so many years with type 1, and not having any serious complications.
Richard, I am awestruck. You’ve been fighting this beast since before I was born. And I ain’t no spring chicken!
Those dramatic drops around going low-carb are impressive. You drove your A1c down and made it stick. You’ve had quite a ride. You must have some good genes. And it doesn’t ever hurt to be lucky!
Thank you for sharing your story. It is amazing to both imagine and see the progress you have made as well as your ability to maintain your results over time. You are an inspiration to those of us just beginning to understand this disease.
Congrats Richard. You are an inspiration and a role model.
Way to go, Richard!!! 
I’m pretty sure I was tested for A1C’s back in the early 80’s, I can tell from the comments the docs made while THEY looked at my labs. But back then it would have been very unusual for my docs to actually give me the number and they certainly never gave me a printed sheet with my lab results. And through much of the 1980’s I’m pretty sure I had no clue what A1C was.
By the very late 80’s - like 1989 - they were often telling my my A1C as a number and I vaguely knew what the term “Hemoglobin A1C” was about, because HemoglobinA1C was an early computer password of mine :-).
Tracking of A1C’s with numbers shared with the patient, really took over post-1993 after the DCCT early results had been published. Only starting in the 1990’s did the docs regularly offer me a printed sheet with my lab results (not all did, but at least some did back then.)
Of course things were very different back in the early 80’s. Actual home bg testing was still very uncommon, so every few months my parents would take me to the doctor and several days later they would get a phone call with bg results - what my bg was days beforehand! Stone Knives and Bearskins.
Tim12, thanks for the reply. I did not have printed sheets with A1c results until the current century, but my doctor always told me the result on each office visit. When Joslin requested my A1c results, as many as I could provide. My doctor did look in his files and gave me a handwritten list dating back to early 1980. That list was presented to the Joslin research team when I participated in the Medalist study in 2009. I have updated for 2010-2016 with data from printed sheets for those years.
Congratulations on a great history! You amaze me.
Richard, everything,e I read your stories I am amazed! You are a role model for people with and people without diabetes.
I don’t have such detailed records of my test from back in the day. But my story was long before the A1C was around. My doctor told me at one visit that there was something funny about my red blood cells. And my Mom was concerned about “funny”. He said they didn’t see anything wrong with them, they just looked different. Who would have known back then that they were witnessing probably the beginnings of this test. I’m sure my test would have been through the roof. One shot of Lente and 4 urine tests. Not good.
Again congratulations on your amazing journey and that you continue to do an amazing job! Role model all the way!
It just floors me that so many people continue to denigrate or dismiss the value of low carb diets. They were proven effective for weight loss 150 years ago, and for BG control well before this millenium. I just don’t understand the deniers. Really I don’t.
Oh, and mega kudos, Richard!
Wow, your A1cs are so impressive especially as they are consistently near or at normal levels! Just amazing as we all know just how very difficult that is to achieve just once let alone for years. Thanks so much for participating in the Joslin study, too,. I hope we all learn how to better take care of ourselves as a result!
Thanks for sharing!!
I have been told by my Dr. that if you have not had any serious complications from your diabetes after 25 years you most likely will not have as long as you continue to take care of yourself. I was diagnosed in the '60s. My brother was diagnosed 2 years later and then my sister was diagnosed 2 after that. None of us have had any complications. We are not aware of any past relatives having T1D and they all lived to a nice old age. I firmly believe that it is in the genes!
Did Joslin do your C-peptide test? Is this test easily available to have done by ones endocrine Dr. ?
Joslin did do my C-peptide, but I was not given the result with my overall report. My endocrinologist did have my C-pep done, at my request. The result was less than 0.1.
You and your siblings are doing very well after being T1 for a long time. Congratulations!
I belong to a secret Joslin Medalist group online, and we frequently post about our complications. Many if the medalists have had retinopathy, neuropathy, and occasional kidney problems, but we typically keep on going without any serious side effects. The complications seem to be more likely the longer we have had type 1. I did not have any complications for my first 50 years except for arthritis, but that may not have been caused by diabetes. In the early part of this century I had retinopathy and neuropathy diagnosed. After I started using a pump in 2007, the retinopathy disappeared and has not returned. The neuropathy rarely bothers me now.
Many other medalists have reported that their complications did not appear until they had been T1 for a very long time. Those complications are typically not of the serious type.
That is very good evidence for the technology advancements. do you also have a CGM? The pump helps but I know how hard it is without the CGM to always guess. I have both and have retinopothy in one eye from the early days of just shots and no meters.
Yes, Maureen H, I do have a CGM, even though Medicare does not cover the expenses. A friend who was changing to the Dexcom G5 sent me his G4 that had not been used!. It sure makes a difference!
@Richard157 this is an absolutely incredible and uplifting post. Thank you so much for taking the time to write this and share tour health journey! Simply amazing. You are a true inspiration.
First - congratulations Richard! Your continued health and absence of complications is reward for your many years of hard work going to battle with “the beast”. Today is my 51st diagnosis anniversary. I was diagnosed in 1965 and was getting A1C since the 1980s, but they were nothing to brag about until I started MDI in 1998 and then the pump in 2001. Since the pump, my A1Cs have been 5.6 and below. I’m not on a low carb diet but I do count all my carbs and bolus for them. My kidneys, feet, and retinas are all doing fine! My complications are early-onset osteoporosis and calcification of the arteries in my feet. Some neuropathy in my feet, but no nerve pain. I do have to thoroughly check my feet every day.
Diabetes, most especially T1, sadly affects all the organs in the body, so it’s just not a linear progression for complications. I doubt our doctors will ever really know why many T1s, who followed a very primitive diabetic care plan in the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s are still alive, not blind, and still walking around on their own legs and feet. I’ll just thank my lucky stars and continue the all too complicated routine of diabetic care. I do know of a few T1s that died years before they should from complications or from going into a hypoglycemic coma.
Congratulation again and I wish you many more years of fighting the good fight or living long enough to see cure.
This makes me happy. Congratulations on your long, and hopefully happy life, IN SPITE of Diabetes.
Hello JJ13, thanks for your kind words.
Do you have the Joslin 50 year medal? Lilly, the insulin company, also awards a 50 year medal.
If you have the Joslin medal, you may want to join the Joslin Medalist secret group on Facebook. Fifty year medalists are the only individuals allowed to join that group. Many interesting conversations take place there.
Richard, WOW, congratulations and thank you for posting! You are truly an inspiration. I have “only” been type 1 for 24 years (diagnosed in October – this is always a tough month for me) and thankfully complication-free so far. Your story and others posted here are wonderful to read. I’m not happy that others have been afflicted with IDDM, but to hear your successful journeys along the path makes a world of difference. Congratulations again and cheers to many more happy, healthy years! Jessica