Can someone please tell me how in the world this is possible? Because I keep seeing people mention their A1C of 90 or 108. When my meter is in that range , I eat something because I know it won’t take long to turn into a low, especially if I plan on moving around and using up any energy. So how are so many of you managing to get these good A!C’s? So far I’ve done a lousy job, and I’m getting really worried because I just saw my eye Dr the other day and he warned me to bring my #s down before I start getting problems. I also have a little numbness (and pain sometimes) in my big toes. I was only diagnosed around 3 yrs ago.
I am not on a pump, so is it possible to still have really good numbers on levemir and rapid pens?
Hi. I think you are confusing AIC with blood sugar (blood glucose level) reading from your meter. Typically your A1C is checked at your doctors office and is a blood test that provides information about a person’s average levels of blood glucose over the past 3 months. Having a BG reading 50 or 60 from your meter would definitely be low.
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Thanks. I just re-read my post and realize now I worded that in a weird way. lol
What I mean is, I would love to have an A1C of 60 or so, but when my bg is at one of those perfect #'s, that means its too low or will become low too soon, unless I sit very still, which wouldn’t be much of a life. I’m just going to go check the online bg conversion to make sure we’re talking about the same #'s though, because I’m in Canada…
Okay no wonder. I just got back from checking a blood-sugar conversion table and what I really meant was the bg range from about 90 to 117. I just went back and changed my first post. Thanks for responding. (Not sure why all my comments are coming out twice. lol)
Not sure you have the A1c thing correct yet. I’m pretty sure an A1c of 60 is incompatible with life. A1c’s generally range from 4.something to maybe as high as 14.something. Anything over 7.4 is, for the most part, deemed unacceptable, although most people who frequent this Forum aim for much tighter control, about low 5’s to mid-to-high 6’s. Do you know what your most recent A1c was?
I totally agree with you. 60 is an unrealistic #. I had put a decimal between the 6 and 0, but it would have been better for me to just look at the blood-sugar conversion chart and use those kind of #s.
I’m pretty sure my A1C was 7.4. I had wondered though if they somehow made a mistake with it because my #s had been bad so I was expecting to hear a lot worse results. The clinicians had said I should bring it down a little more, but it would be really hard to get it down to those perfect “tight control” numbers…
To convert mmol/l to mg/dl just multiply by factor 18. I’m also in Canada! 
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Thanks! Right on
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As the others have said, A1C and BG numbers are two different things. Essentially when your blood glucose reaches different ranges, little particles stick to the hemoglobin in your blood. The higher your BG, the more little particles stick. So the Glycated Hemoglobin A1C test (aka “A1C”) measures the amount of these particles stuck to your hemoglobin over the most recent 3 months. This number in turn can be translated to an average BG number. For instance, an A1C of 6.0 correlates to an average BG reading of 126, and an A1C of 10.0 equates to an average BG of 240. This is just an average so there are highs and lows mixed in there. In fact. just having a good A1C doesn’t mean your BG’s are always good. Maybe there are lots of highs and lows that average out to a good number. So if you are currently seeing a lot of BG readings over 200, try to focus on a goal of seeing more in the 180 range. Then the 160 range. Then the 140 range, and so on until you see more around 100-ish. Go for stability, which indicates better control. Start by working with a Certified Diabetes Educator, your doc can refer you to one. They specialize in this and can meet with you for an hour at a time. Also try moving to a lower-carbohydrate diet, no more than 30g per meal. Minimize bread, pasta, rice, potatoes, sweets and fruit, and focus on meat, green, veggies, oils/cream/butter, and cheese. The CDE can help you with that, and carbohydrate counting too. Once things are more in control, you can re-evaluate if it would be better to move to a pump, but you can achieve pretty good control with pens, people do it regularly. Good luck!
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It sounds like you fluctuate a lot, like me. You will probably do better on a pump because you can adjust your basal rate. It is possible but for me I have too many lows with a lower a1c. I will take that over going blind etc. but I’m much more cautious about things now. MDI was much harder for me. What was your last a1c?
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My A1C is in the non-diabetic range. I am a T1 for 42 years. How is this possible? Thanks to my dex and to a lesser degree to my pump. I was on MDI for 36 years. Then I got the dex. This was a life changing event. My T1 transformed from a decease to an inconvenience. The pump allows for a more flexible eating schedule. That’s it. The big improvement in quality of life and A1C came from the dex, not the pump.
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My last a1c was 7.4. I’ve been trying to eat less carbs now and having less rapid units because the more carbs and shots I have, the more highs and lows. I love my carbs too! Its challenging but of course, the last thing I want is complications…
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What is a dex?
Dexcom - a CGM (continuous glucose monitor)
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. . . which is why I would much rather have the CGM than a pump. But my insurance just doesn’t cover CGMs, period. And my pocketbook certainly can’t handle it. Grrrrrr.
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Thanks. I would give anything for one of those!
You and me, both. 
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@David_dns: This makes me so angry. Before I had the CGM I used 12 BG strips per day. Now I use 5. This pays for the CGM. The ‘downside’ of my CGM is that I have to save more for retirement because my life expectancy went up by 10 years. Maybe I should mitigate the expense by eating pepperoni pizza. This might get my life expectancy down somewhat, not enough to offset the CGM.
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Being on a pump DEF makes managing your blood glucose much easier. Many people love their CGM’s too and get good use of them, Me not so much (hahaha I hated the blasted thing). But long story short, a pump gives you much more freedom to adjust doses throughout the day in smaller increments. On my pump I’ve had A1c levels as low as 5.5. Also decreasing carbs will help with lowering your A1c as well.
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Very curious: which CGM? I would be surprised if it was a dex.
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