I was diagnosed with prediabetes three years ago based on my a1c (6.1), despite my fasting being under 100 (but in the 90s). I increased the intensity and frequency of my exercise and for the past two years I have had a1c readings of 5.7 and 5.8. Much better, but still stubbornly prediabetic. I recently (as in the last 6 months or so) changed to a South Beach style diet. In the last two weeks I have been checking and my blood sugars have been excellent (better than I have ever encountered) - fastings in the 80s and post meal numbers (even at 1 hour) under 120.
My question is: can my a1c scores be artificially high somehow? I understand how an a1c score could be lower than it should be, but what about higher? I guess I wonder if I am worrying about nothing. (I should mention that I am at risk for type 2 after three pregnancies with gestational diabetes and a reactive hypoglycemia diagnosis. Also, I am and have always been a normal weight and live a relatively active lifestyle). Thanks!
There isn't an exact correspondence between average blood sugar and A1c and the potential range is fairly wide. You might be one of those people for whom the A1c runs high. But I wouldn't worry about it either way. You know that you have to work at controlling your blood sugar and you're doing it quite effectively. If you are going to keep score with your A1c, perhaps you can simply think of it as keeping track of your personal best rather than as an absolute measure of your health.
Because it is a lower carb diet with emphasis on higher glycemic foods I'm not surprised at the improved numbers, you as a pre diabetic, experienced.
I think you're doing all the right things. By keeping an eye on your blood sugar readings you can react to any negative changes. Positive readings, like you recently experienced, can help you stick with the diet and exercise.
By dealing with your condition early on many people believe you have an excellent chance of halting or at least slowing the progression of diabetes.
Thank you so much for your replies! I came to this site looking for information and I have been really happy with how much I have learned. I am encouraged to keep doing what I've been doing (I always assumed that once you started having glucose trouble the march to diabetes was inevitable)!
my a1c has always been about .5% higher than my meter says it should be. I always got the response that maybe my bgs are going high at night or some other time that i wasnt catching with the meter. I always doubted this, so i got the dex g4 recently and it confirmed that i was not missing any highs. So, i guess we'll see what my next A1c is..if its high, it confirms that the a1c test may not be real accurate for some people.
I read that biological factors may play a part...stuff like hemoglobin life span and other things that we may never fully understand.
So as long your meter readings are good, i wouldnt worry too much about it.
