Hi ya’ll,
So today is my “Diaversary” I became diabetic (T2) one year ago today.
But I also just found out yesterday That I AM IN REMISSION!!!
I no longer need metformin or one of my blood pressure pills ( amlodipine) which is for your lower number.
My BP was 110/62
and my A1C went from 5.5 to 5.4!!!
SWEET VICTORY!!!
Uh oh… @mm1 said on another post:
"In office A1C machines are not as accurate as labs.
A1C is not actually reading average BG, and can be falsely high/low if your red blood cells live longer or shorter than normal. (My A1C test was low when my RBC was low due to chemo, so was not correlated with average BG)."
And thats how my GP who is a NP has tested me the last couple of times. They pop me with a lancet pen and take my blood and put it onto this strip and stick it in a machine for 7 min and then it prints out what my A1C is.
Because the Nurses aid asked if we were doing the A1C test in house or by lab and my NP said in house.
So does that mean my inital A1C was not really 7.8 and my current A1C isn’t really 5.4?
Chris
We have to celebrate all the victories, small and large. Though admittedly, I had a hard showing too much enthusiasm for you going from 5.5 to 5.4, because 5.5 is already considered awesome… and even unobtainable for many.
The A1c test itself is highly flawed. There’s only a very loose correlation between average blood sugar and A1c. When plotted on a graph, it looks like a scatter plot, not the perfectly straight line medical professionals treat it like.
They can also be easily skewed by various health conditions, BG at the time of testing, evening average BG vs daytime BG, etc… ( @Timothy is a great source for this stuff.) And then you throw the lab variability into the mix on top of the already flawed nature…
There’s just no magical line drawn in the sand at 5.4.
But there IS still a correlation. Within reason, the lower the A1c, and closer to non-diabetic values, the lower the complications and less risk to your health. (I say within reason because there’s a lot of debate about the benefits/risk of striving for very low A1cs and whether a 7 or 8 is plenty good enough) That drop from 7.8 to 5.4 shows incredible improvement, work, and dedication to your health and deserves the whole hoopla celebration!
Your best bet is to have a lab test it, but the in office tests are not as bad as you might think. It’s not going to read 7 instead of 5.
You might get a6.0 instead of a 5.5 though. But if you run your a1 c twice through the same instrument you will get different results.
Same as you will if you test twice on your finger stick meter.
Nowadays there is more focus on just being in normal range of a1c. Like under 6.5% and more focus on time in range.
My 2 most recent a1c were 5.5 and 5.4. That’s great for me, but my average in range is 95%.
If the lab returned a 5.8 the next time, I really wouldn’t think much of it. It’s just not that precise.
There are a few things that a doctor is fully aware of, by history or the other tests in the blood test, like anaemia, it is still the best test going.
“Are home A1C test kits accurate ?
Most home A1C kits are considered to be as accurate as lab A1C tests. The results are accurate within plus/minus 0.5 percentage points, which is about the same as most lab results.” google
@CWM030
You are doing very well no matter what the exact numbers are, Chris. But I would not use the word remission. I would consider you to be well managed. But if you went back to what you did before, you would be up again with the higher A1c and BGs. I don’t understand why they took you off the metformin. Metformin makes your body more sensitive to insulin. Don’t be surprised if you have to work harder now to keep your BGs at these levels. The blood pressure medicine, I can understand somewhat, but the metformin?
Great job,it will be interesting to see what your future numbers are. I agree about the metformin. Good luck. Nancy50
No, it just means consider it may be off slightly from what a lab result might be, and that other factors can impact the result.
It’s like looking at your car speedometer. Do you really care if you are doing 60 vs 62 ? (Assuming you didn’t just get pulled over by a cop?).
Unless Metformin has been bothering you, it really brings some benefits. Not only does Metformin help make you more insulin sensitive it also blocks some absorption of carbs. While a 5.5 and then a 5.4 show a nice steady normal range A1c, you’ve done so with the Metformin. I would expect the numbers will go up without it. That’s possible in the scheme of things the increase won’t be that much and not matter.
I agree 100% about the various ways of thinking about our numbers. I don’t believe there is any such thing as remission. Diabetes is ours to own once it grabs hold of us.
But good management is Real. I have also found that just what constitutes good management evolves as our bodies age—especially as hormones change how we respond to various foods and medicines, etc…Good luck and good management to us all…