Blogging Diabetes

All of my results came back very good except for the big one. My A1c was higher than usual and probably one of my worst in a long time. It’s a little ironic that my result rhymes with hate.

I have always been slightly happy that my blood sugar control isn’t in the poor range. That’s how I sell it to everyone. I have *good* control. Someone will say, “Tony how’s your diabetes been”? To which I will respond, “Oh it’s good”. Since being diagnosed, I have only been in the excellent control range for a very brief stint a few years ago. If you knew me, you would know that I’ve never been happy with good. I don’t do good. I was brought up and pride myself for the fact that I don’t settle for average or good. For some reason I have failed at attaining and maintaining excellent control..

I could go on and on about all of the reasons I haven’t had excellent control, but I’m not going to. Everyone is busy. Everyone has something that can get in the way. My doctor likes to say things like, “life doesn’t stop or become easier just because you have diabetes”. I think the real reason is for the fact that it’s pretty easy to have good control. Conversely, it’s very difficult, in my opinion, to go from good/very good to excellent; let’s say to go from a 7.1 to 6.5 A1c. At least this has been the case for me. If I eat semi-healthy and limit sugar loaded foods, I can maintain a mid 7 A1c all year long and twice on Sunday’s.

To get and maintain an A1c below 7, the goal of probably every diabetic, means big changes that come in the form of either regular exercise and/or very strict diet. This is really where I have failed. When I was below 7, I was working out like crazy and watching my diet very closely. That’s hard to do when there’s only 24 hours each day filled with work, sleep and kids/family time. The reason it’s so difficult for me is because I haven’t committed to a lifestyle change for the long term. I will do good for a few months and then some event will trigger a downward spiral that goes on until my next burst of motivation kicks in and the cycle continues.

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That is…. until now.

Starting as of 1/2/2010 I’m back on track with the diet, exercise, mentally and motivationally. I will win; it’s not something I can afford to lose.

Next up are details on my dieting/exercise, the single biggest X factor in keeping my blood sugar below 200 on the regular and my 2010 challenge.

Canadian Pharmacy

7 Comments

Cherise Said,

January 21st, 2010 @10:42 am

It takes a lot of determination and dedication to maintain good blood sugar numbers. I am not taking the same challenge as you but I’m not making anymore excuses. After all, I owe it to myself, right?

Sue Said,

January 22nd, 2010 @2:01 pm

After having diabetes for 40 years this year, responding to this blog is harder for me than controlling my diabetes. (This is my 1st blog post, and at 55 years old, another new challenge.) Last August when my hcp started going over the few bs results that I shared with her, she started to explain what changes we could consider. I interrupted her and said forget about it. Tell me about the pump.
My a1c was almost always below 7 and now what challenging fun I am having to see it in the 5 range! I never wanted to hear about the pump because I hated testing! Now, I am so curious to see how it’s going, that I test from 6-10 times/day. My life is so much better as I can now sense highs & lows so much better and for the most part, eat when and what I want. The pump and simplifying lows with glucose tables are my heroes.

Bryan Said,

January 24th, 2010 @9:24 pm

This really is an essential issue to understand for those who are carrying too much weight and eventually leads to diabetes, yet it continuely gets overlooked as people are pushed towards fruit, vegetables and especially starchy carbohydrates by the national guidance system.

karend1 Said,

January 24th, 2010 @9:55 pm

It never gets easier that is for sure. Don’t beat yourself up. My bgs have been all over the place this past year, but my A1C was still below 7.0. That is why I don’t dwell on that number as it can be acheived with a ton of bloodsugar lows and many many hours of highs.

One day at a time, I guess.

Tony Said,

January 24th, 2010 @10:03 pm

Cherise – Absolutely. I always just went with the number and started over instead of using some intelligence to think about what I was doing and not doing to do better.

Sue – At times I get tired of my pump, but I wouldn’t trade it for injections.

Bryan – Wait for my next post. I will discuss a little bit about my current diet and why it’s working on all fronts.

Karen – I think the A1c is a nice feel good test/report. If you’re doing things right it just confirms what you see every day. If you aren’t doing well, then it reinforces the need to get your ass in gear. One thing I truly believe and have had my doctor tell me is that in order to get your A1c really low, you need to have too many low blood sugars to average out the highs that are impossible to avoid. I am going to be so happy come May and get that A1c below 7. All the hard work will be so worth it.

Thank you all for your comments and insights!