Hey you guys!
So as you read from the title, I am going to be discussing HBA1C. For those of you who do not know what this is, it is: "The term HbA1c refers to glycated haemoglobin. It develops when haemoglobin, a protein within red blood cells that carries oxygen throughout your body, joins with glucose in the blood, becoming 'glycated'.
By measuring glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c), clinicians are able to get an overall picture of what our average blood sugar levels have been over a period of weeks/months."
SOOO, basically how good your control is over the last 90 days.
According to the National Diabetes Assocation, it is strongly encouraged that HBA1C's be below 7%.
My A1C's when I was an 8th grader-sophmore were around 6.5-7! So I had pretty good control. But, as I got more involved with basketball and stress with school work, my A1C began to slowly climb.
But only in the last 6 months have I really dedicated myself to trying to lower my A1C.
These last three months have been hectic and crazy, filled with sports (I train about 5-6x a week), academics and other things as I am pretty involved person.
Now one thing, with sports you are just automatically going to have a higher A1C as you are throwing in a whole bunch of new factors as working out and balancing blood sugars can be exhausting and complex.
When you exercise in short spurts (like basketball with sprinting), your liver is going to automatically release glycogen (sugar) in your blood stream. Because of this, my blood sugars tend me elevated, then crash later.
Well because of all of this my A1C was 8.5. As you can see, WAY off where I should be.
Well I went to get my blood work done and I was panicking because my last 2 weeks of blood sugars have been WHACKED UP. I was expecting a 9+.
The other night, I was just praying and hoping for either a 8.4 or 8.6. Got a message today with the results being an 8.6. I WAS THRILLED. Firstly, this is not a great A1C at all, but I was so excited it wasn't higher. Because I am NOW more than motivated to lower that sucker!
SO, the main point of this blog is just encourage you NOT to beat yourself up like I have in the past. I am kind of a worry wart, with a mix of perfectionist in there. I see the A1C as being a pass or fail. But really it's just a number. A number meant to help you, show you where you WERE and where you need to GO.
Now I am going to tell you guys what I am doing different to lower that annoying number.
So as you read from the title, I am going to be discussing HBA1C. For those of you who do not know what this is, it is: "The term HbA1c refers to glycated haemoglobin. It develops when haemoglobin, a protein within red blood cells that carries oxygen throughout your body, joins with glucose in the blood, becoming 'glycated'.
By measuring glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c), clinicians are able to get an overall picture of what our average blood sugar levels have been over a period of weeks/months."
SOOO, basically how good your control is over the last 90 days.
According to the National Diabetes Assocation, it is strongly encouraged that HBA1C's be below 7%.
My A1C's when I was an 8th grader-sophmore were around 6.5-7! So I had pretty good control. But, as I got more involved with basketball and stress with school work, my A1C began to slowly climb.
But only in the last 6 months have I really dedicated myself to trying to lower my A1C.
These last three months have been hectic and crazy, filled with sports (I train about 5-6x a week), academics and other things as I am pretty involved person.
Now one thing, with sports you are just automatically going to have a higher A1C as you are throwing in a whole bunch of new factors as working out and balancing blood sugars can be exhausting and complex.
When you exercise in short spurts (like basketball with sprinting), your liver is going to automatically release glycogen (sugar) in your blood stream. Because of this, my blood sugars tend me elevated, then crash later.
Well because of all of this my A1C was 8.5. As you can see, WAY off where I should be.
Well I went to get my blood work done and I was panicking because my last 2 weeks of blood sugars have been WHACKED UP. I was expecting a 9+.
The other night, I was just praying and hoping for either a 8.4 or 8.6. Got a message today with the results being an 8.6. I WAS THRILLED. Firstly, this is not a great A1C at all, but I was so excited it wasn't higher. Because I am NOW more than motivated to lower that sucker!
SO, the main point of this blog is just encourage you NOT to beat yourself up like I have in the past. I am kind of a worry wart, with a mix of perfectionist in there. I see the A1C as being a pass or fail. But really it's just a number. A number meant to help you, show you where you WERE and where you need to GO.
- Because of this I am going to tell you guys why I am not a huge fan of the A1C for a couple main reasons.
- Blood cells can live longer than 90 days.
- 40% of the results are based off the levels 7-10 days prior, which means if your bloods are HORRIBLE the week before your results could be inaccurate.
My solution is go based off the AVERAGE blood sugar of the week, so I look for consistency and calculate up my average.
Now I am going to tell you guys what I am doing different to lower that annoying number.
- I am testing WAY more frequently, probably around 10 times a day. You might think this is excessive, but I just like to know what my blood sugar is up too. I am also able to catch a high easier, along with correct a great deal more. Until I get a CGM in a few months, this is working out pretty well!
- Recording my levels! I have this app on my iPhone called GBPRO which allows you to record a before meal reading, after meal reading and a bunch of cool stuff! It also gives you a graph so you can observe how well you are staying in your range.
- Eat LOW CARB. I have drastically changed my diet around by eating about as low-carb as possible. I have reduced my insulin intake a whole lot and my levels are a lot better. Especially with school (which seems to screw me up from just sitting around), and so the less carbs my body has to break down, THE BETTER. Also, I have been able to trim up a lot of from eating foods that not as carby or hi on the Gylcemic index.
- Getting more sleep & stressing less. If you know Taylor Matthews, you know I am a huge stress-er which can wreck havoc on your blood sugars! So, over the last month I have been sleeping as early as 9pm and getting my assignments done to prevent any unnecessary stress.
- Staying connected with other diabetics! I have bet probably 100 diabetics just through Facebook support groups, twitter, and instagram! I met this really sweet girl who I added on Skype so, if I am having a bad diabetes day she's always a message a way from me! It helps tremendously.
- Accepting it and moving on. As I mentioned in my diabetes story, just this year I have accepted my diabetes and have started to move on. It has helped a great deal.
- BEING POSTIVIE. Living with a life long condition, attitude plays a huge role in everyday life. By remaining positive and THANKFUL that I can control this has helped my mental outlook on it.
These are just a few suggestions that have been working for me, so best of luck to you guys out there my diabuddies.