Last week, I blogged about CGMS needing to be covered by insurance companies to prevent things from happening like the car accident I had this past spring. I have been seeing my endo more frequently sice then. Right after the accident, my endo recommended me keeping my numbers higher so that I could regain the feeling of being low when I was higher. He wanted my pre-meal numbers between 120 – 140 and post meal numbers higher than that.
This was a huge blow to my ego. I have worked so hard on my control for so long. My A1c’s have been in the 6′s since 2003. And in the 5′s when I was pregnant. I knew it would be hard to see the higher numbers. I didn’t want to do it, but my endo said there wasn’t an option. The alternative was having another episode and possible suffering permanent neurological damage as a result.
So I have spent the past few months running slightly higher. And the result at my endo appointment yesterday? An A1c of 7.4. I was so shocked, I have not had one this high in a long time. It is really hard to swallow even though I know that I am just doing what I am told. That number really defines how I feel about my success as a diabetic. Good a1c, I’ve done a good job. Bad a1c, I have been slacking and need to work harder. It is a report card to me.
On a better note, running higher has eliminated the bad lows I was having before. I don’t download my data enough from my pump, but looking at the reports that I printed for my appointment, it looks like I haven’t had a bg lower than 60 in a few weeks. And, truth be told, a few times last week I felt low, and saw a 61 on my meter. Before I was not feeling them until at least 45. Before this, I would not even test most times because if I felt low, I knew I was really low. So my endo was pleased with this development. He said that a 7.4 was not a huge sacrifice for eliminating the bad lows. So I do have to feel good about that.
