Aargh--not the A1C I was hoping for

[Karin]

Today we had another visit to the endocrinologist. In April my 6 year olds A1C was 8.1, today it is 9.5. It just gets to me that it doesn't improve every time. Last August I was depressed for a month with an A1C of 9.1. I refuse to be depressed about it this year. It does give me a setback to read through all the comments under the A1C poll thread. It's never tested lower than an 8. Does anyone else notice trends with what the A1C is and the time of the year?

[MelissaC]

Karin,

Just my two cents worth but reading the earlier postsmade me feel bad too - my dd was diagnosed in 2/07 and her first a1c was 11.something and then her last one was 7.9.... Here is my opinion on it... Do the best you can do for your child each and every day and live with the numbers that you are given. That doesn't mean slack off and let the chips fall where they may that means give it all you got and in the end feel good about what you've done. Don't beat yourself up over this - Every day changees with this disease and just when we think we got it figured out?

Feel Better - your a good mom!

[Kaylee's Mommy]

If you look at the poll about the A1c, more than 1/2 the people have an A1c higher than 7.0.. that is a great range (7.0 and up) but its also where the majority of people are... your son is 5... younger kids are much harder to control.. I'm sure there are highs that you aren't see.. and this is the culprit of the higher A1c.. Kaylee's last one was 8.0.. down from 8.2.. I was so hoping for lower..but she's just everywhere.. (she's 4) and her endo picked up on a pattern that I didn't even notice.. it was at night.. so we changed her night time basals and we go back next month for her next A1c.. I'm hoping for a better one this time..

don't feel bad.. this disease is hard.. its always a guessing game!

[Carrie]

I'm a parent who stresses out about going to the endo because of the anticipation of getting the A1C.:eek: I think we have to keep reminding ourselves that it is a number and not a grade (hard to do sometimes) of how we are doing at trying to manage a disease that I'm sure you are finding is mind boggling at times to manage! Especially with little ones. Their activity level...eating interest...emotions, etc., can be so different on a day-to-day basis.

P.S. Our A1C was 8.6 three weeks ago. We've been at this for a year and pumping for seven months.

[hold48398]

Today we had another visit to the endocrinologist. In April my 6 year olds A1C was 8.1, today it is 9.5. It just gets to me that it doesn't improve every time. Last August I was depressed for a month with an A1C of 9.1. I refuse to be depressed about it this year. It does give me a setback to read through all the comments under the A1C poll thread. It's never tested lower than an 8. Does anyone else notice trends with what the A1C is and the time of the year?

Hi Karin. I'm so sorry you didn't get the A1C you were hoping for:(. I'm glad though that you decided not to get depressed about it because that doesn't help anyone, including your son, right! :o. I am wondering if your doctor had any specific recommendations for helping you figure out how you can bring her son's A1C down? Do you know when most of the high's occur? Did the doc give you a "plan" or "tools" (info, advice etc) to try out something new, or modify your exisiting treatment plan?

I know that we "evolved" in our treatment for Mia's D in a (never-ending) strive for better control . First, we started off with NPH and Novolog, and we struggled with many lows (the opposite of your problem). Then we moved to Lantus, which helped the lows but we struggled with maintaining good control when Mia was sick or wanted another snack (which meant another shot). So now we are on the pump, which has been wonderful for us. Our challenges were different but my point is that we (meaning both us as well as our Endo) continue to review her numbers (I still log daily) in an effort to find the best treatment for her. I can rely on our medical team to get advice and guideance when I can't figure out whats going on. After all thats what they are paid to do... Do you get help from your endo?

((((((((((Big hug))))))))))

[WestinsMom]

Well, there are so many ways you can look at an a1c. You can think it means the world and be so proud that your kid is under 7.0. Or you can realize that those kids might have a lot of lows to get those great numbers.

My endo has always told me that he is far more concerned with lows than highs. With developing brains, lows are more damaging. He has never made me feel bad for our numbers, and for years we were above 8 and even 9 at times.

I don't know if your endo is making you feel bad about your numbers, I sure hope not. I know that for me it feels like I am being graded as far as my parenting and care of child with that stupid little number. My D team doesn't make me feel that way, I do.

It will get better. I was amazed at how quickly Westin, on his own, became more stable when he got alittle older. I also expect that in a few years, we will be going through hormone changes and things will get quite wacky again.

Hang in there, it will get better.

[3js]

Well, there are so many ways you can look at an a1c. You can think it means the world and be so proud that your kid is under 7.0. Or you can realize that those kids might have a lot of lows to get those great numbers.

My endo has always told me that he is far more concerned with lows than highs. With developing brains, lows are more damaging. He has never made me feel bad for our numbers, and for years we were above 8 and even 9 at times.

I don't know if your endo is making you feel bad about your numbers, I sure hope not. I know that for me it feels like I am being graded as far as my parenting and care of child with that stupid little number. My D team doesn't make me feel that way, I do.

It will get better. I was amazed at how quickly Westin, on his own, became more stable when he got alittle older. I also expect that in a few years, we will be going through hormone changes and things will get quite wacky again.

Hang in there, it will get better.


i couldn`t agree more. please don`t feel depressed karin:) ((hugs))

[Ellen]

The number on my bathroom scale was not the number I was hoping for either. All I have is from this day/moment forward to do what I can to keep myself healthy.

We can do the best we can each day with the myriad of variables that influence our children's blood glucose levels.

Re the poll, many parents may choose not to respond because the parameters were set very low.

A low A1C does not necessarily equate to "good control"; it can incorporate lots of low blood glucose levels too.

Try to feel proud of how much you know, how proactive you are by reaching out to learn continuously, and getting support from others who "get it". :)

[momofphoenix]

Dont beat yourself up due to a higher a1c then you were hopeing for, my son's last a1c just 2 weeks ago was 10.6 very bad but the one before that was 7.3, much better, I just try to remember that we can have good a1c's and that when they go up I try to remember what happened during that time to make it go higher, usually it is stress, rebounds ect,
good luck I hope you get a better a1c next time that is what I'm hopeing for...

[Sari]

KArin - we are going thru the same thing. We have had readings of 8.6 twice and then it went to 8.7 and yeasterday it was 9.1! We were crushed because we thought Ross's numbers had been [retty good this time around. We have had very few lows and the highs hadn't been nearly as bad as they used to be. So we very disappointed. Not to mention, I feel bad reading everyone elses A1Cs seem so much better than Ross's. I am almost embarassed to post Ross's is 9.1

Our Dr had us change Ross's target range slightly to 160-180 (I think) and we changed the hours on his pump for certain carb ratios. We will send them the results at the end of the week to see how he is progressing.

Good luck to you, I feel your pain.

[Abby-Dabby-Doo]

Karin~
I'm not happy about our A1C (9.6) either. I suspect when we go on Aug 16th it's going to be even higher. :o

But I'm like you, I'm going to tell myself, I can't get worked up about it. We do what we can for our kids, and most of the time it's above and beyond :cool:!

If you would receive a number or a grade for your effort, support, dedication, decision making, and so forth... you get an A+

[kevin@diabetech.net]

According to research published earlier this year (DIABETES CARE, VOLUME 30, NUMBER 1, JANUARY 2007), the A1c results obtained from the DCA2000 (typical of most endo offices) is off by more than 0.3 about 16% of the time. So, you can't put too much weight into small changes in your A1c and the bigger swings may not actually be so big... or they could be bigger than you think.

What is an acceptable A1c variance from the True A1c for most people? Is it +/- 0.1, 0.3, 0.5? Also, how many people are really aware of the inaccuracies in what we generally like to think are state of the art doctor's office analyzers?