Monday, January 19, 2009

New Year, New Hope, New Vlog

OK, so it's a new year, and I've made no resolutions, because then I would surely fail. Instead, in my optimism following a long and much needed vacation, I'm working on trying new things. Better D-management, new foods, new books, and even trying to vlog. I know, I know... what was I thinking! Well, I'm probably not, so I'm apologizing in advance for the poor quality (computer webcam) and the ugly picture (Oh wait that's just me!) I really hope I look better in person, but I digress.


1st Offical Vlog from Mandysweetlife on Vimeo.


In case you can't hear me, I'm basically curious on every one's opinions on A1c vs meter averages. Mine never match and I've just about decided that my meter doesn't really count. Especially since I got back another A1c this weekend and it hasn't changed at all. It's a great A1c of 5.8, and I really won't complain. My averages on my meter however have been 209, 197 and 197 for my 30, 60, & 90 day overall average. Does a blood sugar of 300 really affect you if it doesn't show in the long term perspective? That's my internal fear. I'm trying to determine whether to actually start basal testing and carb ratio testing (you know, really USING my pump), but I'm not sure it's worth it. My doc was pretty easy going last week, so when I told him "I'm good", he didn't question. Makes for very quick and painless visits with no logs or downloads included.

If you choose to watch my very amateur vlog, the password is sweetlife. I plan to vlog more if people actually want to see it. Certainly no hard feelings if you don't. I just know how much I enjoy those of you who already vlog. Thanx!

7 comments:

chris bishop said...

You bring up a good question. For me averages can be very deceving because you can have a very good average but that may only be because you had lots of highs and lots of lows which then balance each other out. For me, I work to keep my A1c as low as I can but really, I just take things one day at a time and work as hard as I can each day to stay in control.

an interesting test may be this:
throw out all of your odd spikes and lows (ones that were unexpected quickly corrected) and see what kind of averages you get.

Good luck with your vlogging. I just started as well.

Scott K. Johnson said...

Great vlog! I loved it!

That is a good question. For me, my A1C seems to have a delay factor or "lag time". Seems that it is not the immediate A1C that reflects my control, but the NEXT one! It is very confusing!

Chris has a great suggestion in throwing out the odd spikes and lows, and see what that might do to your averages.

Keep up the vlogging! It was fab!

Mandy said...

Thanx for all of your comments and suggestions guys! I didn't think anybody would actually watch it.

Interesting thing about my meter test is that they are all pretty consistently in the high 100s & 200s. No lows since I started the pump, and my lowest bg was 139. That's why I'm a little bit annoyed and very grateful that no one downloads my meter. Maybe it's better not to question (at least for my sanity).

George said...

First off that Vlog was awesome! As long as you speak from your heart and talk about something important to you then I think it will be good.

I am not a big fan of A1C's because you can have highs and lows all the time and have a good A1C.

I have found that sometimes I dip down when I bolus for food before the carbs kick in. Maybe that can be where the undetected lows come from. Or the whole dawn phenom. If you were low before but woke up high. Does that make sense?

asskeeper said...

Hi Mandy,
I was going to say. I wonder if you are missing lows. I know my a1c is never great. It is disconcerting when they don't correlate. oh Penny and Lilly say Hi Chloe. Good Luck.
Wendy

Mandy said...

George, that makes total sense. Tjis would be a good time for a day or two of CGM.

Hey Wendy, Chloe will so excited that Penny & Lilly said HI! She tends to feel left out.

Anonymous said...

hi Mandy - I just found your blog through Kerri's site at SixUntilMe, and I was just browsing through but thought I'd give my two cents:
I know that they give you a range of blood sugars that each your A1c corresponds to, but I remember reading somewhere (a loong time ago) that it's actually supposed to be more like a measure of the time that you were out of BG range over the past 3 months.
I tried to find the source, but no dice. I did find this though!
http://diabetesupdate.blogspot.com/2007/09/why-a1c-average-doesnt-match-meter.html
hope it helps, and sorry for dredging this up 5 months later, haha :)
- Justine