Just wanted to see what you as parents along with your Endo try to achieve for your child's A1c. I see that many of you are parents of 5 year olds and I am too. I find it extremely difficult to maintain level control due to growth, exertion during play and illness. Any encouragement out there? :)
Good Control. HAHA. We try so hard and mostly I feel like we are fighting lows one day and highs the next two. I absolutely HATE growth spurts - I am so exhausted by the end of the week (or two) from lack of sleep and stress of high numbers. And the stomach flu is more likely than not to land Lucas in the ER on an IV! And when I look at a graph of his numbers they look like the most recent stock market graphs! All that being said, our endo says we have "good control"(he is so great). We check sugars about 9x a day so he is not too low or too high for very long before corrected. Our A1c's have always been between 7.4 and 7.0 until last time it was 6.6 (yeah!). Lucas just turned 6 two weeks ago and is in kindergarten.
Christine
Wow, After reading Lucas' moms reply, I feel like a really bad mom--However--Let me tell you a little something about our situation:
My son was dx in May of 2008, His A1c was 11.2 at that time--meaning his blood sugar was really high for the 3 months preceeding dx. We were preoccupied with testing him for Autism in the couple of months before dx--Something was not quite right with his behavior--and his teacher suggested this--we of course took her advice and didn't think it was something physical--Then when we found out he was diabetic--things started making sense..
We had an A1c one 2 times since then and both times it was hovering around 8...But let me explain..My son has been sick pretty much all winter long--He got a sinus infection, then an ear infection, then several colds, then the flu, then bronchitis--so his blood sugars have really been out of control even if we stick religiously to his diet and exercise routine.
And even after all that my end says that we are not doing too badly--I nearly fell on the floor!!! I thought I was the worst they had ever seen befor--but it seem that they feel for his age its not so bad..
So thats my story and now you can feel that in comparison you are not doing too badly!!!
Pete and Jules mom
Carolyn,
You are not a bad mom. I know the feeling you describe, but you are not.
I'm sorry to hear about your son's illnesses. It's so difficult even on a good day.
I'm so glad I"m not the only one who struggles with the control. The day I typed this blog, I was so discouraged. Everyday is a new day to try harder and attempt to gain control. I look at this thing like a marathon. Never never give up.
Thanks for your reply!
Carolyn,
You should never feel bad - you just have to do what you can, which sometimes does not feel like much. I can give Lucas the same exact meal (measured out) and exact afterschool to bedtime routine one day and get great numbers and then the following week get 300's. I think it is impossible to just compare A1c's like it is a grade on the job you are doing. Just keep working at it. You are also in the first year (we are a few days from "celebrating" 3 years). Our first A1c after 3 months after diagnosis was 8.something. Since then we have stayed between 7.4 - 7.0 after really increasing the number of x we check him and after his pancreas completely petered out. I was shocked when we got the 6.6 last time as it was taken when we were in the hospital with DKA due to stomach flu (at a time when we felt completely out of control - it was the small silver lining a dark cloud).
Take Care,
Christine
Carolyn,
You should never feel bad - you just have to do what you can, which sometimes does not feel like much. I can give Lucas the same exact meal (measured out) and exact afterschool to bedtime routine one day and get great numbers and then the following week get 300's. I think it is impossible to just compare A1c's like it is a grade on the job you are doing. Just keep working at it. You are also in the first year (we are a few days from "celebrating" 3 years). Our first A1c after 3 months after diagnosis was 8.something. Since then we have stayed between 7.4 - 7.0 after really increasing the number of x we check him and after his pancreas completely petered out. I was shocked when we got the 6.6 last time as it was taken when we were in the hospital with DKA due to stomach flu (at a time when we felt completely out of control - it was the small silver lining a dark cloud).
Take Care,
Christine
I agree with everyone. Don't feel that you are a bad mom we are just trying to help them the best we now how but as far as A1C's My doctor tells ,me that if they are under 5 an A1C under 9% is good and if they are between 5 and 12 then an A1C between 6 and 8 % is great because they do grow and run around alot they dont want them to end up with severe lows. Our A1Cis 6.9% and he noticed that she was having one low a day and he says that they only want to see 3-4 a week so we had room to tweak her basal to allow her BG's to be a bit higher. I hope that helps. Just remember this is a puzzle that you will only ever get partially finished the other pieces come and go as time moves on. Take Care.
Carolyn
Well Surfing mama - did you know that there are new studies that say salt water is the main cause for diabetes? Cheese is bad too.
LOL. Love ya surfing mama!!!!!
Mom Kennedy,
I heard that too!!!! I also heard that Great Danes and Leprachan traps do too!
You crack me up.
Love you too.
The ADA has a number of great recommendations that they put out in writing in the form of policy statements or guidelines. The intended audience is the medical field but I encourage other parents to take advantage of the information. In 2005, the ADA published an article entitled "Care of Children and Adolescents with Type 1 Diabetes". It contains a wealth of information and is not too technical although you may need to look up some of those silly medical terms that are used in place of ordinary, everyday words.
The guidelines in the ADA statement referenced above are essentially:
Under 6 years of age 100-200 blood sugar 7.5 - 8.5% A1C
6-12 years 90-180 less that 8% A1C
13-19 years 90-150 less than 7.5% A1C
These are general guidelines and are used with an eye towards preventing too many hypoglycemic incidents. It's helpful to know what guidelines your endo might be following.
The link below should take you to the ADA Statement where you can read it or download it as a PDF.
http://tinyurl.com/b9ugyp
As for my situation, my son just turned 8 and his A1C tests have been consistently in the 7's starting about 6 months after diagnosis at age 2.5. If you get lower than 7.0 your child might be experiencing too many lows.
Great information Don! Its nice to know what the ADA standards are.
I agree that the sugars of a smaller child should be higher because of their growth.
Wow! Thanks for all the support--sometimes you just don't know how you are doing unless you compare yourself to others.
And Thanks for the stats--I feel better about that--
I think the one thing my endo is trying to prevent is too many lows--they are very "cheap" with the insulin so to speak--and they wont raise it until they see that it is really warranted. They encourage increasing activity--which of course is harder in the winter months--
Pete and Jules mom