TAGS
In May of 2014, my body decided to hand over the responsibility of managing my blood sugar – exclusively to me, and with no prior notice. My life long assignment would be to keep my blood sugar (a bunch of temperamental little suckers) at a healthy, steady level to prevent unnecessary stress and irreversible damage to my body.
At first I felt a bit insecure and overwhelmed as I had no academic training, no experience on the subject, not even sufficient time to prepare myself. Why me?! Aren’t there candidates more fit for this role? What makes you think I can do this? Then I thought about it. I can win, or I can lose. I don’t know about you, but losing and giving up has never been my thing and the magnitude of the obvious consequences made me nauseous.
I realized that I was willing and able to support my body with one out of the plethora of complex and extremely advanced assignments I knew existed. After a few days of ‘training’ at the hospital, which in reality was nothing but a chaotic blur and information overload, I was left without supervision and with only a few tools at my disposal: my blood glucose meter which I would use as a way to confirm trial and error, insulin to save myself from dangerous highs and basic dietary guidelines to save myself from dangerous lows. Someone had a lot of faith in me…
Then there was the key. It took me some time to figure out what it was for and how it would help me. It was the key to my body’s OWN blood sugar ‘memory’ accessible through a blood test – a purely fascinating concept called the A1c.
There are 3 gazillion important things to be familiar with and to understand to be able to reach and exceed your blood sugar management goals, but let’s start with these 3:
1.The HbA1c: The blood test with a ‘memory’ that I mentioned earlier, is called the HbA1c, also referred to as hemoglobin A1c, or simply A1c . The HbA1c refers to the glycated hemoglobin which identifies the average glucose concentration in your blood. Hemoglobin molecules stay in the blood for around 3 months so the HbA1c test is able to give a measure of how glucose has interacted within our blood over up to a 3 month period.
The HbA1c units (mmol/mol) looks similar to the units used for blood glucose tests (mmol/l) but they are measuring two different values.
2. The eAG (Estimated Average Glucose): By converting your A1c to eAG you get your average glucose number measured in milligrams per deciliter (mg/dl). Example, A1c of 7% = 154 mg/dl. The eAg makes it easier for you to understand your daily blood sugar as your meter also measures your blood sugar levels in mg/dl (at least in the US). See chart below.
Remember that your meter gives you the exact measure of glucose in your blood – at that exact moment (not an average like the A1c or the eAG). When you combine the eAG findings with your meter’s average, you are getting a valuable and more complete picture of your overall diabetes management.
3. The AGE’s (Advanced Glycogenated End-products): The higher the blood sugar levels, the more eAG is present in your blood. Your A1C is essentially a measurement of the AGE’s that have accumulated in your blood from blood sugar levels. The presence of eAG’s is what lead to complications. These harmful compounds can affect nearly every type of cell and molecule in the body. The AGEs are seen as speeding up oxidative damage to cells and in altering their normal behavior.
The AGE’s can be a factor in the development, or advancement of many degenerative diseases such as diabetes and believed to play a role in the blood vessel complications of diabetes mellitus. Additionally, AGE’s can be a factor in the progress of atherosclerosis, chronic renal failure and Alzheimer’s disease, and they are thought to be one factor in aging and age-related chronic diseases.
OUR GOAL is to reduce our A1C which will reduce our AGEs by the lowering of our eAG. Aim to keep your blood sugar at healthy, steady levels and you will prevent unnecessary stress and irreversible damage to your body.
As I have become more comfortable in my new role as interim pancreas, and more confident in my abilities to succeed, I speculate about why I was faced with this unexpected challenge back in May 2014. I believe that my body, throughout my life, has watched how good I’ve been to myself and to people around me, realized how much love I have for myself and others, how much faith I have in the ability to make a difference, and how passionate I am about learning from life experiences and sharing – in an attempt to make the world a better place. So when this executive role suddenly became available, my body did not hesitate for a moment that I was the one for the job.
I am honored and humbled for the faith in me, and regardless of where this path will take me – I serve with pride and respect, for myself and for others – especially those touched by this condition. I can do this, and so can you!
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