Let’s talk about Time in Range and A1Cs. How do I use smaller wins (time in range) to help accomplish large goals (A1Cs).
Category: A1C
LetsGetChecked – Antibody and Vitamin Testing
In the 15 years that I have lived with diabetes I have learned as much as I could about the disease because if I have to live with it, I want to know everything I can about it.
During that time, I’ve learned about the potential of having thyroid problems and other autoimmune diseases. I’ve also found out that you could test your body for antibodies that would tell you if you are at risk for some of those autoimmune diseases.
Get 15% Off Your Order with Discount Code – Chris15
The discussion of antibodies came back recently when my daughter was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes. At diagnosis, the pediatric endo ordered antibody tests to be done. My daughter does carry the antibodies for thyroid disease and also Celiacs. Her endo also said that her Vitamin D levels were quite low.
There have been studies done about the correlation between low Vitamin D levels and the diagnosis of Type 1 Diabetes, so I found that interesting.
Just like anything that sparks my interest, I went right to Google to start searching.
I came across LetsGetChecked
LetsGetChecked describes themselves on their About Us as:
LetsGetChecked is all about personal health testing, making healthcare and health screening open and patient-led, empowering people to use technology in a simple but powerful way and giving greater control of their personal health.
https://www.letsgetchecked.com/us/en/about-us/
LetsGetChecked offers tests in the following categories:
Some of the tests include:
- Cholesterol
- Kidney
- Testosterone
- Vitamin D-B
- Iron
- Thyroid
- Liver
- Colon
- Prostate
- HPV
- Celiac
- Lyme
- STD Testing
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The best part about all of this is that it is an at-home test. They send all of the materials to you and you are able to collect the blood sample yourself and mail it back to them and wait for your results.
The entire process keeps you informed along the way as well. When it is shipped, you will receive a notification, as well as when it is delivered.
From there, you will need to complete your full health profile online. One of their real time physicians will review and recommend any additional services to you at that time.
Once done with that, you are able to collect your sample wherever you choose to do so, I would assume preferably in the comfort of your own home.
Simply follow the instructions to get your sample into the shipping container and have it shipped back to their lab and just wait for your results.
Once shipped out, you should expect your results in about two days. Once your results are in, you will receive a call from the LetsGetChecked nursing team to discuss the results and any actions that may be required.
From their website...
How it works?
Order your test online and get a confidential delivery to your home.
Activate your test and answer a number of health-related questions from your personalized dashboard.
Collect your sample and return it with our pre-paid return envelope.
Review your results on your personal online dashboard within 5 days.
Speak to our dedicated nursing team who will help you track & improve your health over time.
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Why At Home Testing and LetsGetChecked
So, why at home testing? I think at home testing is great for a few reasons. First, it can save you a lot of money. In order to get blood drawn in a lab, you need a prescription which means you first need to see a doctor. That requires either a co-pay if you have insurance and if you don’t have insurance, you’re footing the bill out of pocket.
Next, the labs themselves can be quite expensive if you don’t have insurance or even if you do have insurance depending on what your copay is.
Convenience
Since these tests can be ordered by yourself, you can have the peace of mind of being able to order the Celiac test to determine whether or not you have a Celiac antibody or not. This is not something that your doctor may order for you or not.
Confidential
Your test results are completely confidential. LetsGetChecked does not share them with your doctor unless you specifically ask. They can provide you with results via PDF files to send to your healthcare team.
Accurate Results
LetsGetChecked uses the same labs that your doctors, clinics and hospitals would use, so the accuracy is as accurate as you would get from those results.
Get 15% Off Your Order with Discount Code – Chris15
Online Results in 2-5 Business Days
Your results will be provided to you from LetsGetChecked within 2-5 business days via a secure password that only you can view. I know that I have gone through the process of waiting around for lab results and then the lab just telling me they sent them to my doctor, but then my doctor not providing me the results unless I schedule an appointment.
There are certain tests that I just want to know the answer to immediately and not have to wait around for a doctor or lab to give me the run around.
CLIA Approved and CAP-Accredited Laboratories
I highly recommend giving LetsGetChecked a chance.
Patient Device Rights
It’s unfortunate, but our healthcare is primarily controlled by insurance companies. If the insurance companies are acting nice, then it can be our medical team. What about the rights of the patient?
I live with Type 1 Diabetes. This means that I live with a disease that does not go away. It takes zero breaks. It is working on me 24/7/365, so the only way to combat it is to fight back 24/7/365.
Read More
Highest A1C Since Diagnosis
At my last endo appointment, I already knew that my A1C was going to be high. How did I know this? My Dexcom Clarity report told me what my 90 day average was.
Knowing this information going into the appointment, I knew it was going to be a topic of discussion, so instead of trying to delay that discussion or hide it, I started the appointment off with it. I simply said, “just a heads up, my A1C is going to come in as the highest since my diagnosis and here’s why..”
Read MoreEndo Appointment, Bad A1C, and Apidra Costs Too Much
I just got home from my endo appointment about 20 minutes ago, and I wanted to write this blog post while everything was still fresh in my mind. First, let me mention what some of my thoughts were going into this appointment. I knew my A1C was going to be high, actually, probably the highest it’s been since being diagnosed. Why did I think this? Because my meter results over the last three months say so. I also knew that I did not wear my Dexcom at all during the last 60 days, so I knew that was going to be a point of discussion. Finally, I did not reach my goal for my weight loss. Now, onto what happened. Read More
No A1C Test in Forever
It has been a really long time since my last A1C test. I mentioned yesterday about the unusual amount of high blood sugars that I have been experiencing over the past few months and I am not very happy with this. My last A1C was almost a year ago. The last 4 appointments that I had for blood work, have been cancelled. It seems that every time that I have an appointment with the endo or for blood work it ends up being cancelled or re-scheduled. There is absolutely nothing stopping me from having this appointment next month. I do have to verify the date though because I have a wedding in PA that I will be attending on 11-11-11. Let’s hope it’s not on that day 🙂
Anyway, back to the A1C in forever. I am not too concerned about what my A1C results are going to be, because to me, it is just a measure and it gives me feedback on how I can work to make it better. I have already been eating better and just purchased a brand new recumbent exercise bike, but just havent put it together yet, probably won’t be until this weekend. But just purchasing this bike has gotten me a step further than I have been in the past by just saying I am going to exercise more. I have seen people around me losing weight lately, and I know that by losing some weight I can manage my diabetes a lot better. For one, by losing weight, I can eventually start using less insulin and be able to use the insulin pump that I prefer, the OmniPod.
My next A1C test will be soon and I will be sure to share it once I have it 🙂
Take care everyone
My Three Words of 2010 – 1 Month Later
Back in the first or second week of January, I wrote a post about my three words of 2010. These words were growth, dedication, and health. I outlined what all 3 of them meant to me and what my plans were to achieve and live those 3 words all year long. Today I wanted to take the time and give a monthly update on those three words. If you have read that post, I encourage you to so this post makes sense to you. I also encourage you to do your own 3 words and then share them with me, because I would love to see what yours are as well.
Growth
The main reasoning for this was to grow as a person, just become a better person. Over the last month I have been doing this quite well. I do not get to flustered over minor things, I don’t let the little things in life get to me and ruin my day like they once have. If somebody cuts in front of me in the grocery line, I just take a deep breathe and smile. A lot of times when my blood sugar gets high, my patience goes right out the door, I’m sure you all know what I mean, so I have been trying hard to control that as well. There have been times in the past that I have been short and snappy with Amanda just because my blood sugar is low, and she doesn’t deserve that because my insulin didn’t work properly. She understands that if my sugar is high that I am probably not going to be the happiest person in the world. There is still room for more growth, there always is.
Dedication
I have definitely slacked off here, big time. I have dedicated myself to my business a lot more. I am accomplishing more work for current clients, but haven’t spent enough time recruiting more. Exercise wise, there really hasn’t been any. I exercise, once or twice a week because I always feel like I have no time, but that is why I have made this one of my words of 2010. I have not dedicated enough time to cooking healthy meals either. I have been given a 1-month free trial pass to LA Fitness, so I am going to go there for a month and that should get me back into the motions of wanting to exercise again because of how good it makes me feel.
Health
For those of you that follow me on Twitter, know that my blood sugars have not been that good lately. I have been sick and have been having really high blood sugars all week long. There have been a few that hit the 400’s but the average has been around 250 or so. You can see my 7,14,and 30 day averages in yesterday’s post about not having an A1C test done for a while. This is my number one concern is my health. My dedication is going to be the key factor into getting my health better again.
So enough blogging about it, and time to actually do it!
No A1C Test for a While
Not having insurance for some time really sucks. Sorry to be so blunt about it, but it does. For those of you in that boat, you know what I mean. I was insured the entire time I was diabetic, so I had no clue how it would actually feel. I could only imagine, but now that my COBRA should be kicking in soon (fingers crossed), things may be getting better. I have not had an A1C test done or seen my doctor since October. I was seeing her on a regular monthly schedule. The very first thing that I am going to be doing when I get that confirmation letter that I am covered again is schedule an appointment with her.
I know that my A1C is not going to be good this time around. I am not even going to try and make myself believe that. Over the last month, my overall sugars have been crap! Below are snapshots of my 7 day, 14 day, and 30 day average levels, respectively. As you will see, not that good.
The 7 day average is mainly due to two bad sites and being sick. My last A1C was 6.9. I was happy with that at the time because the one before that was 7.1, so it was declining. Unfortunately, that is not going to be the case. At least one of my top 10 goals of 2010 should get accomplished. These elevated blood sugars can be explained with two simple words: diet and exercise. Actually, those words may not be as simple as we think. Let’s get into details.
Diet
If you do a search in the dictionary for the word diet you come up with 11 different varieties of the word. Yea, 11! You can choose whichever one you want, but I have decided to go with this one:
“a particular selection of food, esp. as designed or prescribed to improve a person’s physical condition or to prevent or treat a disease: a diet low in sugar.”
That sounds exactly like what I am trying to do. I select certain foods to make me lose weight and keep my blood sugars normal. That part seems easy to do, but it’s the management of it that gets me every time. I feel that I don’t have the time to make a healthy dinner every night. Well that’s just BS because the time that I spend sitting in a restaurant or waiting in line at a fast food joint, I could have spent cutting up some veggies and grilling or boiling some chicken. One tip that has helped me in the past with this is to just put my laptop next to the grill and do some of my consulting work while the food is cooking. Getting something accomplished while making a good, healthy meal.
The next part that ruins my diet every time is the cravings. One craving will kill a whole week’s worth of dieting. I always get cravings for Chinese food, which is my number one craving. I used to crave Taco Bell all the time, but I fought that one off, so I know it is possible to do it with this one as well. A good way to fight off these cravings is to cook up some veggies myself, grill some pork loins and then make my own stir fry with brown rice, there’s my craving fix.
The final struggle to my diet woes is portion control. Even when I do cook a healthy meal, let’s say for example that stir fry I just spoke about. It doesn’t make it healthy when I eat 3 plates of it when I should be eating only 1, maybe a half of a second plate. The way I always justify it to myself is that, well it’s healthier than eating 3 servings of Chinese food, which that logic needs to go, which I know this, it’s just the fact of actually doing it.
These 3 things are what are killing my diet, but I know what I need to do and will need to work harder to stop doing these things and I should be ok.
Exercise
This one is simple and easy to explain, laziness. I make way too many excuses because I am so busy. I work 3.5 days a week on site at Volvo Aero Services and then am doing about 50-60 hours a week worth of consulting or web design work, so there is very little time to fit things in. I also have season tickets to the Florida Panthers so there are nights that I can’t exercise because I don’t get done working until about 5-5:30 and have to leave for the game at 6:30. So that gives me one hour to either cook a good dinner or exercise, and typically neither one of those even happen.
I am sure that I share these same problems with everybody. If it was simple and easy, I’m sure we could all get over these hurdles easily, but they are not simple and easy. It makes it a lot easier however having the supporting cast on here that we all have. Every day that I am living with being overweight is just hurting me in the long run.
It all comes back to my 3 words of 2010 and getting it done!
My Three Words of 2010
I have been extremely busy since the end of the year up until just the last couple of days. I was either sick, spending time with my family up north or just doing regular holiday type things. During this time I decided to step away from the computer and take a break, just get away if you will. I have been catching up on e-mails that I have just been flagging that I wanted to go back and read. I subscribe to Chris Brogan’s blog. He writes great material if you are into the whole social part of social media. He came up with his 3 words for 2010, as he has done over the past few years and this has inspired me to do it as well. In today’s blog on here, you will read about how these words affect my personal life. On my business blog today as well, I am writing about how these three words affect my business. If you would like to read that as well, go to my Chris Stocker Inc blog. Now, onto the three words: growth, dedication, health.
Growth
When I sat down to think about words that could describe what I want to either accomplish or work at this was one of the first ones that popped into my head. Even though I have been 6′ tall since the 8th grade and haven’t grown since, well not vertically at least, that’s not the growth that I mean. I want to grow as a person, a human being. Over the years I have caught myself saying to myself, “how would you feel if somebody did that to you” and I look back at situations and feel horrible. Whether it is yelling at a customer service rep over the phone, it’s not their fault, they are just doing their job, or getting impatient at an elderly person driving in south Florida (for those of you that live here you know that’s at least once before every stop light!), or even being short or rude with Amanda or family or co-workers.
In 2010, I want to work hard to not be that type of person and to grow into becoming a bigger and better person at heart. Be more considerate, take others feelings into affect more often. I don’t want this to sound like I’m some inconsiderate prick right now because that’s not the case, but there is always room for improvement and that is where I want to be.
Dedication
What’s the point of having goals and setting benchmarks if you don’t have the dedication to stick with these things. How are you to lose weight when you can’t dedicate 30 minutes a day to exercise or eating a healthy meal. In 2010 I plan to work hard at dedicating myself to tasks that I put my mind to, no matter what it is. Exercising, work, business, relationships, anything. There is no more laziness in my life. Sure there will be things that I have to give up, but what I gain from them will help me get back what I am missing. What do I mean by that? Here is a perfect situation that usually happens every day. I have two options, watch tv and spend time with Amanda or work out and be healthy. If I make the decision to work out then I am losing out on that 45 minutes of spending time with my girlfriend. Well in the long run, by working out and spending that 45 minutes to exercise, I am saving myself who knows, maybe 1-2 days or even months added onto my life in order to spend more time with her in the future. Dedication is about being able to see the long term goal and pushing yourself to get to it. Knowing that what you are missing out on now will come back ten-fold in the future.
Health
I think this word pretty much summarizes the entire thing. This year I have set some goals for my diabetes, in regards to my weight and A1C. With plans that I have worked out already, this should be manageable. Becoming a healthier person will make me happier, feel better about situations and I feel grow as a person. I will need dedication and growth within myself to get to this healthiness that I am seeking.
As you can see all three of these words fit together in the end. Do this exercise yourself if you haven’t already. Also, like I said if you would like to see how these three words relate to the other side of my life and how they all interact with each other than check out my other blog as well.
Have a great day everybody.
Last Day of NaBloPoMo
Well, this has been the hardest month of my life, but damn does it sure feel good. It always feels great when you set a goal and you accomplish it. Think about how many times you set goals and never accomplish them. For me, at least, I know it happens all the time where I don’t meet them. Especially when it comes to losing weight. Those are the goals that I set most often and the ones that I most often don’t meet. I will continue to try and post every single day, but the weekends is when it is the most difficult, but I can schedule posts for then. Also, I will be going back to work this week, so I won’t have as much time during the day to post and have fun on Twitter all day like I was.
But that is not an excuse because there is still plenty of time that I can get things done. I wrote a post earlier in the month about how NaBloPoMo was kinda like managing your diabetes. I still feel that way, and I feel that I accomplished this, I can continue to accomplish managing my diabetes. If posting once a day is all it takes, than managing my diabetes one day at a time will lower my A1C. I can set a goal to lower my A1C to a manageable level, then I can win. My goal is to lower my A1C one tenth (at least) every 3 months. It does me no good to go from a 7.1 now to a 5.5 in 3 months and back up to 7.2 three months after that. It will do me good however to go from 7.1, 6.9, 6.7, 6.6, and continue this path every 3 months until I am consistently under 6.0, which is what my ultimate goal for 2010 is.
I have taken about a week off in being on Twitter and Facebook and LinkedIn, sort of what you may call slacking. I haven’t answered many e-mails in the past few days, so I am taking today to catch up on all of that. So if you are one of the ones I haven’t answered back to, sorry. I am also going to work on my Contour USB review. I went through all 25 strips, but haven’t hooked it up to the computer yet. It sucks that I am out of strips already, and I still have like 20 boxes of Freestyle Lite, so I’m not going to buy more Contour’s until my Freestyle’s are used up.
Have a great Monday everybody.