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remission 'headroom'?

A

Amyfaith

Well-Known Member
Relationship to Diabetes
In remission from Type 2
Pronouns
She/Her
Hi all,

Lucky to have managed remission now. My GP was reticent to say I was in remission till I told him I understood it didn't mean 'gone', just sort of on 'pause', then he was fine with the label (though my records don't show this, which is mildly annoying). One thing he said I thought was interesting was that at a hbA1c of 35, I have a lot of 'headroom' and should losen up my control a little. (My reading of this is that he felt I was probably being a little too careful and he was concerned in terms of quality of life but if he saw the amount of chocolate I manage to eat with a hbA1c of 35, he'd probably change his mind! :rofl:) But is the idea of having headroom to be a bit freer with my glucose control at a hbA1c of 35 remotely an accurate description? I don't especially want to be popping well into the 40s next year, even if the relative risk to myself is low. I totally expect it to creep up over time due to age/etc., but I found the slightly loose approach to my hbA1c a bit odd. His aim was to stay under 52, if memory serves, whereas I'd like to stay in well below diagnosis (and ideally pre-diabetic) levels if possible. Thoughts? Ideas?
 
I got as low as 35 on my way to remission but I was ruthless with my diet during those 5 months. More relaxed now and my last 5 HbA1cs have sat just below 'At Risk', where I'm happy to be. You could say I've used the headroom I created. My day-to-day diet is still tightly controlled but I allow myself the occasional treat, but only if it's something my wife's baked, or we're eating out.
 
Amyfaith said:
Hi all,

Lucky to have managed remission now. My GP was reticent to say I was in remission till I told him I understood it didn't mean 'gone', just sort of on 'pause', then he was fine with the label (though my records don't show this, which is mildly annoying). One thing he said I thought was interesting was that at a hbA1c of 35, I have a lot of 'headroom' and should losen up my control a little. (My reading of this is that he felt I was probably being a little too careful and he was concerned in terms of quality of life but if he saw the amount of chocolate I manage to eat with a hbA1c of 35, he'd probably change his mind! :rofl:) But is the idea of having headroom to be a bit freer with my glucose control at a hbA1c of 35 remotely an accurate description? I don't especially want to be popping well into the 40s next year, even if the relative risk to myself is low. I totally expect it to creep up over time due to age/etc., but I found the slightly loose approach to my hbA1c a bit odd. His aim was to stay under 52, if memory serves, whereas I'd like to stay in well below diagnosis (and ideally pre-diabetic) levels if possible. Thoughts? Ideas?
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Well done on that reduction! Trust yourself. I followed medical/dietary advice for decades and made everything worse. Now I’m low carb and last A1c was 38 but I need a little insulin to reach that… have reduced it but stopping it raises my levels again. Haven’t quite worked out what’s happening. Meeting with the dietician before Christmas and she wanted me to have carbs with every meal. I thanked her for her input and told her I’d never felt better in decades and would be sticking with what I was doing.
And that’s what it’s about. Feeling good and being healthy and if your way is right for you then stick with it. If you have a treat at a celebration then you know you can do that happily without causing long term damage to yourself. Carbs are harmful to us and I’m not sure how long it’s going to take the medical profession to agree with us.
Best wishes.
 
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