Monday, 26 April 2021: Me and my Aic
It's been almost two full weeks since I last posted: thirteen days, to be exact. Too long, by any measurement.
One mitigating factor is that I haven't been out and about much, so there hasn't been much to report on. I did, finally, manage to get myself over to Presyterian Medical Center's lab for a blood draw on Monday, April 19th. Horowitz always requests a full blood panel, but the only result he is ever interested in is my A1c. The A1c tracks my blood sugar level which has been consistently under 7.0, bumping along since July 2018 right around 6.5. This time is jumped up to 7.4. Not good. Not good at all.
You control your A1c levels through a combination of meds, diet, and exercise. Fifteen minutes to half an hour before I eat, I take what I call 'my meal pill,' repaglinide.** I should steer clear of almost all highly processed food which have added sugars and low fiber content; i.e., no sugary desserts, no fast food. I am good on the fast food, not good at all when it comes to the sugary desserts. Finally, my go-to exercise is walking which I enjoy and which has always been my default mode of transportation. Walking 2.25 miles to work, five days a week, took care of my daily exercise for years. Now, however, two or three lengths of my hallway...about 85 of my steps...and my back hurts. That's a problem, and one I plan to talk to my physical therapist about this week.
Horowitz did comment on the result, but wasn't overly concerned. I wish I could quote, and preserve, our terse exchange...Horowitz is a man of few words, at least few written words...but I deleted the exchange. Grrr. FanSee
**Per the ever-helpful Wikipedia, Repaglinide lowers blood glucose by stimulating the release of insulin from the beta islet cells of the pancreas. It achieves this by closing ATP-dependent potassium channels in the membrane of the beta cells. This depolarizes the beta cells, opening the cells' calcium channels, and the resulting calcium influx induces insulin secretion.
One mitigating factor is that I haven't been out and about much, so there hasn't been much to report on. I did, finally, manage to get myself over to Presyterian Medical Center's lab for a blood draw on Monday, April 19th. Horowitz always requests a full blood panel, but the only result he is ever interested in is my A1c. The A1c tracks my blood sugar level which has been consistently under 7.0, bumping along since July 2018 right around 6.5. This time is jumped up to 7.4. Not good. Not good at all.
You control your A1c levels through a combination of meds, diet, and exercise. Fifteen minutes to half an hour before I eat, I take what I call 'my meal pill,' repaglinide.** I should steer clear of almost all highly processed food which have added sugars and low fiber content; i.e., no sugary desserts, no fast food. I am good on the fast food, not good at all when it comes to the sugary desserts. Finally, my go-to exercise is walking which I enjoy and which has always been my default mode of transportation. Walking 2.25 miles to work, five days a week, took care of my daily exercise for years. Now, however, two or three lengths of my hallway...about 85 of my steps...and my back hurts. That's a problem, and one I plan to talk to my physical therapist about this week.
Horowitz did comment on the result, but wasn't overly concerned. I wish I could quote, and preserve, our terse exchange...Horowitz is a man of few words, at least few written words...but I deleted the exchange. Grrr. FanSee
**Per the ever-helpful Wikipedia, Repaglinide lowers blood glucose by stimulating the release of insulin from the beta islet cells of the pancreas. It achieves this by closing ATP-dependent potassium channels in the membrane of the beta cells. This depolarizes the beta cells, opening the cells' calcium channels, and the resulting calcium influx induces insulin secretion.