The human body never ceases to amaze me. Or, in this case, completely flabberghast me. In a follow up from my blog entry from earlier, I am back from my appointment with my endo.
I come to you bearing both good news and bad news (and interesting news plus another tidbit).
First, the good news. By some miracle, my A1c was not only lower than I expected, it was lower than it has ever been. Yes, folks, I managed a 6.4! Which is perplexing, to say the least, since I've been having so many highs. And not just highs...but really high highs. (Maybe they messed up my readings with someone else.)
Second, the bad news. My cholesterol is elevated. Specifically, both my HDL and LDL. That's good for my HDL, but bad for the LDL. I'm not entirely surprised by this, however. In the past year, I've kind of given in to the temptation of eating high-cholesterol foods far more often than ever. My doctor wants to put me on a statin, which I'll get to in a minute...but I told him let's hold off. I'm going to spend the next three months revamping my diet back to the healthy way I used to eat and see if I can bring it down that way.
Third, the interesting news. As I mentioned, my doctor wanted me to go on a statin. Not because my LDL is horribly high. But he informed me that recent research has shown that the A1c has not been proven to be an indicator of heart disease in Type 1 diabetics. In fact, according to him, there isn't much proof of correlation at all. Instead, he said that having an LDL above 100 (which is considered otherwise somewhat normal) indicates a huge increase in the probabiliy of heart disease for type 1s. Apparently, they are recommending that every Type 1 diabetic with LDL at 100 or higher go on a cholesterol-lowering statin.
Finally, a tidbit. My pump (the Minimed Paradigm 511) is now 3 1/2 years old. Often, people replace their pump at the four year mark. I asked my doctor about this, and he told me I might just consider holding off attempting to upgrade if my pump hasn't had problems. The reason is, apparently the trials on the Minimed combined Continuous Glucose Monitoring System and Insulin Pump are nearing completion. He said the estimates are about twelve months or so, and it will be available, so it might be best to hold off. I had assumed a few more years...but I guess it is closer than I realized. The new CGMS he said is a significantly smaller system than what Minimed sells today as a standalone unit, but will communicate wirelessly to the pump.
There you have it folks. And now, I must head off to bed.
