Varying Diabetic Standards

As a Food Service Administrator (retired), I, too, look behind the doors (discreetly) of restaurants to see if there are any code violations, and have walked out when I see practices that may reflect on the wholesomeness of the product, such as 50# of food on the floor and employees licking their fingers or playing with their hair. 

As for the numbers.... I agree we who have some degree of intelligence can figure out how to manage the disease and make optimum choices (most of the time), but for newbies the seriousness of the disease cannot be stressed enough when the organizations from which we are looking for support disagree.

I have been Type 2 for over 10 years, A1c of 5.5, am 66, and AM glucose was 94.  I am looking for a "support" group that centers on living a full life where diabetes is in the background, not the center of attention.

Pauline Barrett,

Kent, WA

You asked "Why was there a difference in the values recommended by my doctor, the ADA, and AACE?"

ADA and AACE have differing experts, and presumably they used different studies (plus their own experiences) to come up with their differing values.

Now, to the much harder question of why your doctor came up with a differing recommendation:

First, it's unclear if your physician is a full-fledged card carrying member of ADA, AACE, or both: if he/she is, and practices diabetes care as a larger portion of his/her practice, then I'd take the personalized recommendation of your physician over that of any faceless authority. On the other hand, if he/she is a GP caring for measles, mumps, anxiety, pregnancy, geezers, and STDs and dabbling in diabetes, I'd tend to discount the recommendaion.

Second, your physician's recommendation may be "graduated goal setting" (look that one up in Google!). If so, then as you find you can reach these goals, you should look at progressively more stringent goals. Like if you were starting training for a four-minute mile, you might be comfortable with doing the mile in 6 minutes (or six hours?) then as you succeed in that goal, establishing a more stringent goal for your next step...

Hope this helps...

Bill

William W. Quick, MD, FACP, FACE

Diabetes Monitor

http://www.diabetesmonitor.com

Monitoring diabetes happenings everywhere in cyberspace, and providing information, education and support for people with diabetes.

DiabetesDiscussions

http://www.diabetesdiscussions.com

Discussion Forums about diabetes

Dr. Bill's blog

http://www.diabetesmonitor.com/dbb.htm

at MyDiabetesCentral.com

as a wise woman once said, there is no science of the particular- that being the case, the differing standards are problematic, and likely confounded by research and politics-  historically, the AACE would have the most stringent standards, following the dictum the lower the better (or euglycemia as the gold standard)- the secondary medical field standards would be more lenient or 'realistic' as the previous comment pointed out- but there is also research which hints that the lower the better is not always true- it may well turn out that too tight control for diabetics may have adverse effects- so while standards may govern the macro numbers, I think wisdom must govern the individual: maintaining weight, eating healthy, exercise, and a stable HgBA1C is probably the healthy profile for a diabetic lifestyle