Bill Polonsky:
I’m sure you’ve all seen this title before. “Who moved the goalposts?” And what we’re going to do today is a little bit different than in previous videos.
In previous videos, we reviewed some research literature and were very specific about where the problem occurred and how to solve it, but today we’re going to explain what’s coming out that’s not exactly what it seems. To do. Be as specific as I want.
I wish I could talk about it, but something is going wrong. And this is an interesting problem. And this is how I would like to introduce it. You know, over the years, Susan and I have seen a lot of people who are obviously very distressed and burnt out with their diabetes. And one of the major factors that so many people talk to us about is that they’re rarely like attaboys, they’re like, “I did it, I succeeded, my efforts worked.” ” I almost never feel that way. They were rewarded. Now that you’ve reached a safe place with diabetes, you might be able to relax a little.
Instead, I see many people saying: “No matter how well they’re doing, there’s a feeling that I’m never really doing well, I’m not actually doing well enough.” And they have to try harder and harder. And some feel like they can’t quite get there. So we’ve always promoted and suggested this old idea that it’s important to talk to your health care provider. It’s important to talk with your health care provider about what your goals are so that you can actually sit down and say, “I’m safe.” Is it 7.0% A1C below that? We know that the American College of Clinical Endocrinologists says that for most people, an A1C of 6.5% or less is appropriate. Certainly, you want to achieve these numbers without risking severe hypoglycemia. But we’ve seen all that come crashing down. And in part, because our technology and medicines are so advanced, it looks like it’s going away.
Therefore, improving blood sugar levels, improving A1C, and achieving higher levels of time and range is so easy, although it requires effort, that currently by international standards 70% of time and range It is known that it is possible to reach This assumes that you can generally tell how long your blood sugar is between 70 and 180 milligrams per deciliter only if you wear a continuous blood glucose monitor. In other words, anything above 70% is good.
But again, I see so many people and medical professionals saying 70% is fine, but 80% is even better. And in many cases, this is not based on actual outcome data. And it just makes me nervous. Are we really helping people live safer and better lives? Are we just driving them crazy? That’s what I want to talk about.
Especially in the last few years, it feels like the goalposts are moving. And what are we doing to people? I mean, Scott, you live with this every day. Is this a good thing? is that bad? Susan, there are a lot of people who come up with this. What do you think, guys?