 If you want to have better control of your blood sugar, try this. Exercise four or more times a week, manage your weight, and take your medications regularly. A year ago, Debbie Levinson was struggling with all of these. I willfully ignored the symptoms that come with having high sugars. Until she had a health crisis. I had a boil on my skin, and I let it get infected to the point where it was so painful. Debbie ended up in urgent care, where she learned she wouldn't heal unless she got her blood sugar under control. My A1C was over 14, which is a little staggering. The A1C is a common blood sugar test for people with diabetes. Anything over nine is considered very poor control. Debbie's numbers were so high she was referred to a health coach. Hi Debbie, this is Paula calling Health Coach with Kaiser Permanente. Paula Winch called Debbie nearly every week for six months. At first, Debbie wasn't ready to make changes, so Paula helped her explore her barriers and motivations. Listening to what had happened and listening to her fears. Debbie had had diabetes for years, but never told anyone. My husband had no idea what was going on with me. My friends didn't, my colleagues, my coworkers in this room. There's eight of us, I think. They had no idea. Debbie works as a sign language interpreter. It gave her a big sense of relief to tell her family and coworkers about her diagnosis. Once Debbie had a support system in place, Paula asked her if she was willing to make some small changes to her eating habits. Would she be willing to start having some healthy snacks every three or four hours rather than going six or seven hours without eating anything? And how did she feel about taking her medications regularly? As doctors we assume you write the prescription your job is done. Dr. Harry Glauber says some patients think they're taking their medications every day, but their medical record, which includes information about when they refill their prescriptions, tells a different story. So in our clinical tools we have a field that says percent days covered. And if it's 100 percent, 95 percent the person is taking their medicines, 95 to 100 percent of the time. If it's 50 percent that's your answer of why the diabetes control is poor. Glauber says if you point this out to most patients they will start taking their medications more often. Debbie went from never taking her diabetes medications to taking them 96 percent of the time. And she went from being too scared to exercise because of her pain to exercising five days a week. I'm doing water aerobics just moving. There's nothing glamorous about it. It's just moving in the water. And it's made a big difference. In six months her blood sugar values took a dive from over 14 to 6.8, which is right in the target range for people with diabetes. She's also lost over 100 pounds and decreased her risk for another health crisis. I'm Mary Soyers reporting.