The A1C test, also known as the hemoglobin A1C or HbA1c test, is a blood test that measures your average blood glucose levels over the past three months. It’s a crucial marker for diagnosing and managing diabetes. A normal A1C level is below 5.7%, prediabetes ranges from 5.7% to 6.4%, and diabetes is diagnosed at 6.5% or higher.
High A1C can cause many problems and lead to serious health complications, including eye damage, nerve damage (neuropathy), kidney damage (nephropathy), and amputation.
Key Facts
- The A1C test measures average blood sugar over the past three months.
- High A1C levels can cause tiredness, thirst, frequent urination, nausea, vomiting, dry mouth, blurred vision, and drowsiness.
- Untreated high A1C can lead to blindness, kidney failure, heart attack, nerve damage, amputation, and other serious complications.
- A1C levels below 5.7% are normal, 5.7%-6.4% indicate prediabetes, and 6.5% or higher indicate diabetes.
Table of Contents
What is the A1c Blood Test?
The A1 blood test measures your average blood sugar level over the past three months. The AIC test is also called a hemoglobin test or glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c). This type of diabetes test checks for high glucose levels in the blood, which can cause many problems if left untreated.
If you’ve been diagnosed with diabetes, it’s essential to know what your A1C level is. The American Diabetes Association recommends that the goal for people with diabetes should be less than 7%. This can not only help prevent cardiovascular disease and kidney problems, but also have huge effects on preventing blindness and nerve damage. A regulated blood sugar level will decrease your risk over time, even if you don’t have any of those symptoms.
The benefits of this diabetes test include being able to detect diabetic symptoms before they arise with routine screening, or prevent diabetes complications when you already have diabetes. If you have started showing signs that suggest an increase in A1C, then it may be time to see your doctor about possible treatment options, including medication changes, exercise programs, and meal plans.
By keeping your A1C number within your target range, you can prevent complications such as kidney disease and heart attack. If you are unsure of your A1C number or have any questions about this test, contact a doctor who specializes in diabetes to learn more about the difficulties with high levels of blood sugar.
You can use the A1c calculator to convert your average blood sugar to your A1c % levels.
What Do You Do if Your Blood Sugar is Too High?
The best thing to do when your blood sugar levels are too high is to eat low-carb and high-protein meals and drink a lot of water. Did you forget to take your insulin? You can do a correction bolus or take your medication before you eat. If the high blood sugar continues, contact your doctor and ask them to review your current insulin dosages. If they need to prescribe another type of medicine for diabetes that will help keep blood glucose levels within the normal range.
Keep testing your blood sugar levels at regular intervals to ensure that your high blood sugar is dropping, and if so, not too fast and too much.
How Do You Feel When Your A1c is High?
If your blood sugar level is too high, you may experience symptoms such as:
- Tiredness.
- Increased thirst and frequent urination, or both.
- Nausea or vomiting.
- Dry mouth.
- Blurred vision that doesn’t go away when you look at something else.
- Drowsiness to the point of feeling like being drunk.
What Causes a Sudden Increase in A1c?
A sudden increase of at least three points within one year could mean that something serious has happened, such as pregnancy, puberty, illness, or diabetes-related complications like nephropathy (kidney problems), neuropathy (nerve problems), injury/surgery, prescription drug side effects. Or eating disorder/lack of hunger from depression.
Not paying too much attention to your blood glucose levels could also be the reason for the sudden increase. Unregulated blood sugar levels and bad management increase A1C levels.
What Are High A1c Levels’ Side Effects?
The side effects of having a high A1C are increased risk for cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure, high blood glucose, and decreased blood flow. A high blood sugar level can lead to kidney failure, heart attack, stomach ulcers, nerve damage, and more. Therefore, keeping your A1C between 4% and 6% is crucial. The goal for most diabetics is 7% or less. Talk to your doctor if you have signs of high glucose levels.
If your levels are over 13%, you may experience blurred vision or headaches because the excess glucose in your bloodstream is used as a fuel source for anaerobic metabolism, raising lactic acid production.
How Long Can You Live With High A1c?
Predicting how long you will live with a high hemoglobin A1C is difficult. The good news is that you can lower your A1C levels and be healthy again.
Luckily, there are plenty of ways to increase your blood sugar control and get that number back where it should be!
According to Medical News Today, a 55-year-old male with type 2 diabetes is expected to live for another 13.2–21.1 years, while the general expectancy would be 24.7 more years of life without any disease or condition at all! A 75-year-old man who also suffers from this illness might expect 4.3 – 9.6 more years of living, compared with 10 additional healthy and happy ones if he didn’t have it.
The good news is that people with diabetes live longer thanks to medical advancements and better care.
How Can I Lower My A1c Quickly?
You can lower your hemoglobin A1C by making lifestyle changes like tracking the number of carbohydrates in your diet, exercising regularly, or checking blood glucose levels more than once a day with an at-home glucometer. Make sure you always listen to your doctor’s advice.
Conclusion
It’s important to stay healthy and lower your A1C levels with the following tips. Make sure you test your blood sugar levels regularly, eat a diet low in carbohydrates, exercise, and keep track of what you’re eating. You can also speak to an endocrinologist about medications that suit you. These are all great ways to maintain good health while keeping high diabetes-related risks like heart disease or kidney failure at bay. Stay healthy and lower those A1C levels.
Newly diagnosed T2 Diabetic and I’m on Trajenta once daily, my doctor doesn’t want me to check my blood glucose other than a blood test every 3 months or so. My A1C is now down to 6.3 to 6.4, I find some days i’m really thristy and tired others i’m doing ok. Should I be concerned about not checking my blood glucose more often?
While the article gives a good overview, it’d be beneficial to delve into the scientific bases of how high A1c levels affect bodily functions. Has there been any recent research on this, Ely Fornoville?
Great question, Jenny_Q! There’s some fascinating ongoing research about A1c and inflammation markers. Would love to see more on that topic here.
yeah whats up with the inflamation thing? sounds serious
If eatin’ donuts raises A1c, call me a record holder, haha. But fr, how bad is it actually to have a bit of a sweet tooth? Asking for a friend.
hey Ely Fornoville, just saw this part about how to lower A1c quickly. got a kid who’s dealing with diabetes n its kinda new to us all. what’s the safest way to do it without risking other health issues? anyone got experience with this?
It’s all about small steps, Kevon. Diet changes and regular exercise made a big difference for me. Always good to consult with a doc though.