The A1C test can be used to diagnose type 2 diabetes and prediabetes. Iron deficiency anemia. Redirecting to /personal-finance/social-security-2023-heres-when-you-can-expect-your-april-check/. About A1C levels. An A1c of 7% roughly translates to an average blood sugar of 154 mg/dl (8.6 mmol/L) as you can see from this conversion chart. Sorry it was from 160 pounds to 120 pound. Your doctor or endocrinologist should test your A1c regularly (typically every 3-6 months). Not only is that very frustrating, scary, and annoying, but it can also affect your A1c and time-in-range negatively. And, quite honestly, thats really silly. Interestingly, one 2018 study suggested that iron deficiency is associated with increased A1C levels in people with diabetes. Experts advise filling about half your plate with vegetables that are low in starch, such as carrots, greens, zucchini, or tomatoes. Thanks for visiting. However, some nutritional supplements can affect your A1C test and lead to inaccurate test results. As I wrote in my post about which diet is best for people with diabetes, it is very possible to have great blood sugar control on a medium (or even high) carb diet, as long as you experiment, take notes, and learn to take the right amounts of insulin for the carbs you are eating. The A1C test outcome is given as a percentage. Setting a regular sleep schedule, avoiding caffeine later in the day, and limiting screen time before bed may be beneficial to ensure you get enough sleep each night. Helping children who are neurodiverse build friendships, Preventable liver disease is rising: What you eat and avoid counts, Easy ways to shop for healthful, cost-conscious foods. Sometimes, things you may not even think about can affect your blood sugar, which can lead to serious complications, such as heart attacks, kidney disease, blindness, or amputation. A normal A1C level is 5.6 percent or below, according to the National Institute of Diabetes and . Peter again here, Well done, sounds like youre doing a lot of positive things for your health. Uncontrolled type 2 diabetes (also known as adult-onset diabetes) is associated with all sorts of very bad things: infections, angry nerve endings causing chronic pain, damaged kidneys, vision loss and blindness, blocked arteries causing heart attacks, strokes, and amputations So of course, it made good sense that the lower the blood sugar, the lower the chances of bad things happening to our patients. Specifically, the A1C test measures what percentage of hemoglobin proteins in your blood are coated with sugar (glycated). If you wear a Continuous Glucose Monitor, you can look at your 7-day, 30-day, and 90-day data to see if you can spot any trends. How much can A1C drop in 3 months? One size in pants. Drug-induced hyperglycaemia and diabetes. But what do you think when you test your a1c. I was over 13. Endocrinology and Metabolism 298, no. Instead, she began eating unlimited amounts of fruits, leafy green vegetables, whole grains, legumes, and starchy vegetables like potatoes and squashes. https://doi.org/10.1074/mcp.M112.021204 This can be done by taking insulin or other drugs, changing your diet, being more active, or some combination of these approaches. A1c, hemoglobinA1c, HbA1c or glycohemoglobin test (all different names for the same thing) is a blood test that measures your average blood sugar over the last 2-3 months. The first step in cleaning a smoking-damaged rental property is to ventilate the space. These cells last for about three months, so, the A1c is thought of as a measure of blood sugars over the prior three months. So is A1c a bad way to gauge whether your diabetes management is on track? I will explain why time-in-range is just as important as a low A1c later in this guide. Lifestyle change also can help achieve healthy blood pressure and cholesterol levels, which in turn reduce the risk for heart disease. Every person with type 2 diabetes is an individual. 4 (April 2011): E735-745. My doctor will probably take me off the metformin because of the control I have with diet /exercise. In the 6 weeks I only lost 10 lbs but I lost 3 inches in my chest but wear the same cup size so it must have been mostly back fat that I lost. One can even drop it to normal levels with a strict diet and medications. The diet is the opposite of the popular keto/Atkins type diets that are low carb and high fat. If you purchase products from any of these partners, Mastering Diabetes may receive a portion of the proceeds. Interpretation of hemoglobin A1C in primary care setting. Some people achieve A1c levels below 5% by following a very strict diabetes management and diet regimen and have almost no blood sugar fluctuations. In a typical day, she eats fruit for breakfast with chia seeds and cinnamon. Plant-Based Nutrition and Healthcare Conference, American College of Lifestyle Medicine Conference, https://doi.org/10.1152/ajpendo.00661.2010, https://doi.org/10.1152/ajpendo.00524.2009. "+a;var y=document.createElement("script");y.type="text/javascript";y.async=true;y.src=x;var z=document.getElementsByTagName("script")[0];z.parentNode.insertBefore(y, z);})(); Hi, I am 39 and my a1c was 6.9 and I reduced it to 5.5 in 3 months and lost weight from 160 pounds to 149 pounds by walking or running. It can be used by doctors to diagnose type 2 diabetes and to monitor patients' diabetes. Plus, get a FREE copy of the Best Diets for Cognitive Fitness. Your doctor may suggest a different medication regime. Learn how your comment data is processed. Thompson, Airlia C. S., Matthew D. Bruss, John C. Price, Cyrus F. Khambatta, William E. Holmes, Marc Colangelo, Marcy Dalidd, et al. Please note the date of last review or update on all articles. However, it may not be a good idea to lower your A1c so quickly, as I will explain below. The A1C test can also help rule out other conditions that can cause similar symptoms, such as hypoglycemia (low blood sugar) caused by insulinoma or hyperglycemia (high blood sugar) due to glucagonoma. It wont go beyond 13 in the test results so it was at 13 and could have been much higher. It means that if you do NOT live with diabetes, your A1c is expected to be below 5.7%. My primary care physician advised me to do nothing and re-check the A1C in one year. In the body, red blood cells are constantly forming and dying, but typically they live for about three months. Annals of Internal Medicine, March 2018. Whats more, one 2015 study found that sleep disturbances could link to higher levels of A1C and impaired blood sugar levels. She wanted to hide type 2 diabetes from her friends and family, and pretend as though her A1c wasnt twice as high as a non-diabetic individual. I used to eat a ton of fruit but those days are gone. My A1c number doesnt reflect whats been going on in my life for the last three months. The A1C test measures blood glucose over a three-month period, which is why it is called the A1C test. How often does Medicare pay for A1C blood tests? People with diabetes need to check their blood glucose levels regularly. Diabetes is a long-term disease, so slow steps to establish new habits that can last a lifetime is the way to go. Even the best life changes a new romance, a big promotion, or buying your dream home can lead to an increase in the hormones associated with stress. Multiple studies have shown that high average blood sugars increase the risk of diabetes-related complications. Health Alerts from Harvard Medical School. Latent autoimmune diabetes. All macronutrients (carbohydrates, proteins, and fats) can affect your blood sugar to some degree sodeveloping a good understanding of how they affect your blood sugar will enable you to be proactive and prevent blood sugar swings. Its also very possible that you simply are running your blood sugar a little too high all the time and could benefit from adjusting your diabetes medication. A1C: What it Measures, Conversion Calculator, Ranges & Tips. The information on this site is not intended or implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. So, if you see a big shift in your hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) levels that you cant explain, you might be surprised or frustrated. Its important to note here that the term normal A1c level in this context refers to people without diabetes. It is not possible to give an accurate reading if your blood has not been taken using this method. I read on line where metformin can reduce A1C an average of. To see why time-in-range is important, take a look at the three lines in the graph below. Rice is a good source of protein. I think we would all prefer our blood sugar to follow line 3 rather than line 1. Its called the high carb low fat diet. You can accelerate this process by taking insulin over time periods of less than one week, which will allow your body time to better adjust to the change and drop your A1C even more quickly. I am not comfortable with this. 2023 by The President and Fellows of Harvard College, Do not sell my personal information | Privacy Policy. You may want to consider taking the time to talk with your doctor about the issue. Im 67, 62 and 205 pounds. Dropped mine from 11.9 to 5.5 in under 3 months everything got better, including my vision. Do you know what a good A1c target is, how to lower your A1c, and how quickly you can lower your A1c safely? Home Diabetes Type 1 Diabetes How to Lower Your A1c: The Complete Guide, By Christel Oerum on April 18, 2018, Updated December 28, 2021. It's critical to recognize that reducing your A1C levels takes time. The proof that this way of eating works is that Ive lowered my A1c by 3 points since eating this way. Compilation Cum In Mouth Over 50 Times! As a service to our readers, Harvard Health Publishing provides access to our library of archived content. It may not display this or other websites correctly. Immediately following her diagnosis, she committed to a plant-based lifestyle and never looked back. The Best Diets for Cognitive Fitness, is yours absolutely FREE when you sign up to receive Health Alerts from Harvard Medical School. If you treat your diabetes with insulin, you will have to manage your insulin levels so you dont experience exercise-induced hypoglycemia. Not all laboratories perform this test so it is important to ask your doctor which one she or he recommends. I think that is based on the nonsense belief that you cannot bring your A1c down quickly without experiencing extended periods of dangerously low blood sugar levels. Lifestyle change should be the cornerstone of treatment for type 2 diabetes. (2015). https://doi.org/10.1210/en.2011-1047 If I was higher than 13.3 then it could have been a 4 or 5 point drop, who knows how high I was. All three lines show an average blood sugar of about 154 mg/dl (which equals an A1c of about 7%) but with very different fluctuations. Association between the presence of iron deficiency anemia and hemoglobin A1c in Korean adults. Does that mean if my A1C is 6.5 it would only lower it by .10 or down to read more. However, the American Diabetes Associations' recommends that a person with diabetes should get their A1C tested by a doctor at least two times a year. By simply knowing this, people struggling with a certain type of carb can choose to reduce their consumption or cut it out of their diet altogether. For example, we generally aim for very tight A1c levels during pregnancy and more conservative targets in young children and the elderly. All right reserved. It's one of the commonly used tests to diagnose prediabetes and diabetes, and is also the main test to help you and your health care team manage your diabetes. Diabetes medications have many potential side effects, including dangerously low blood sugar (hypoglycemia) and weight gain (insulin can cause substantial weight gain). https://doi.org/10.1152/ajpendo.00524.2009. A1c Drops from 11.9 to 4.9 in three months! And so have experts from the Clinical Guidelines Committee of the American College of Physicians, a well-established academic medical organization. How much can A1C drop in 3 months? Administration of metformin glycinate during a 2-month period showed a greater decrease in A1C concentrations than placebo in a selected group of drug-naive adult . 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