# A1C test and blood letting. **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 26, 2018, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a1c-test-and-blood-letting/811213 "2018-03-26T17:14:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![psychobunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/54ee81/32.png) [@psychobunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychobunny)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2018, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a1c-test-and-blood-letting/811213/21 "2018-04-18T00:45:43Z")
If you wait until you have symptoms of diabetes it is too late. However, in people with a high HGA1C who are adamant that they do not have diabetes, the simplest thing to do is to get a glucometer and check your actual blood sugar. You should get multiple measurements fasting, before meals, and two hours after meals. If these are all normal, this may support your feeling that the test is in error. If you feel that you have one of the rare hemoglobin variants that interfere with the testing then ask your doctor to do a fructosamine level which will be unaffected by hemoglobin. Finally know that diabetes is a disease that can occur without relationship to what you eat or how much you weigh. While controlling diet and weight can often help to keep diabetes under control, people who have diabetes despite a healthy diet and normal weight will usually need medication for control. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2018, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a1c-test-and-blood-letting/811213/22 "2018-04-18T15:30:13Z")
> [@Jasmine](#): > > I feel fine. I feel fine, too. Even though my pancreas completely died about five years ago, and I’m now a fully insulin-dependent diabetic. Even when my blood sugar is in the 400 range, I still feel completely fine. Feeling fine is absolutely worthless as a diagnostic test. ---
**Author:** ![Kyrie\_Eleison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kyrie_eleison/32/7682_2.png) [@Kyrie\_Eleison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyrie_Eleison)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2018, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a1c-test-and-blood-letting/811213/23 "2018-04-20T20:47:49Z")
There’s actual research into this: [Alterations in HbA1c resulting from the donation of autologous blood for elective surgery in patients with diabetes mellitus](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3934276/) > [@](#): > > We were able to show that the HbA1c level of DM patients was reduced by the donation of autologous blood. Of course it makes sense. The HbA1c test in essence measures the amount of exposure of red blood cells to sugar over their life so far and assumes that the red blood cells have a “usual” age distribution. If you can get the body to eject some of the older cells and replace them with newer ones, you skew the test results. As others noted, this is a silly treatment strategy. You could achieve the same effect more easily by changing your HbA1c result of 8.1 to 7.9 with whiteout and a pen. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2018, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a1c-test-and-blood-letting/811213/24 "2018-04-20T23:40:43Z")
> [@susan](#): > > A1c isn’t a new test. Well, relative to bloodletting, it kinda is… ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2018, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a1c-test-and-blood-letting/811213/25 "2018-04-21T02:36:55Z")
True. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a1c-test-and-blood-letting/811213.md?page=1)