H1AC vs Fasting

cheamag said:

Does anyone know if the immunity remains compromised even after fasting sugar returning to normal or does it recover as soon as the sugar levels return to normal?

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Hi @cheamag

Not sure what you’re asking here. Immunity to what?

Are you just testing your blood glucose levels in the morning? One reading a day isn’t the best marker for the overall trend in your sugar levels.

I'm going to answer what I think your asking but please clarify.

Hba1c is made up of your average blood glucose over the last 3 months.

Two main parts to this story are your fasting results (in the morning, or when you have not eaten for several hours). The second being your levels after you eat.

Some one could have excellent fasting levels, but have massive spikes after eating the wrong foods and still have a poor hba1c. Some one could have very good control of diet and no spikes after eating but still poor fasting levels and have a poor hba1c.

It really does depend on the individual and the status of their condition. The only way to know is to test your blood in both cases, see where your levels are. You can make some guesses based in this but ultimately your guesses are only validated when the next hba1c test comes in

My guess is if your numbers are good fasting but you have a high A1c then the most likely scenario is that your glucose is high throughout the day. It' s not quite clear if you mean immunity (like from viruses) or if you mean something else. I can't speak to immunity but I know that high glucose causes damage to your body, eyes, kidneys, nerves, etc. Even if you fasting glucose is good having high glucose the rest of the time is still doing damage. The A1c is a measurement of how much glucose is stuck your hemoglobin. Once glucose is stuck to the hemoglobin, it is there for the life of the red blood cell (typically 2-3 months). If you have a high A1c then that means that you have a lot of glucose in the blood (at some point) available to stick to the hemoglobin.

(Disclaimer: There are circumstances where the A1c reading is inaccurate such as anything that could impact the life of the red blood cells, among other situations but, the majority of the time it is as I said above).

I’m guessing what you’re saying is that you have been having difficulty controlling your diabetes in the not too distant past(HbA1c 60). You’ve got scared by coronavirus (me too!), have got your fasting blood sugar down, and are wondering if you’re now in a good position to fight off the virus. Answer: I don’t know and I’m not a doctor.

I think, but don’t know, that with coronavirus there is a risk of a secondary bacterial pneumonia which would be more likely if your blood sugar is high. So if your blood sugar is OK then you are probably in a better position.

Just out of curiosity what sort of fasting blood sugar are you getting, including units? I was 5.9 mmol/L this morning which I’m not totally happy with. I am a bit congested but I think I’ve also dropped the ball a bit diet wise.

https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog...-questions-and-some-answers-2020022719004#q12

Bacterial infection can complicate this viral infection. Patients may require antibiotics in cases of bacterial pneumonia as well as COVID-19.