In my experience yes it does become much harder to control over the years , I was diagnosed at age 11 and after an initial a1c of 9.7 I had pretty good a1cs for years ranging from 5.5 to 6.5 but after I turned 18 thing's changed and it became much harder to control and my a1cs were now at 10.2 which I'm guessing it's due to the changes in ur body

It is "natural" for it to rise

As with many other conditions our "parts" start to wear out. The pancreas is no exception so that would make it more "challenging" to keep A1C low/stable but not impossible

However, what does happen is the "guidelines change" with what is considered a good/managed A1C as we age

For example, I was diagnosed at age 52 and I went for "well controlled" - target of consistently below 6.0% - at that rate I would mostly alleviate the chance of developing complications

I made it to age 60 (still 22 years from life expectancy) so now I "want" to at least delay complications "beyond that point" (would never experience them) which means as long as "now" I target lower than 6.5% I should make it

Now if I get to age 70 maybe I'm not planning on making it to age 90 - might be nice, but not "expected", so at 70 maybe only going for a 7.0% is "good enough" - I likely won't develop significant complications if I have been well managed until that point - so maybe it's time to "relax a bit" and eat pizza once a week

If I make it to 80 somehow then I would be fine letting it climb to 7.5 or 8.0 or maybe even 8.5 if I made it to 80 years - I don't "care" if I will start to see heart disease in 10 years, or kidney disease in 10 years - you are damn right I'm catching up on some of the chocolate donuts I have done without since diagnosed

So yes, A1C would "naturally rise" with no intervention simply because our total metabolism would slow down AND our organs would start to degrade - simply getting old

But we could still manage with meds/diet BUT you also have to put in perspective because just maybe, running higher just wouldn't be the issue it was when you were 50 years old and still potentially had multiple decades in front of you...

Usually, diabetes progression is the cause.

If you could put your diabetes into remission maybe the A1C will not rise. ( You might be treating the disease rather than the Symptoms.)

Good to see you today.