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What To Do When Your Blood Sugar Is High


What Should I Do If My Glucose Levels Are Too High

Why Your Blood Sugar Is High on Low Carb or Keto?

You should establish a treatment plan with your doctor. You may be able to manage your glucose levels through diet and other lifestyle changes, like weight loss. Exercise can also help lower your glucose levels.

Medications may be added to your treatment if needed. Most people with type 2 diabetes will start on metformin as their first medication. There are many different types of diabetes medications that act in different ways.

Injecting insulin is one way to quickly reduce your glucose levels. Your doctor may prescribe insulin if you need help managing your glucose levels. Your doctor will determine your dosage and go over with you how to inject it, and when.

Let your doctor know if your glucose levels are consistently high. This could mean you need to take regular medication or make other changes to your diabetes treatment plan. Working with your doctor to get your glucose levels under control is important. Consistently high levels can lead to serious complications, like diabetic neuropathy or kidney failure.


Scared Of Getting Diabetes

According to the Journal of Geriatric Cardiology , the type of diet that Dr. Doyle recommends is highly beneficial for preventing and treating type 2 diabetes.

For people accustomed to SAD standard American diet the idea of the whole food, plant based diet will seem impossible.

If preventing and treating type 2 diabetes is as simple as adhering to a particular diet, why dont more mainstream medical doctors push this approach?

Its because medical school spends only a few hours on nutrition, and only in the general sense.

During internships and residencies at hospitals, medical doctors are essentially trained in only diagnostics, drugs and surgery.


Type 2 diabetes is usually treated with diet and exercise alone, yes, but the patient is typically only told to watch sugar intake or cut back on fast food, rather than told to keep intake of animal and processed products under 10 percent.

FoodTherapyMD is the brainchild of Dr. Mitchell Doyle and recognizes that phytonutrients, the substances that make plant food so amazing, can be tailored to fight specific disease states.
Lorra Garrick has been covering medical, fitness and cybersecurity topics for many years, having written thousands of articles for print magazines and websites, including as a ghostwriter. Shes also a former ACE-certified personal trainer.

Take Your Insulin As Prescribed

High blood sugar occurs when your body has too little insulin, or your body cant use insulin properly. Administering insulin can bring your blood sugar levels down.

Talk to your doctor about how much rapid-acting insulin you should administer when your blood sugar is high.

You may want to check your blood sugar about 1530 minutes after taking insulin to make sure your blood sugar is going down and that its not dropping too low.

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How Do I Prevent Hyperglycemia

  • Exercise to help lower blood sugar. Work with your healthcare provider to make a daily activity plan.
  • Follow your meal plan if you have one. Learn how carbohydrates impact your blood sugar, and work with your diabetes care team to find the best meal plan for you.
  • Maintain a healthy weight.
  • Dont smoke.
  • Limit drinking alcohol. Alcohol can raise blood sugar levels, but can also cause dangerously low blood sugar levels. Work with your provider to determine how much is safe to drink.

Last reviewed by a Cleveland Clinic medical professional on 02/11/2020.

References

How Can High Blood Sugar Levels In The Morning Be Controlled

Pin on ELIZA

Once you and your doctor determine how your blood sugar levels are behaving at night, he or she can advise you about the changes you need to make to better control them. Options that your doctor may discuss depend on the cause of the morning high blood sugars.

For dawn phenomenon:

  • Changing the timing or type of your diabetes medications
  • Eating a lighter breakfast
  • Increasing your morning dose of diabetes medication
  • If you take insulin, switching to an insulin pump and programming it to release additional insulin in the morning

For Somogyi effect:

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Diabetic Hyperglycemic Hyperosmolar Syndrome

Hyperglycemic hyperosmolar syndrome is a potentially life threatening condition involving extremely high blood sugar levels.

When your blood sugar gets too high, the kidneys try to compensate by removing some of the excess glucose through urination.

If you dont drink enough fluids to replace the fluid youre losing, your blood sugar levels spike. Your blood also becomes more concentrated. This can also occur if you drink too many sugary beverages.

This condition is called hyperosmolarity. Blood thats too concentrated begins to draw water out of other organs, including the brain.

Any illness that makes you dehydrated or reduces your insulin activity can lead to HHS. Its commonly a result of unmanaged or undiagnosed diabetes. An illness or infection can trigger HHS.


Failure to monitor and manage blood glucose levels can also lead to HHS.

Symptoms may develop slowly and increase over a period of days or weeks. Possible symptoms include:

  • fluids given through your veins to prevent or reverse dehydration
  • insulin to lower and stabilize your blood sugar levels
  • potassium, phosphate, or sodium replacement if necessary to help return your cells to their normal function

Treatment will also address any complications from HHS, such as shock or coma.

Factors that can increase your risk of complications with HHS include:

  • advanced age
  • severity of dehydration when youre treated
  • the presence of other illnesses when youre diagnosed

Take the following steps to help prevent HHS:


Signs That Blood Sugar Levels Are High

People with high blood sugar may:

  • pee a lot. When blood sugar levels get too high, the kidneys flush out the extra glucose into your urine , which is why people who have high blood sugar levels need to pee more often and in larger amounts.
  • drink a lot. Because youre losing so much fluid from peeing so much, you can get very thirsty.
  • lose weight. If there isnt enough insulin to help the body use glucose, the body starts to break down your muscle and fat for energy and you lose weight.
  • feel tired. Because the body cant use glucose for energy properly, you may feel really tired.

High blood sugar levels dont always cause these symptoms. Sometimes you can have high blood sugar levels without even knowing it. But if left untreated, they can cause serious health problems. Thats why its important to work with your parents and diabetes team to keep your blood sugar levels in a healthy range. This can mean checking your blood sugar levels a few times a day, even when you feel fine.

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Controlled Means Different Things To Different People

Theres no one-size-fits-all recommendation for blood sugar control.

The ADA says that a reasonable goal for many nonpregnant adults is to aim for an A1C level of less than 7. Yet some patients may be given a more stringent goal by their healthcare providers, such as 6.5, if thats reachable without harmful side effects, including hypoglycemia.


On the other hand, if you are elderly, managing other health complications, or reliant on insulin, you may be given less stringent goals. It really becomes more important to just keep in the same place, says Rahil Bandukwala, DO, an endocrinologist at MemorialCare Saddleback Medical Center in Laguna Hills, California. Keeping A1C between 7.5 and 8.5 may be very reasonable for such a patient, Dr. Bandukwala adds, echoing the ADAs recommendations.

Because elderly people are more likely to have blood sugar that swings too far downward, with fewer warning signs, managing their glucose too tightly can put them at greater risk for hypoglycemia, says Bandukwala. When you have low blood sugar, youre at a higher risk for becoming dizzy and falling or passing out, notes the ADA.

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How To Check Your Blood Sugar Levels

10 Alarming Signs Your Blood Sugar Is Too High

As Dr. Emanuele says, glucose monitoring can be an important tool to help you get your blood sugar under control. Typically, you would do it yourself using a glucose meter or glucometer, which analyzes a drop of blood that you draw by sticking your finger with a lancet and placing the blood on a disposable test strip that you insert into the meter. Your blood sugar goals are set by you and your doctor, but blood glucose for an adult without diabetes is below 100 mg/dl before meals and at fasting and less than 140 mg/dl two hours after a meal, notes the ADA.

Some people will check their blood sugar daily or multiple times a day, sometimes using a continuous monitor that is worn on the body particularly those who have type 1 diabetes or who have type 2 but take insulin. Yet how frequently a person should monitor their blood sugar is based on a number of factors, including but not limited to whether theyre on insulin, whether they’re taking oral medication, and how well their blood sugar is controlled and how old they are.


Meanwhile, keep an eye out for these nine key warning signs and symptoms that blood sugar is too high and talk to your doctor about whether you need to adjust your management plan.

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Manage Your Carb Intake

Your carb intake strongly influences your blood sugar levels .

Your body breaks carbs down into sugars, mainly glucose. Then, insulin helps your body use and store it for energy.

When you eat too many carbs or have insulin-function problems, this process fails, and blood glucose levels can rise.


Thats why the American Diabetes Association recommends that people with diabetes manage their carb intake by counting carbs and being aware of how many they need .

Some studies find that this can help you plan your meals appropriately, further improving blood sugar management (

Foods that are high in fiber include:

  • vegetables
  • legumes
  • whole grains

The recommended daily intake of fiber is about 25 grams for women and 35 grams for men. Thats about 14 grams for every 1,000 calories .

Summary

Eating plenty of fiber can aid blood sugar management. Soluble dietary fiber appears to be more effective than insoluble fiber for this purpose.

Drink Water And Stay Hydrated

Drinking enough water could help you keep your blood sugar levels within healthy ranges.


In addition to preventing dehydration, it helps your kidneys flush out any excess sugar through urine.

One review of observational studies showed that those who drank more water had a lower risk of developing high blood sugar levels (

34 ).

You can do so at home using a portable blood glucose meter, which is known as a glucometer. You can discuss this option with your doctor.

Keeping track allows you to determine whether you need to adjust your meals or medications. It also helps you learn how your body reacts to certain foods .


Try measuring your levels regularly every day and keeping track of the numbers in a log. Also, it may be more helpful to track your blood sugar in pairs for example, before and after exercise or before and 2 hours after a meal.

This can show you whether you need to make small changes to a meal if it spikes your blood sugar, rather than avoiding your favorite meals altogether. Some adjustments include swapping a starchy side for non-starchy veggies or limiting them to a handful.

Summary

Checking your blood glucose and maintaining a daily log enables you to adjust foods and medications when necessary to better manage your blood sugar levels.

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What To Do If You Facing Extremely High Blood Sugar Situation

Well, if it happens that you are facing a high sugar attack the immediate step is to drink lots of water. It will dilute the blood level thereby saving form a further deterioration. Then you may take medication and come back to normalcy. Extremely high blood sugar might lead to a cardiac arrest in some cases.

How To Lower Blood Sugar Immediately

How To Recognize High Blood Sugar

Michael Menna, DO, is a board-certified, active attending emergency medicine physician at White Plains Hospital in White Plains, New York.


If you have high blood sugar, a condition also known as hyperglycemia, theres too much sugar in your blood and not enough insulin in your body to lower it. In people with diabetes, hyperglycemia can be caused by things like eating too many carbohydrates, lack of physical activity, stress from an illness or infection, nondiabetes medications , or skipping or not taking enough glucose-lowering medication.

Hyperglycemia requires immediate treatment to prevent serious complications, including nerve, tissue, and organ damage diabetic ketoacidosis and hyperglycemic hyperosmolar syndrome . While taking rapid-acting insulin is the quickest way to lower your blood sugar, there are other ways like exercising and staying hydrated that can help. In cases of an emergency, contact your healthcare provider immediately.

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Managing Your Diabetes Devices

If you are using an insulin pump, talk to your diabetes team about how to best manage hyperglycemia. In general, be sure to check your pump first. Make sure all parts are connected and working correctly. Check your bolus history and temporary basal rate. Also check your insulin to make sure it has not expired or gotten too warm.

If you use a CGM, try not to react to it too often. You might be tempted to give another dose of insulin too soon, before the first one finishes working, which is known as stacking insulin this can cause low blood sugar .

What Causes Low Blood Sugar

Low blood sugar has many causes, including missing a meal, taking too much insulin, taking other diabetes medicines, exercising more than normal, and drinking alcohol. Blood sugar below 70 mg/dL is considered low.

Signs of low blood sugar are different for everyone. Common symptoms include:

  • Shaking.
  • Dizziness.
  • Hunger.

Know what your individual symptoms are so you can catch low blood sugar early and treat it. If you think you may have low blood sugar, check it even if you dont have symptoms. Low blood sugar can be dangerous and should be treated as soon as possible.

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You Have Noticeably Blurry Vision And Frequent Headaches

You may notice that your vision isnt as clear as it used to be and that things may appear a bit blurry. High blood sugar levels can lead to swollen lenses in your eye from fluid leaking in, according to the Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston. This changes the shape of the lens, which makes it unable to properly focus, causing blurred vision. You may also find yourself struggling at work, having difficulty driving, and suffering from frequent headaches, Emanuele notes.

When Should You Check Your Blood Sugar Levels

How to bring down high blood sugar levels (hyperglycemia)

Its important that people who suspect they have diabetes or pre-diabetes monitor their glucose levels regularly, checking at least once daily and charting the results in order to know what is normal for themselves. If it seems like something isnt quite right with ones blood glucose. It may be time to talk to a doctor about getting a diabetes diagnosis. Its also important that parents make sure their children are well aware of any symptoms of high or low blood sugar. So they know when they need to alert an adult about what might be going on if their parents are not around.

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How High Blood Sugar Impacts Sleep

The symptoms you may experience with high blood sugar at night could make it difficult for you to sleep, including falling and staying asleep. Depending on when you eat prior to bedtime, your digestive system may wake you up at odd hours.

A related issue is known as the dawn phenomenon, which is when you wake up with high blood sugar in the morning. This can also be caused by overeating foods in the evening that cause high blood sugar.

How To Fix High Blood Sugars In The Morning

The Dawn Phenomenon

More than half of people with diabetes are thought to experience dawn phenomenon, and it can lead to significant increases in HbA1c.

The dawn phenomenon begins when your body secretes a surge of hormones, including growth hormone, cortisol, adrenaline and glucagon. These hormones start working very early each morning around the same time to prepare your body to wake. Basically, your body is starting the engine, releasing some fuel, and prepping to go for the day.

These hormones trigger the conversion of the livers glycogen stores into glucose which is then dumped into the blood in a process called glycogenolysis.

This general process occurs in all humans regardless of whether they have diabetes. In people without diabetes, the bodys natural insulin response prevents the blood sugars from rising. In people with diabetes, though, the body is unable to produce a healthy insulin response, and therefore blood glucose levels spike up.

The Mayo Clinic suggests several strategies you can try to combat the effects of dawn phenomenon:

  • Use an insulin pump to administer extra insulin during early-morning hours.
  • Avoid carbohydrates at bedtime.
  • Adjust your dose of medication or insulin.
  • Switch to a different glucose-lowering medication.
  • Adjust the time when you take your medication or insulin from dinnertime to bedtime.

What Works for Some People

High Blood Sugars from the Night Before

Reactive Hypoglycemia

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How Can I Pay For Tests And Diabetes Supplies

Medicareexternal icon, Medicaid, and most private insurance plans pay for the A1C test and fasting blood sugar test as well as some diabetes supplies. Check your plan or ask your health care team for help finding low-cost or free supplies, and see How to Save Money on Diabetes Care for more resources.

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