Hyperglycemia
What Is Hyperglycemia?
Hyperglycemia means high blood sugar or high blood glucose. It can develop when your body creates too little insulin, or when it does not properly use the insulin that it does make.
High blood sugar causes many of the complications that can accompany diabetes. To minimize your risk of complications, it is very important to keep your blood sugar levels as normal as possible.
What Causes Hyperglycemia?
Hyperglycemia can occur for a number of reasons, including:
- Eating too much food or consuming too many calories for the amount of insulin you take
- Forgetting to take your diabetes medication
- Illness or infection
- Not exercising enough – or even exercising too much if your blood sugar is already high (usually more than 300 mg/dL)
- High levels of stress
How Do You Know If You Have Hyperglycemia?
Because high blood sugar levels do not always cause symptoms, test your blood sugar level often to know for sure.
Sometimes though, symptoms do occur, including:
- Increased thirst
- More frequent urination
- Weight loss
- Headaches
- Difficulty concentrating
- Blurred vision
- General tiredness
If your blood sugar stays high, and if you urinate often, you can become dehydrated. If this happens, you might need medical care to provide your body with extra fluids.
How Can You Treat Hyperglycemia?
The best way to treat hyperglycemia is to prevent it by checking your blood sugar levels before it happens.
However, if your blood sugar levels do run high, you can treat this condition in a variety of ways.
- Drink more water.
- Exercise — but check your blood sugar level first. If it measures more than 300 mg/dL do not exercise, since doing so might increase your blood sugar level.
- You might also need to make other changes, such as changing the amount of food you eat, changing your medications, or even changing when you take those medications. Talk with your doctor to find what will work best for you.
How Can You Prevent Hyperglycemia?
Test your blood sugar often to make sure it stays in your normal range.
Follow your meal plan to the best of your ability, and eat at regular and consistent meal times.
If you are taking diabetes medicine, remember to take it as prescribed. It is also important to let your doctor know what other medicines you take.
Also, speak with your doctor about whether you need to adjust your exercise routine.
Finally, if your blood sugar levels often run high, talk with your doctor. He or she may need to adjust your medication.
Hypoglycemia
What Is Hypoglycemia?
Low blood sugar or low blood glucose is the condition when your blood glucose levels are below 70mg/dl. Early signs are hunger, shakiness, sweating, and may progress to slurred speech and confusion. A sign of emergency is seizure and coma. Medical intervention is necessary. People with type 1 diabetes are more likely to have these experiences, and may have a glucagon emergency kit because they are dependent on insulin.
People with type 2 diabetes may also have hypoglycemic episodes if taking certain medications and skipping meals, or exercising more than usual. If these episodes happen often, talk with your healthcare provider to adjust your medications.
What Causes Hypoglycemia?
Hypoglycemia means your body does not have enough sugar. This can happen if you skip meals, delay them or eat too little. It can also happen if you take too much insulin or certain diabetes medications. It can happen if you take some other drugs while taking your diabetes medicine and it can even happen if you exercise more than normal.
Diabetes Medications
Sometimes the medicine you take for diabetes can help cause low blood glucose. Some of the medicines include:
- Insulin (too much of it)
- Sulfonylureas (like Glucotrol, Micronase, Glynase, or Amaryl)
- Meglitinides (like Prandin or Starlix)
- Diabinese (chlorpropamide)
- Orinase (tolbutamide)
- Tolinase (tolazamide)
- Alpha-glucosidase inhibitors (like Glyset and Precose), thiazolidinediones (like Actos or Avandia), or biguanides (like Metformin or Glucophage) should not cause low blood sugar by themselves
Other drugs that can cause low blood sugar while taking diabetes drugs can include:
- Alcohol
- Aspirin
- Benemid or Probalan (probenecid)
- Coumadin (warfarin)
- Zyloprim (allopurinol)
Diet and Exercise
Exercise usually lowers blood sugar levels. Test your blood sugar before exercising, and then a few minutes after. If below 100 mg/dL, take a snack. You should not drive unless your blood sugar is 100 mg/dl or higher. Some people do best with a light snack before exercise, which can prevent post-exercise lows. If the exercise is prolonged, stop and check your blood during exercise and you may need a drink with carbohydrate.
Medical conditions
Sometimes other medical conditions along with your diabetes can cause low blood glucose. For instance, if you experience certain kidney problems, your insulin might last longer than usual and cause a low blood sugar reaction.
Some medical conditions (such as thyroid problems, hormone deficiencies, certain tumors, or stomach surgery) can also lead to low blood glucose levels even if you do not have diabetes.
How Do You Know If You Have Hypoglycemia?
If your blood glucose level dips below 70 mg/dL you might or might not feel symptoms. The symptoms can vary from one person to another, and each person’s symptoms can differ. In general, though, you might feel:
- Confused
- Dizzy or light-headed
- Hungry
- Nervous, shaky, or trembling
- Anxious or weak
- Irritable
- Sleepy
You might also experience:
- A headache
- Sweaty skin
- Pale skin
- Pounding heart or fast pulse
- Trouble speaking
- Poor coordination
Low blood sugar can occur whether you are awake or asleep. If you are sleeping and your blood sugar gets too low, you could:
- Have nightmares, or cry out in your sleep
- Feel cranky, tired, or confused when you wake up
- Notice that your sheets or nightclothes are damp from sweat
How Can You Treat Hypoglycemia?
If you think you have low blood glucose, check your level with a blood glucose meter. If your blood level measures 70 mg/dL or less, use a “fix-it-now” food to raise the level. Check your blood sugar level again in 15 minutes. If it is still low, eat another serving of a fix-it-now food.
Fix-It-Now Foods (15 grams of carbohydrate – fast acting)
- 2 or 3 glucose tablets (found at most drug stores)
- 1 tube of glucose gel (found at most drug stores)
- 4 – 6 pieces of hard candy (NOT sugar-free)
- 1/2 cup (4 ounces) fruit juice
- 1 cup (8 ounces) skim milk
- 1/2 cup soft drink (NOT sugar-free or diet)
- 1 or 2 teaspoons of sugar, honey, or corn syrup
Rule of 15
It is common when feeling so shaky and lightheaded, to overreact and take too much carbohydrate. Then your blood sugar will run high for a day or so. The Rule of 15 is: test blood glucose. If below 80 mg/dl, take 15 grams of carbohydrates and wait 15 minutes. Test again and if still low, take another 15 grams of carbohydrates. Continue taking 15 grams and checking after 15 minutes until blood glucose gets to 100 mg/dl. Then, get a hearty snack with carb and protein, like a peanut butter sandwich, or cheese and crackers. When treating the low blood sugar, it is important to consume simple sugars that can quickly get to your blood stream. The glucose tablets and gels are designed for this purpose. If not available, 15 grams of sugar such as 4 oz. regular soda or juice is a good choice. Protein and fat at this point will only slow the recovery. After recovery – get a hearty meal or snack!
How Can You Prevent Hypoglycemia?
Follow your meal plan the best you can and eat at regular times. Talk with your doctor about whether you need to adjust your exercise routine. Also, let your doctor know what other medicines you take.
If you often have low blood sugar, talk with your doctor. He or she may need to adjust your medication. Your doctor might also suggest eating more balanced meals full of whole grains or perhaps eating smaller meals more often during the day.
