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How Do You Feel When Your Sugar Is High

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Youre Developing Blisters Dryness Or Other Skin Changes

HOW DO YOU FEEL IF YOUR BLOOD SUGAR IS HIGH OR LOW?

Small pieces of extra skin, called skin tags, may form in the creases of skin, especially if you have diabetes and youre trying to find ways to manage your weight, notes the ADA. Dark, thick areas of soft skin may form on the back of the neck or hands, armpits, face, or other areas. These can be a sign of insulin resistance, Zanini says. Blisters, infections, dryness, itchiness, discolorations, and abnormalities of the skin can all be warning signs of high blood sugar. Check with your doctor if these skin changes develop.

When To See A Healthcare Provider

Its normal to feel fatigued sometimes, but if fatigue lasts longer than two weeks, it may be time to see a practitioner. For those who also experience symptoms of blood sugar spikes such as increased thirst, frequent urination, nausea, listlessness, and dizziness, fatigue could be a sign that they have developed or are at risk of developing diabetes. For those who already have the condition, regular appointments to monitor blood glucose and manage diabetes should be done since these symptoms are signs that their current treatment plan is no longer effective.

Management of diabetes fatigue is vital for those with both type 1 and type 2 diabetes. It can be difficult to manage the condition, especially at first, but not impossible. The best way to manage symptoms or complications of the disease is to book an appointment with an endocrinologist, who is specialized in diabetes care. They can help address fatigue and other symptoms by encouraging lifestyle changes such as a healthy diet, more exercise, stress management techniques, and better sleep hygiene.

Early Signs Of Diabetes

Both types of diabetes have some of the same telltale warning signs.

  • Hunger and fatigue. Your body converts the food you eat into glucose that your cells use for energy. But your cells need insulin to take in glucose. If your body doesn’t make enough or any insulin, or if your cells resist the insulin your body makes, the glucose can’t get into them and you have no energy. This can make you hungrier and more tired than usual.
  • Peeing more often and being thirstier. The average person usually has to pee between four and seven times in 24 hours, but people with diabetes may go a lot more. Why? Normally, your body reabsorbs glucose as it passes through your kidneys. But when diabetes pushes your blood sugar up, your kidneys may not be able to bring it all back in. This causes the body to make more urine, and that takes fluids. The result: You’ll have to go more often. You might pee out more, too. Because you’re peeing so much, you can get very thirsty. When you drink more, you’ll also pee more.
  • Dry mouth and itchy skin. Because your body is using fluids to make pee, there’s less moisture for other things. You could get dehydrated, and your mouth may feel dry. Dry skin can make you itchy.
  • Blurred vision. Changing fluid levels in your body could make the lenses in your eyes swell up. They change shape and canââ¬â¢t focus.

Read Also: Blood Sugar Increase Symptoms

How Does High Blood Sugar Affect The Body

High sugar in the blood can lead to a number of other symptoms and complications. Here are just a few.

Urination and thirst: High blood sugar goes into the kidneys and urine. This attracts more water, causing frequent urination. This can also lead to increased thirst, despite drinking enough liquids.

Weight loss: High blood sugar can cause sudden or unexplained weight loss. This occurs because the bodys cells are not getting the glucose they need, so the body burns muscle and fat for energy instead.

Numbness and tingling: High blood sugar can also cause numbness, burning, or tingling in the hands, legs, and feet. This is due to diabetic neuropathy, a complication of diabetes that often occurs after many years of high blood sugar levels.

Does Not Having Symptoms Mean Diabetes Is Being Managed Well

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Blood sugar control is crucial when youre living with type 2 diabetes. Dips and spikes can not only make you feel cranky and sluggish, but they can also wreak havoc on your personal health.

The most serious effects of blood sugar swings are a higher risk for diabetes-related health complications such as stroke, heart disease, and nerve damage .

For the record, the American Diabetes Association notes that you have diabetes if one of the following applies to you:

  • Your blood glucose after fasting is 126 milligrams per deciliter or higher.
  • Your blood glucose two hours after eating a meal is 200 mg/dl or higher.
  • Your hemoglobin A1C is 6.5 or higher.

The tricky part is that with type 2 diabetes you may not feel it when blood sugar levels are too high, according to the ADA. It feels different for everyone. Not everyone will have the same symptoms, and some individuals will have no symptoms at all, says Lori Zanini, RD, CDE, a Los Angelesbased former spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.

RELATED: The Best and Worst Foods to Eat in a Type 2 Diabetes Diet

Because blood sugar management is so important to your overall health with type 2 diabetes, you need to take action if you think your levels may be out of control, even if youre feeling totally fine.

Read Also: How To Bring Down Sugar Level Quickly

When To Get Urgent Medical Attention

Contact your diabetes care team immediately if you have a high blood sugar level and experience the following symptoms:

  • feeling or being sick
  • a fever for more than 24 hours
  • signs of dehydration, such as a headache, dry skin and a weak, rapid heartbeat
  • difficulty staying awake

These symptoms could be a sign of a more serious complication of hyperglycaemia, such as diabetic ketoacidosis or a hyperosmolar hyperglycaemic state, and you may need to be looked after in hospital.

How Blood Sugar Levels Work

Your blood sugar levels can rise and fall in accordance with the sugar content in the food you eat. When you eat something high in sugar, your blood sugar levels rise your body responds to this by secreting insulin, a hormone which is created by the pancreas.

Insulin works to lower you blood sugar levels and help cells throughout your body absorb glucose for energy. When you go too long without any food or eat unhealthy foods that are too high in sugar and fat, or have health problems affecting your hormones, your blood sugar levels can become dangerously low. As this happens, your adrenal glands release adrenaline and cortisol in order to remedy the situation this is why you feel cranky and moody when you havent eaten for a while.

The best thing to do at this point is to eat food that will raise your blood sugar levels gradually rather than something that will cause a spike in your blood sugar levels, followed by a crash where your blood sugar levels will become very low again.

Most of the time, three healthy meals a day is enough to keep your blood sugar levels in check. But if youre not eating regular, balanced meals, its easy for your blood sugar to get out of whack, which can lead to a cycle of blood sugar spikes and crashes.

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Fruit Doesn’t Taste Sweet Enough

Eating sugar too frequentlyâincluding adding sugar or even sugar substitutes like Splenda to certain foodsâcan alter what your taste buds interpret as sweet. “A bowl of strawberries is sweet on its own, but if you sprinkle sugar or Stevia on it, your baseline for sweet is so much higher than the fruit on its own,” says Zeitlin. “It changes your expectation of how a dessert should taste.” Cutting out added sugars and fake sweeteners as often as possible helps reteach your body to enjoy the natural sweetness of the fruit.

What Causes High Blood Sugar Levels

How it feels to have high blood sugar

Managing diabetes is like a three-way balancing act because you have to watch:

  • the medicines you take (
  • the food that you eat
  • the amount of exercise you get
  • All three need to be balanced. If any one of these is off, blood sugar levels can be too. In general, higher than normal blood glucose levels can be caused by:

    • not taking your diabetes medicine when you’re supposed to or not taking the right amounts
    • not following the meal plan
    • not getting enough exercise
    • having an illness, like the flu
    • stress
    • taking other kinds of medicines that affect how your diabetes medicines work

    A single high blood sugar reading usually isn’t cause for alarm it happens to everyone with diabetes from time to time. But if you have high blood sugar levels a lot, let your parents and your diabetes health care team know. Insulin or meal plans may need adjusting, or you may have an equipment issue, like an insulin pump that isn’t working right. Whatever the case, make sure you get help so you can get your blood sugar levels back under control.

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    If My A1c Is Normal My Glucose Is Good

    An A1C result thatâs below 5.7% is normal âs standards, but having a result below that number isnât the end of the story. Pregnancy, hemoglobin variants, anemia, liver disease, and certain medications can cause inaccurate A1C results.

    Additionally, the A1C test is measuring your average glucose value over the past 3 months, but averages inherently do not capture highs and lows. So, you could have a normal average while also having abnormal glucose spikes. The A1C test should only supplement your regular blood sugar testing, not replace it completely.

    What Foods Have Added Sugars

    Ultra-processed foodsâfoods with added flavors, colors, sweeteners, emulsifiers, and other additivesâcontribute to nearly 90 percent of our sugar intake, according to a BMJ Journal study. The main sources of added sugars in ultra-processed foods are:

    • soft drinks
    • breakfast cereals
    • ice cream and ice-pops

    As you can see, sugar-sweetened drinks are the top three sources of sugar in our diet. In fact, almost half of the added sugars in our diets come from drinks like soda and fruit drinks.

    Check both the nutrition label and ingredients to find added sugar foods. “Just because a label says ‘no added sugar,’ you still want to read the label and see how many grams of sugar there are in that item per serving,” says Zeitlin.

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    How To Stabilize Your Blood Sugar Overnight

    The most important thing you can do to stabilize your blood sugar is monitor your glucose levels at bedtime, during the night, and when you wake up to look for patterns. This will help you determine whats going on in your body and how you can fix it. While there are many strategies people use to stabilize blood sugar at night, every person is different youll have to look for trends in your body, experiment with ways to lower glucose levels over a period of time, and learn what works best for your body.

    • Check your blood sugar before bed. If its already high, your blood sugar levels may remain high throughout the night. To address this, youll want to start by adjusting when you eat your evening meal and what it consists of, and how much mealtime insulin you take to cover it.

    • Avoid eating lots of food close to bedtime. For diaTribe writer Adam Brown, the key to staying in range overnight is low-carb, early dinners, with no snacking after dinner.

    • Consider eating less food at night and taking more basal insulin to cover your evening meal.

  • Check your blood sugar during the night, between midnight and 3am. If you were in range before bed but have high glucose levels between midnight and 3am, you may need to adjust your basal insulin dosage and timing. If you are low during that time, you may experience a rebound high blood sugar later on this is usually associated with overcorrecting the low.

  • Check Your Blood Glucose Levels

    How do you feel when your blood sugar is high?

    For many people with diabetes, checking their blood glucose level each day is an important way to manage their diabetes. Monitoring your blood glucose level is most important if you take insulin. The results of blood glucose monitoring can help you make decisions about food, physical activity, and medicines.

    The most common way to check your blood glucose level at home is with a blood glucose meter. You get a drop of blood by pricking the side of your fingertip with a lancet. Then you apply the blood to a test strip. The meter will show you how much glucose is in your blood at the moment.

    Ask your health care team how often you should check your blood glucose levels. Make sure to keep a record of your blood glucose self-checks. You can print copies of this glucose self-check chart . Take these records with you when you visit your health care team.

    Read Also: Can We Control Sugar Without Medicine

    How Much Sugar Is Too Much

    When it comes to how much added sugar to eat per day, the answer isn’t so clearcut.

    The most recent dietary guidelines recommend that added sugars make up no more than 10 percent of your daily calories. That equates to 38 grams for women on a 1,500-calorie diet or 50 grams for men on a 2,000-calorie diet.

    Both the American Heart Association and World Health Organization are more conservative, recommending about 25 grams per day of added sugar for women and 36 grams per day for men.

    RELATED: The easy guide to cutting back on sugar is finally here.

    Warning Signs That Your Blood Sugar Is High:

    How would you know if your blood sugar has shot through the roof? You can spot the warning signs of high blood sugar even before you see the doctor. If you notice any of them, arrange for an appointment at once!

    1. Dehydration

    Your skin will feel dry and scaly if your blood sugar levels are on the high end. You may have problems urinating as well. Dehydration can cause diabetic ketoacidosis or too many acids building up in the body. It can lead to organ failure or death.

    2. Feeling Parched

    Are you always reaching for water, even if the weather is not too hot? Constant thirst indicates dehydration. It shows you that you have to work at making your blood sugar levels drop.

    3. Diarrhea

    Having constant diarrhea is a warning symptom of Hyperglycemia. Seek a doctors help if your stools are runny. There may be an overgrowth of bacteria in your intestines. Also, it may be difficult for them to break down sugar.

    4. Loss of Appetite

    Hyperglycemia can create a condition known as Gastroparesis when food moves slowly through the digestive tract. Food cannot move out of the stomach and into the small intestine. A person with Hyperglycemia will lose his appetite because he has a clogged stomach.

    5. Excessive Hunger Pangs

    6. Impotence

    Sex may not bring you the same satisfaction it used to. High blood sugar has links with Erectile Dysfunction or ED. Men with diabetes may develop ED because the blood vessels and nerves that prompt erections are weak.

    7. Open Cuts

    8. Itchiness

    14. Fatigue

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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 .

    Why Is Added Sugar Bad For You

    Waking Up With High Blood Sugar (How does it feel?)

    It’s important to note that when we talk about too much sugar, we’re talking about added sugar, not naturally-occurring sugar in food.

    The main difference between sugar and added sugar is simply whether or not the sugar is added to a food or it’s naturally found in that food. For example, honey is simply called sugar if eaten on its own. Once you use honey to sweeten a product, whether it’s yogurt or cookies, the honey is considered “added sugar.” Added sugar can be either natural or processed sugar, explains Karen Ansel, RD, author of Healing Superfoods for Anti-Aging.

    When it comes to the natural sugars found in a whole sweet potato or an apple, “most of us don’t come even close to overdoing it,” says Zeitlin. Experts aren’t worried about the sugar content because you’re getting so many other benefits, like vitamins and fiber to slow down and how your body absorbs and uses sugar. As a general guideline, she suggests limiting yourself to about two cups of whole fruit a day.

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    What Happens When A1c Is Too High

    When your glucose levels are too high you can damage your body. High blood sugar levels increase your risk for blindness, kidney failure, heart attack, stomach ulcers, and nerve damage.

    People with diabetes with a higher A1C may experience blurred vision or headaches because the excess glucose in their bloodstream is being used as a fuel source for anaerobic metabolism which raises lactic acid production. Other possible signs include nausea and vomiting, extreme thirst followed by increased urination.

    Additionally, they will feel fatigued or have difficulty concentrating on mental tasks such as memorizing things like phone numbers. Frequent infections can also be one sign that you need to get control over your diabetes management plan again!

    Talk to your doctor if your blood glucose stays are too high frequently or stay high for a longer time.

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