How To Bring Down High Blood Sugar Levels

When To Contact Your Healthcare Provider

Hyperglycemia can turn into a medical emergency like DKA and HHS that requires immediate intervention by your practitioner or a local emergency department. If you have two blood sugar readings of 300 mg/dL or more or have blood sugar above your target range for more than a week, seek immediate medical help.

Signs of hyperglycemia include:

• Ketones in your urine
• Stomach pain, nausea, or vomiting
• Shortness of breath

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 (

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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.

You Need More Of The Good Fats

Afraid how will you survive when cutting back on the belly-filling carbs? This is where the good fats step in. Healthy fats that provide Omega 3 fatty acids are your friends. Not only will they keep you full for longer, they will also improve your heart health. They form a steady, slow burning source of fuel that your body can use in place of sugars. Think ghee, grass-fed butter, coconut oil, avocado, nuts, olive oil and oily fish, for example.

Recommended Reading: Does Moringa Lower Blood Sugar

What Is The A1c Test

The A1C test is a simple blood test that measures your average blood sugar levels over the past 2 or 3 months. The test is done at a lab or your doctors office in addition tonot instead ofregular blood sugar testing you do yourself.

A1C testing is part of the ABCs of diabetesimportant steps you can take to prevent or delay health complications down the road:

• A: Get a regular A1C test.
• B: Try to keep your blood pressure below 140/90 mm Hg .
• C: Manage your cholesterol levels.
• s: Stop smoking or dont start.

The A1C goal for most adults with diabetes is between 7% and 8%, but your goal may be different depending on your age, other health conditions, medicines youre taking, and other factors. Work with your doctor to establish a personal A1C goal for you.

Treating Low Blood Glucose If You Take Medicines That Slow Down Digestion

Some diabetes medicines slow down the digestion of carbohydrates to keep blood glucose levels from rising too high after you eat. If you develop low blood glucose while taking these medicines, you will need to take glucose tablets or glucose gel right away. Eating or drinking other sources of carbohydrates wont raise your blood glucose level quickly enough.

Read Also: Is The Sugar In Fruit Bad For Diabetics

How Can I Treat Low Blood Sugar

If youve had low blood sugar without feeling or noticing symptoms , you may need to check your blood sugar more often to see if its low and treat it. Driving with low blood sugar can be dangerous, so be sure to check your blood sugar before you get behind the wheel.

Carry supplies for treating low blood sugar with you. If you feel shaky, sweaty, or very hungry or have other symptoms, check your blood sugar. Even if you dont have symptoms but think you may have low blood sugar, check it. If your blood sugar is lower than 70 mg/dL, do one of the following immediately:

• Take four glucose tablets.
• Drink four ounces of fruit juice.
• Drink four ounces of regular soda, not diet soda.
• Eat four pieces of hard candy.

Wait for 15 minutes and then check your blood sugar again. Do one of the above treatments again until your blood sugar is 70 mg/dL or above and eat a snack if your next meal is an hour or more away. If you have problems with low blood sugar, ask your doctor if your treatment plan needs to be changed.

What Can Cause Low Blood Sugar Levels

Some things that can make low blood sugar levels more likely are:

• skipping meals and snacks
• not eating enough food during a meal or snack
• exercising longer or harder than usual without eating some extra food
• getting too much insulin
• not timing the insulin doses properly with meals, snacks, and exercise

Also, some things may increase how quickly insulin gets absorbed into the bloodstream and can make hypoglycemia more likely. These include:

• taking a hot shower or bath right after having an insulin injection increases blood flow through the blood vessels in the skin, which can make the insulin be absorbed more quickly than usual
• injecting the shot into a muscle instead of the fatty layer under the skin
• injecting the insulin into a part of the body used a lot in a particular sport .

All of these situations increase the chances that a person may get hypoglycemia.

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If You Regularly Have High Blood Sugar Levels

Having high blood sugar levels regularly is not something you should live with. This is because in the long-term it can increase your risk of developing diabetes complications, such as neuropathy and retinopathy.

If you notice that your blood sugar levels are often high, you should contact your diabetes healthcare team. They will review your treatment and provide you with advice on how to get your blood sugar levels back within your target range. This advice may include increasing your medication.

In the video below, Lynsey talks to Khalida about feeling anxious after getting a high blood sugar level reading. If youre finding it hard to deal with similar feelings, weve got information on emotional health that you may find helpful.

Get More Quality Shuteye

Melissa Ross/Stocksy

Poor or limited sleep affects body chemistry, and getting more slumber helps with blood sugar control, Weisenberger says. Chronic lack of sleep may contribute to the risk of type 2 diabetes, according to a small study published in Diabetologia in February 2015. Healthy volunteers who slept only four hours for three nights in a row had higher levels of fatty acids in their blood, which reduced insulins ability to regulate blood sugar by about 23 percent, the researchers found. Lack of sleep is also linked with other health conditions, including obesity, heart disease, and stroke, according to the Division of Sleep Medicine at Harvard Medical School.

The National Sleep Foundation recommends aiming for seven to nine hours of uninterrupted sleep per night.

Having sleep troubles? Follow these recommendations from the National Sleep Foundation:

• Sleep in a cool, dark room.
• Avoid consuming alcohol or caffeine in the hours before bed.
• Go to bed and wake up at the same time each day, even on the weekends.
• Dont look at screens for at least a half hour before bedtime, including TV, tablets, cell phones, and computers.

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What Causes Low Blood Glucose In People With Diabetes

Low blood glucose levels can be a side effect of insulin or some other medicines that help your pancreas release insulin into your blood. Taking these can lower your blood glucose level.

Two types of diabetes pills can cause low blood glucose

• sulfonylureas, usually taken once or twice per day, which increase insulin over several hours
• meglitinides, taken before meals to promote a short-term increase in insulin

The following may also lower your blood glucose level

Which Foods Keep Your Sugar Levels In Control

Carbohydrates need to be consistent. You dont want to eat all of your daily carb count in one meal. That will cause your blood sugar to spike, and then drop during the other meals. Giving your body a steady amount of carbohydrates will provide a stable amount of energy. It will also help your body make enough insulin to keep your blood sugar at a healthy number.

The easiest way to make sure that your carb intake is appropriate is to count carbohydrates. It is a simplified way to evaluate foods based on their nutritional value. The best place to start when counting is to aim for 45 to 60 grams of carbohydrates per meal and roughly 15 to 30 grams for each snack in between meals. You may have to adjust this based on your individual needs and your blood sugar readings. It is a lot easier to calculate the carbohydrates when you have a food with a label, but many foods do not. Check the serving size on the label to be sure that you are counting correctly. The US Department of Agriculture has a website that allows you to type in any food and it will give you the nutritional values. Check it out at . A few examples of 15 grams of carbs include:

• 1 slice of bread
• ½ cup of oatmeal
• 1 small piece of fresh fruit

It is important that you pay attention to nutrients other than the carbs too. Be sure to have adequate protein and fiber, while keeping lots of fat to a minimum.

Also Check: Does Low Sugar Make You Dizzy

Causes Of High Blood Sugar

Common causes of high blood sugar in people with diabetes include:

• being unwell
• eating too much sugary or starchy food
• being less active than usual
• missing doses of diabetes medicine

You can also get high blood sugar if your diabetes medicine is not working well, you’re taking certain medicines or you recently had an operation.

How To Bring High Blood Sugar Down Fast

Everyone with diabetes is bound to experience high blood sugars. There are simply too many variables out of our control to prevent high blood sugars from ever happening.

But the best thing we can do when they do happen is to help them come down as quickly as possible.

Here are four things you can do to bring a high blood sugar level down quickly.

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The Causes Of High Blood Sugar

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
• eating more food than your meal plan allows
• not getting enough exercise
• having an illness, like the flu
• taking other kinds of medicines that affect how your diabetes medicines work

Keeping blood sugar levels close to normal can be hard sometimes, and nobody’s perfect. Grown-ups can help you stay in balance if you have diabetes. Sometimes blood sugar levels can be high because you’re growing and your doctor needs to make some changes in your diabetes treatment plan.

Why Do I Need Sugar In My Blood

If you are looking for ways how to bring blood sugar down, here are 7 foods that help lower your blood sugar effectively. Blood sugar comes from food. Its your bodys main source of energy. These sugars are carried to the cells throughout your body by your blood, providing them with the energy they need to function optimally.

Try this 60 Second Trick To Reverse Type 2 Diabetes

For a person with diabetes or pre-diabetes, their body does not effectively regulate blood sugars. This causes levels to become either too high or too low. Long term, frequent high blood sugar can lead to a number of serious health complications. Kidney disease, cardiovascular disease, nerve damage, vision impairment, joint damage, are just a few. Learning to regulate your blood sugar, as well as how to lower high blood sugar, is essential for your health. It is important to know how to bring blood sugar down once it has gotten too high.

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Ramp Up Your Movement Each Day

Exercise helps improve blood glucose in people with type 2 diabetes by increasing insulin sensitivity and the bodys ability to use glucose as energy, according to the American Diabetes Association. In type 2, exercise helps improve insulin resistance, says James G. Beckerman, MD, a cardiologist in Portland, Oregon. The end result is lower blood sugars.

Crandall Snyder tells patients that exercise is like spring cleaning for the body. It takes the stored form of glucose and uses it for energy so the next time you eat carbohydrates there’s a place to put it, she says.

Because exercise can immediately reduce blood sugar levels in people with type 2 diabetes, work with your healthcare team to determine the right amount of activity and timing for you. A study published in September 2017 in Frontiers in Endocrinology found exercising 30 minutes after the start of a meal is usually best for maintaining blood sugar controls.

Learn more about managing your blood sugar in Diabetes Daily’s article “HbA1C: Everything You Need to Know.”

Preventing Low Blood Sugar Levels

Here are some other tips to help you avoid low blood sugar levels:

• Eat all your meals and snacks on time and try not to skip any.
• Take the right amount of insulin.
• If you exercise longer or harder than usual, have an extra snack.
• Don’t take a hot bath or shower right after an insulin shot.
• Stick to your diabetes management plan.
• Check your blood sugar levels regularly, so you can tell if your blood sugars are running too low and your treatment plan needs adjustment.
• Carry something containing sugar with you at all times and take it right away if you have symptoms. Don’t wait to see if the symptoms will go away they may get worse!

Alcohol and drugs can cause major problems with your blood sugar levels, so avoiding them is another way to prevent diabetes problems. Drinking can be particularly dangerous even deadly for people with diabetes because it messes up the body’s ability to keep blood glucose in a normal range. This can cause a very rapid drop in blood glucose in people with diabetes. Drug or alcohol use is also dangerous because it may affect someone’s ability to sense low blood sugar levels.

Learning how to recognize the signs of low blood sugar levels and get them back to normal is an important part of caring for diabetes. Keeping track of your blood sugar levels and recording lows when they occur will help you and your diabetes health care team keep your blood sugar levels in a healthy range.

Read Also: What Foods Do Not Raise Your Blood Sugar

How Are High Blood Sugar Levels Treated

To treat high blood sugar, it helps to know what is causing it. You might need to take more insulin or diabetes pills because you’re growing and eating more food, or you might need to get more exercise each day.

Having high blood sugar levels every once in a while isn’t a big deal. It happens to everyone with diabetes from time to time. But if your blood sugar levels are high a lot, your diabetes health care team will have to help you figure out how to get them back to a healthy level.

Natural Ways To Lower Blood Sugar Levels

1. Apple Cider Vinegar.Although it may take several hours to kick in, apple cider vinegar has been repetitively shown to be able to reduce blood sugar levels. It is more of a proactive natural way to lower blood sugars, so adding this item to your daily routine might be part of your treatment plan. Youll want to find some form of extract to take this supplement. If you drink two tablespoons of it straight, outside of the flavor of it there is also the potential of hurting your teeth due to the acidity of the vinegar.

2. Chromium.The effects of this supplement can happen in just 60 minutes and have been proven over the course of multiple clinical studies. It acts to increase the efficiency of your liver, which means youll end up causing liver damage if you use too much of it every day. Its more of a mineral than an herb or a vitamin, but its effects simply cannot be denied. It helps your body interact with insulin so that it tolerates glucose a lot better. It also seems to add in the metabolism of fats, proteins, and carbohydrates. A little bit of this natural alternative will lower blood sugar levels and help you feel better very soon.

Read Also: When Do I Take My Blood Sugar

Eat The Right Carbohydrates

The two main kinds of carbohydrates simple and complex affect blood sugar levels differently.

Simple carbohydrates are mainly made up of one kind of sugar. They are found in foods, such as white bread, pasta, and candy. The body breaks these carbohydrates down into sugar very quickly, which causes blood sugar levels to rise rapidly.

Complex carbohydrates are made up of three or more sugars that are linked together. Because the chemical makeup of these kinds of carbohydrates is complicated, it takes the body longer to break them down.

As a result, sugar is released into the body more gradually, meaning that blood sugar levels do not rapidly rise after eating them. Examples of complex carbohydrates include whole grain oats and sweet potatoes.