How To Know If You Have High Blood Sugar

What Is A Normal Blood Sugar Level

The answer to the question what is a normal blood sugar level is as follows:

Fasting normal blood sugarNormal for person without diabetes: 7099 mg/dl Official ADA recommendation for someone with diabetes: 80130 mg/dl

Normal blood sugar 2 hours after mealsNormal for person without diabetes: Less than 140 mg/dl Official ADA recommendation for someone with diabetes: Less than 180 mg/dl

HbA1cNormal for person without diabetes: Less than 5.7%Official ADA recommendation for someone with diabetes: Less than 7.0%

Source: American Diabetes Association: Checking Your Blood Sugar, American Diabetes Association: Diagnosis

What Causes Blood Sugar To Be High

Many things can cause high blood sugar , including being sick, being stressed, eating more than planned, and not giving yourself enough insulin. Over time, high blood sugar can lead to long-term, serious health problems. Symptoms of high blood sugar include:

• Feeling very tired.
• Having blurry vision.
• Needing to urinate more often.

If you get sick, your blood sugar can be hard to manage. You may not be able to eat or drink as much as usual, which can affect blood sugar levels. If youre ill and your blood sugar is 240 mg/dL or above, use an over-the-counter ketone test kit to check your urine for ketones and call your doctor if your ketones are high. High ketones can be an early sign of diabetic ketoacidosis, which is a medical emergency and needs to be treated immediately.

What Are Blood Sugar Targets

A blood sugar target is the range you try to reach as much as possible. These are typical targets:

• Before a meal: 80 to 130 mg/dL.
• Two hours after the start of a meal: Less than 180 mg/dL.

Your blood sugar targets may be different depending on your age, any additional health problems you have, and other factors. Be sure to talk to your health care team about which targets are best for you.

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Signs Of High Blood Sugar

Someone who has been diagnosed with diabetes will be familiar with how it feels to have hyperglycemia. But for the millions of people who have diabetes or prediabetes and are unaware of it, knowing the signs of high blood sugar could prompt them to seek care and get a diagnosis as soon as possible.

While type 1 diabetes symptoms can come on suddenly and severely, its important to note that type 2 diabetes symptoms can creep up gradually and be so mild that theyre not noticeable, the NIDDK explains. And most people with prediabetes actually have no symptoms, per the NIDDK. So its extremely important to get screened if you have risk factors, like having a family history, being overweight, or being over age 45, the NIDDK says.

Still, there are many potential signs of high blood sugar in the short and long term that it doesnt hurt to be conscious of, especially if you are at elevated risk.

Early on, hyperglycemia can make you feel off in a variety of ways:

What Is Diabetic Ketoacidosis

If you think you may have low blood sugar, check it even if you dont have symptoms.

When too many ketones are produced too fast, they can build up in your body and cause diabetic ketoacidosis, or DKA. DKA is very serious and can cause a coma or even death. Common symptoms of DKA include:

• Fast, deep breathing.
• Nausea and vomiting.
• Stomach pain.

If you think you may have DKA, test your urine for ketones. Follow the test kit directions, checking the color of the test strip against the color chart in the kit to see your ketone level. If your ketones are high, . DKA requires treatment in a hospital.

DKA happens most in people with type 1 diabetes and is sometimes the first sign of type 1 in people who havent yet been diagnosed. People with type 2 diabetes can also develop DKA, but its less common.

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How To Check Blood Sugar Without A Meter

Diabetes is a chronic condition where the body either doesnt make enough insulin or doesnt use insulin properly or both. This can lead to a higher than normal blood sugar level.

Uncontrolled blood sugar levels can lead to complications, such as:

• heart disease
• nerve damage

For these reasons, its important to monitor your blood sugar if you have diabetes.

Prior to using meters, people with diabetes would monitor their blood sugar by testing their urine. This method, however, wasnt as accurate, nor did it provide real-time results.

If you self-test your blood sugar several times a day using a glucometer, or meter, it requires that you prick your finger to draw blood to test. Due to the discomfort of this method, you might look for a way to monitor your level without this tool.

If finger pricks are very bothersome for you, dont worry theres hope. Advances in blood sugar monitoring technology could mean no more finger pricks in the future.

If you have diabetes, there are several portable devices you can use to check your blood sugar level and not all of them require a finger prick.

How To Prevent It

If you work to keep your blood sugar under control — follow your meal plan, exercise program, and medicine schedule — you shouldnât have to worry about hyperglycemia. You can also:

• Know your diet — count the total amounts of carbs in each meal and snack.
• Test your blood sugar regularly.
• Tell your doctor if you have repeated abnormal blood sugar readings.
• Wear medical identification to let people know you have diabetes in case of an emergency.

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To Prevent Future Spikes Make Time

What to do with high blood sugar. When you eat food particularly those foods that are high in carbohydrates like bread potatoes or pasta your blood sugar will immediately begin to rise. Society has become affluent so people prefer expensive sugary desserts. If ketones are present do not exercise.

Hi-per-gly-SEE-me-uh is the medical word for high. Common symptoms of high blood sugar are increased thirst and the need to urinate often. Hyperglycemia need to be treated right away before.

Learn about the health complications high blood glucose can cause. Hyperglycemia high blood sugar is the most common cause of diabetes both type 1 and 2. Blood sugar levels that are too high over time put you at risk for all kinds of health problems.

If youre feeling the symptoms of high blood sugar and you have someone who can go with you take a short walk. A simple way to lower high blood sugar is to exercise. But if blood glucose levels are higher than 240 mgdL first check the urine for ketones.

Hyperglycemia or high blood sugar is a condition that is becoming prevalent among the young and old. The risk is that blood sugar levels will rise even higher. Blood sugar levels fluctuate all day long.

Its a common problem for people with diabetes. This is more often a concern for someone with diabetes than it is for someone without it. Severe high blood sugar can lead to nausea and fruity smelling breath.

Pin On Diet Program

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.

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What Should My Blood Sugar Levels Be

Your blood sugar level changes depending on what you’ve eaten, whether you’ve exercised and other factors but we have some general guidelines to determine what levels are healthy.

For generally healthy individuals who haven’t eaten for eight hours or more, a normal blood sugar level is between 70-99 mg/dL. When you’ve eaten in the past two hours, it should be no higher than 140 mg/dL. To refresh your chemistry knowledge, that unit is milligrams per deciliter and it’s measuring the amount of glucose present in your blood.

Only a medical professional can diagnose diabetes or another issue with your blood sugar, so if you’re concerned about your blood sugar levels, check with a doctor.

Make Physical Activity Part Of Your Daily Routine

Set a goal to be more physically active. Try to work up to 30 minutes or more of physical activity on most days of the week.

Brisk walking and swimming are good ways to move more. If you are not active now, ask your health care team about the types and amounts of physical activity that are right for you. Learn more about being physically active with diabetes.

Following your meal plan and being more active can help you stay at or get to a healthy weight. If you are overweight or obese, work with your health care team to create a weight-loss plan that is right for you.

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Your Vision Is Blurry

Another sign of high blood sugar is blurry vision, since the high level of glucose in your body can make the lens of your eye swell up and make focusing on one point difficult. If left untreated, blurred vision from high blood sugar can lead to vision loss, according to the Mayo Clinic.

To treat this symptom, work with a doctor to get your blood sugar in a normal range. That range is usually considered 70 milligrams of sugar per deciliter of blood to 130 mg/dL before meals, and less than 180 mg/dL one to two hours after the start of a meal, according to WebMD.

This range can still vary among people, however, so consulting a doctor is the best way to determine what’s right for your body.

Hyperglycemia Or High Blood Sugar Is A Condition That Is Becoming Prevalent Among The Young And Old

Society has become affluent, so people prefer expensive, sugary desserts. So the fact that there are more people with the signs of high blood sugar than before is not surprising.

If diabetes and hyperglycemia run in your family, take some time to understand its causes and symptoms. This article will point out the signs of high blood sugar and teach you how to keep it in check.

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A Few Final Notes On Keeping Blood Sugar Stable

Taking an active, intentional approach to your blood sugar levels is crucial to your quality of life and overall health, ONeill says. Avoiding too-high or too-low blood sugar levels will help you avoid adverse symptoms and health complications, and staying within your target range can enable you to feel your best and do whatever you want to do in life, she says.

Test your blood sugar regularly, listen to your body, and dont ever hesitate to reach out to your doctor.

Additional reporting by Karen Appold.

What Are Blood Sugar Levels

Your blood sugar levels, also known as blood glucose levels, are a measurement that show how much glucose you have in your blood. Glucose is a sugar that you get from food and drink. Your blood sugar levels go up and down throughout the day and for people living with diabetes these changes are larger and happen more often than in people who dont have diabetes.

You can check your sugar levels yourself by doing a finger-prick test, by using a flash glucose monitor or with a continuous glucose monitor . You can do this a number of times a day helping you keep an eye on your levels as you go about your life and help you work out what to eat and how much medication to take. Find out your ideal target range.

But not everyone with diabetes needs to check their levels like this. Youll need to if you take certain diabetes medication. Always talk to your healthcare team if youre not sure whether thats you theyll give you advice on whether to check them yourself and how often.

And theres also something called an HbA1c, which measures your average blood sugar level from the previous few months. Everyone with diabetes is entitled to this check.

High blood sugar levels increase your risk of developing serious complications. However you manage your diabetes, stay in the know about your blood sugar levels.

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Diabetes Sign: You Have Weird Patches On Your Skin

Too-high blood sugar levels can damage your blood vessels, including the blood vessels that sit directly under your skin, explains Dr. Fuhrman. That damage can lead to shiny or scaly reddish brown patches on your skinespecially on your lower legs. The patches are usually itchy, and they can even be painful.

You might also notice dark, velvety patches in the folds of your skinparticularly in the armpits, groin, or neck. Excess blood sugar can cause your skin cells to reproduce faster than normal. The new cells have more pigment, which can lead to dark patches, Dr. Fuhrman says. They patches probably wont hurt, but they might itch or even smell bad.

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When To See A Doctor

If youre experiencing one or many of these symptoms enough for it to raise a mental red flag or affect your life , thats a sign that you should talk to a doctor about your concerns. An expert like a primary care provider can help determine if high blood sugar due to diabetes or prediabetes is the cause of your symptoms. Even if youre not sure thats exactly whats going on, its still worth having a conversation with your doctor about hyperglycemia and other possible causes behind your symptoms.

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Causes Of High Blood Sugar

You must rein in your blood sugar if you have Type 2 diabetes. Not doing so will lead to a potentially fatal condition known as the hyperglycemic hyperosmolar nonketotic syndrome , when your body cannot process blood sugar any longer. You may be unable to urinate because you are completely dehydrated.

To avoid hyperglycemia, you must know its causes. Your blood sugar may spike if you miss your insulin injections or eat too many carbohydrates. You may also develop hyperglycemia if you are ill, under stress or do not exercise enough.

Signs You Have High Blood Sugar

Anyone who cares about their health needs to be concerned about having high blood sugar, not just diabetics. Healthy eaters give their bodies good nutrition and watch their fat and sugar intake.

We all know that sugary foods can cause a spike in blood sugar, but what other foods cause a spike, then a crash, in your blood sugar? Paying attention to the carbohydrates in your food might not be enough either.

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Understanding The Glycemic Load

Glycemic load is different than the glycemic index of a food. The foods glycemic load is calculated by multiplying the glycemic index by the number of carbohydrates in grams provided by a food and dividing the total by 100.

On the glycemic index of foods, sugar is 100, and all other foods are ranked based on how they affect glycemic changes. The lower numbers have less impact on blood sugar levels than the foods with higher glycemic index numbers.

One of the problems with the glycemic index table is that it does not account for different food preparation methods in cooking or ripeness levels, which can cause changes in the foods sugary taste and the effects on blood sugar.

Symptoms of Type 2 diabetes are frightening in that you might not know that you have a problem because they are barely noticeable. Gofitstayfit.com says approximately 8 million people may have diabetes and not know it.

Awareness of the glycemic level of the foods you usually eat is one of the best tools you can use to manage your blood sugar level. Glucose causes a spike in insulin, which the body produces to process sugar in our diet.

Why Is It Important To Reduce The Size And Duration Of These Spikes

Reducing these spikes may help you to increase the amount of time you spend in your target blood sugar range , which will have a positive impact on your future health. You should consult your healthcare team to understand the best target range for you, as this will differ from person to person. However, the International Society for Paediatric and Adolescent Diabetes recommends a target of 5.0-10.0 mmol/L .

Symptoms of a high blood sugar level also vary in individuals, but they may cause you to feel thirsty, tired, stressed and need to go to the toilet a lot. In the short term, by avoiding prolonged high blood sugar readings after eating, you should also reduce the occurrence of these symptoms and improve your energy, cognitive and athletic ability and overall mood.

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