How To Lower High Blood Sugar Reading

High Blood Sugar Causes

How to Lower High Blood Sugars

Sometimes the cause of a blood sugar spike is clear . But other times, the cause is a little more mysterious.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, losing sleep, skipping breakfast, not drinking enough water, or drinking coffee can cause blood sugar instability.

Even weirder, sometimes a sunburn can cause a spike! The pain of a burn causes stress, and high levels of stress can mess up your blood sugar. So bust out the sunscreen for the sake of your pancreas!

Other causes include eating high-sugar/high-carb foods, drinking alcohol, getting sick, and changing medication. A diet low in fiber and high in refined carbs or sugars and a sedentary lifestyle also make high blood sugar more likely.

So, what can you do when your blood sugar gets too high? Here are some natural ways to get your sugar back into a safe zone.

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.

Test Before You Eat And Two Hours After

This will tell you how well your medication is controlling your blood sugar. It will also shed light on what food is boosting your sugar too highand thus should be avoided. “You should consult your health-care provider to develop a plan that works for you,” says Donna Rice, immediate past president of the American Association of Diabetes Educators, who notes that the frequency and time of day you test will depend on how controlled your blood glucose is.

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Control Carbs By Monitoring The Carbs Youre Eating

Look at starchy carbs like rice, bread and pasta and see what they do to your blood sugar.

Try more fruits and vegetables instead of these starchy carbs. And when you do choose these starchy carbs, choose whole foods instead of refined foods like white bread opt for brown rice instead of white rice and sweet potatoes or whole potatoes over mashed potatoes.

Refined carbohydrates can really do a number on your blood sugar. And when you do choose fruit and other forms of carbohydrates, choose those with a lower glycemic index.

Beware Of Low Blood Sugars

Remember, above all else, its very easy to over-treat a high blood sugar and wind up low. Then youll be tempted to binge-eat and wind up high again. This blood sugar roller coaster is exhausting and dangerous, too.

Frequently finding yourself on the blood sugar roller coaster means your approach to taking insulin and/or how you treat low blood sugars isnt working and needs some fine-tuning. Work with your healthcare team to reduce and prevent these wild swings to ensure your overall safety and quality of life!

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When To Contact Your Doctor

Hyperglycemia can turn into a medical emergency like DKA and HHS that requires immediate intervention by your doctor 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

Which Is Right For You

Finding the best glucose monitoring system that is right for you is about finding the choice that best suits your needs. By considering the benefits and limitations between the different systems that are available in Canada, you can find a system that meets your individual requirements while improving the efficiency and effectiveness of your diabetes care routine.

Our glucose monitoring comparison chart provides a summary of CGM, Flash glucose monitoring devices and test strips and meters.

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What Foods Will Help Regulate My Blood Sugar

Diabetes or diabetes mellitus is a long-term health condition that is characterized by high blood glucose levels. The disease affects the ability of the body to convert food into energy inside the body. The food you eat is converted to simpler forms, most commonly glucose, inside the body. When the glucose in the blood increases, the body releases a hormone called insulin in the blood. Insulin brings high blood glucose levels back to normal levels. In diabetes, either there is a deficiency of insulin or the body is unable to respond to insulin . In either of the cases, there is an increased concentration of glucose in the blood known as hyperglycemia.

If you have diabetes, you must check your blood sugar levels regularly to make sure the levels are not too low or too high . Depending on your age and any other health conditions, your doctor may advise you to keep your blood sugar level in a range that they consider will be safe and healthy for you. Whenever your blood sugar level is over 240 mg/dL, you must check the presence of ketones in the urine by using an over the counter ketone test kit. High levels of ketones can be a sign of a serious medical emergency called diabetic ketoacidosis. Seek urgent medical help if your urine shows the presence of ketones or you have any signs of ketoacidosis, such as fast breathing, nausea and vomiting, stomachache, headache, or fruity smell from the mouth.

Can Oral Mediations Help A High Blood Sugar

Diabetes Tips : How to Reduce High Blood Sugar

While any oral medications you take to help manage your diabetes do improve your blood sugar levels, they are not something you would take an extra dose off to correct an occasional high blood sugar level.

However, if you realize that you forgot to take your dose of a daily medication, this should be part of the process of bringing your high blood sugar down.

Some medications can be taken late, and some medications may need to wait until your next normally scheduled dose. Contact your healthcare team to determine if the diabetes medication you take can be taken late after missing your usual dose.

If you have been skipping this medication altogether for days or weeks its very likely a significant contributor to the reason your blood sugar is high. These medications are designed to improve your blood sugar levels in a variety of different ways.

Talk to your healthcare team to better understand the medications youve been prescribed and the issues youre having in taking them as directed.

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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.

Treatment For Diabetic Itching

There are treatments for diabetic itching! It can seem overwhelming, especially when you’re about ready to scratch the skin off your legs or forearms with the intensity.

The American diabetes association is another great tool in where to receive treatment, health concerns related to diabetes, how to control blood sugar levels, why your blood sugar affects your body, and what each skin condition related to diabetes is and what it causes.

Whether it be yeast-like fungus or scaly patches, make sure to receive medical advice from your healthcare doctor first and foremost.

They know you and your condition best and diabetes can occur differently with each individual. Medical concerns are serious. A poor treatment decision can be lethal when not taken from a reliable source.

To prevent a skin condition:

Keep skin clean and check for signs of dry skin.

Make sure your diabetes is well-managed.

High glucose levels are usually less likely to fend off harmful bacteria with the bad combination of dry skin.

Moisturize to prevent dry skin

Be extra cautious and top of this during cold weather.

Avoid extremely hot water baths and showers . Utilize moisturizing soaps and standard skin lotion.

Do NOT put lotion between toes as it will encourage fungus to grow.

Visit a dermatologist concerning a skin condition if you have any questions or concerns or wish to receive a diagnosis or treatment.

Use a humidifier during more cold and dry months.

Utilize mild shampoos

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How To Lower Morning Blood Sugar

Whether a morning high is caused by the dawn phenomenon or something else, here are a few things you can try to lower your blood sugar levels:

Physical activity when you wake up can help bring your glucose level down. Even going for a walk can be helpful.
To learn about exercise guidelines and glucose management strategies, click here.
Read Adam Browns take on walking the most underrated diabetes exercise strategy.

Eating a light breakfast can help keep a morning high from increasing even more. Taking your mealtime insulin will help lower your blood sugar.

Adam Brown suggests eating a breakfast that is low in carbs, and notes that sometimes mealtime insulin has to be adjusted in the morning. One of his favorite breakfasts is chia pudding, since it has little impact on glucose levels see what else he eats for breakfast here.

Catherine Newman has six popular, low-carb, delicious recipes in The Morning Meal.

Intermittent fasting and time-restricted feeding approaches to meal timing can also help people keep morning blood sugar levels in range. Read Justine Szafrans Intermittent Fasting: Stabilizing My Morning Blood Sugars to learn more.

For additional ways to navigate mornings, read seven strategies from Adam Brown in A Home Run Breakfast with Diabetes.

This article is part of a series on time in range.

When Should I Check My Blood Sugar

how to lower the blood sugar naturally ~ Diabetes Remedies

How often you check your blood sugar depends on the type of diabetes you have and if you take any diabetes medicines.

Typical times to check your blood sugar include:

When you first wake up, before you eat or drink anything.
Before a meal.
Two hours after a meal.
At bedtime.

If you have type 1 diabetes, have type 2 diabetes and take insulin, or often have low blood sugar, your doctor may want you to check your blood sugar more often, such as before and after youre physically active.

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Drink Drink Drink Some Water

Dehydration can cause high blood sugars, which means getting hydrated can help prevent and reduce high blood sugars.

Your blood consists partly of water. When you dont drink enough water throughout the day, the other things in your blood become more concentrated! And thus, higher blood sugar levels.

You know that uncomfortable thirst you feel when your blood sugars are high? Give in to it. This is how your body helps flush excess sugar out through your urine, and how you replenish the necessary fluid balance in your bloodstream.

What Causes High Morning Blood Sugars

Two main culprits prompt morning highs: the dawn phenomenon and waning insulin. A third, much rarer cause, known as the Somogyi effect, may also be to blame.

The occasional morning high will have little impact on your A1C, a measure of your average blood sugar levels over time that indicates how well managed your diabetes is. But if those highs become consistent, they could push your A1C up into dangerous territory.

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How To Reduce Blood Sugar Level Immediately: Insulin

The severity of the hyperglycemia determines how to act. In cases of insulin-dependent diabetes, most people will probably use rapid-acting insulin. The name is a giveaway: this is how to reduce blood sugar level immediately.

Hopefully, using insulin will allow you to get back to normal blood sugar levels before it gets too severe. This will also be the best way to be in control you can lower your blood sugar with more accurate numbers.

This is where Hedia comes into play. Getting those numbers isnt always so easy to figure out by yourself, especially not when dealing with the hassle of high blood sugar. Hedia can deal with that instead.

When using Hedias insulin calculator, all Hedia needs is: your blood sugar reading this can even be added wirelessly and automatically with certain NFC or Blueetooth glucose meters what youve eaten recently this can be added swiftly with Hedias food database whether youve exercised recently or are about to exercise and if youve taken insulin in the last 4 hours. Have a go at the App Store or !

After taking insulin, keep testing blood sugar levels to see how your blood sugar decreases. Then, just continue with your day!

Managing Blood Sugar When Youre Ill

How To Lower Blood Sugar Levels (Naturally & Quickly)

When you get sick, your blood sugar levels may fluctuate and become unpredictable.

If you’re sick, it’s very important that you:

drink plenty of water or sugar-free fluids
check your blood sugar levels more often than usual
take 15 grams of carbohydrate every hour if you are not able to follow your usual meal plan
replace food with fluids that contain sugar if you can’t eat solid food
continue to take your insulin or other diabetes medication

If you have a cold or flu and want to use a cold remedy or cough syrup, ask your pharmacist to help you make a good choice. Many cold remedies and cough syrups contain sugar, so try to pick sugar-free products.

As an extra precaution, you should always check with your health-care team about guidelines for insulin adjustment or medication changes during an illness.

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.

Preventing high blood sugars

How Can High Blood Sugar Levels In The Morning Be Controlled

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:

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.

What Should Your Blood Sugar Be When You Wake Up

How To Reduce High Blood Sugar: How to lower blood sugar ...

The goal of diabetes management is to keep your blood sugar levels as stable as possible. This means that when you wake up, you want your glucose to be in range and to stay in range throughout the day.

For many people with diabetes, the overall target glucose range is between 70 mg/dL to 180 mg/dL . To start the day strong, the American Diabetes Association recommends that you aim to wake up with glucose levels between 80 to 130 mg/dL. Talk with your healthcare team about your glucose targets.