Symptoms Of High Blood Sugar
Depending on the cause of your high blood sugars, the symptoms could develop quickly or gradually.
People with undiagnosed type 1 diabetes will develop nearly all of the symptoms of high blood sugar very quickly, over the course of a few weeks, because their blood sugar levels are rising rapidly while insulin production is declining rapidly.
People with prediabetes or type 2 diabetes may not notice these symptoms for months or years because gradually increasing insulin resistance and beta-cell dysfunction can take a long time to become severe enough to produce noticeable symptoms.
Earlier symptoms:
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Normal Vs Optimal Blood Sugar Ranges
Ive written extensively about the difference between normal and optimal blood markers here, and the same applies to your blood sugar ranges.
From the perspective of conventional medicine, a fasting blood sugar level of 100-125 mg/dL indicates prediabetes.
Two consecutive fasting glucose levels of 126 mg/dL indicates diabetes, as well as a random glucose reading of 200 mg/dL , and a 2-hour post-meal reading of 200 mg/dL .
But much of the data in conventional medicine comes from populations who are not enjoying optimal health.
So what does a healthy daily glucose response look like from the perspective of preventative medicine?
On waking: Research indicates that your optimal glucose after waking in the morning should be between 82-88 mg/dL . This level is associated with optimal aging, the lowest risk of chronic disease, and the lowest mortality risk.
After meals: Blood sugar peaks between 1 and 2 hours after the meal and should be back down to fasting levels by 3 hours post-meal. From the perspective of optimal health, you should avoid regularly eating foods that raise your blood sugar over 100 mg/dl .
One strategy to test the impact of your diet on your long-term health is to measure your blood sugar before and after meals.
What Should I Do If My Blood Sugar Gets Too High
High blood sugar is also called hyperglycemia . It means that your blood sugar level is higher than your target level or over 180. Having high blood sugar levels over time can lead to long-term, serious health problems.
If you feel very tired, thirsty, have blurry vision, or need to pee more often, your blood sugar may be high.
Check your blood sugar and see if it is above your target level or over 180. If it is too high, one way to lower it is to drink a large glass of water and exercise by taking a brisk walk. Call your health care team if your blood sugar is high more than 3 times in 2 weeks and you dont know why.
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Blood Sugar Goals For My Personal Diabetic And Prediabetic Patients
Ideally, normal glucose levels before and after meals, with normal hemoglobin A1c.
Realistically, these are acceptable fall-back positions:
Fasting blood sugar: under 100 mg/dl
One hour after meals: under 150 mg/dl
Two hours after meals: under 130 mg/dl
Hemoglobin A1c: 6% or less
Treatment options for those not at goal include diet modification, weight loss, exercise, and medications. Admittedly, those goals are not acceptable or achievable by everyone with diabetes. Future studies may prove that such strict goals are not necessary to avoid the complications and premature death suffered by people with diabetes. Tight control may be less important for elderly diabetics over 6570. But for now, if I were a young or middle-aged diabetic Id shoot for the goals above.
Technical Notes
The gold standard for measuring glucose is a large chemistry analyzer in a lab, which measures values in plasma obtained from a vein with a needle. The glucose level in capillary whole blood, obtained via fingerprick and analyzed on a portable/home glucose monitor, is a different value, often 510 mg/dl higher than venous glucose. As of 2010, a majority of home glucose monitors, but not all, are calibrated so as to be directly comparable to venous plasma glucose readings. Read your monitors paperwork to find out about your device.
Reflect On The Amount Of Sugar In Your Diet
Hyperglycemia occurs when there is too much glucose in the blood.
Therefore, one way of reducing your blood glucose levels is reflecting on where sugar may be consumed in the diet. Think about any refined and processed foods that may be in your diet as these are often high in sugar. This can be achieved through a low carbohydrate diet.
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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.
What Is A Ketogenic Diet
Once upon a time, keto was the original diabetes diet prescribed to type 1 diabetes patients before the advent of insulin, as this would prolong their lives as it has less of an impact on blood sugar levels.
The ketogenic diet is a low-carb diet where you get only ~5% of your daily caloric intake from carbohydrates. By restricting your carbohydrate intake so severely, you force your body to get most of its energy from fat. A byproduct of this fat burning is the production of natural ketones in the body, hence the name of the diet.
Burning ketones supplies the body with an alternative form of energy rather than quickly accessible energy from carbs and is what makes the ketogenic diet work. . More about that later in this guide).
The two main reasons why a person with diabetes would follow a keto diet are:
In the rest of this guide, I will review the pros and cons of a keto diet and try to answer the obvious questions: Is a keto diet good for people with diabetes?
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Several Factors May Cause A Persons Postprandial Blood Sugar To Remain Elevated
Smoking after the meal: Studies show that smoking raises blood sugar levels in people with diabetes. Extreme stress: Stress produces the bodys fight-or-flight response triggering the release of stress hormones such as cortisol. These hormones cause the body to release the glucose it has previously stored for energy. Eating or drinking after the meal and before testing the blood sugar: Continuing to eat will keep blood sugars closer to their immediate post-meal levels.
Studies show that 15 to 20 minutes of moderate exercise, such as walking, shortly after a meal may improve glucose metabolism and reduce postprandial glucose levels.
Determining The Right A1c Goal For You
Just because a normal blood sugar range of 70 to 130 mg/dL is considered the healthiest doesnt necessarily mean thats the appropriate goal range for you especially if you have type 1 diabetes, or take insulin as a person with type 2 diabetes.
The reason this may not be the right goal for you is that extremely tight blood sugar management in people taking insulin can potentially lead to frequent low blood sugars which can be dangerous.
Achieving extremely tight blood sugar management, like a range of 70 to 130 mg/dL, also often requires a strict nutrition plan, more frequent than usual blood sugar monitoring, precise medication management, and most importantly, years of experience studying your own blood sugar levels.
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Adherence Can Be A Problem
If you have tried keto , even for a day, you can probably resonate with this. You hang in through the first few hours. Maybe through the first day. Maybe even day two or three. Maybe its been three months. It really doesnt matter it is inevitable that eventually, the cravings startand they are STRONG.
Oh, I can have some carbs now, it wont matter much, you justify to yourself. You cave.
The results are like the pop-up ads on your Internet browser. Congratulations! Youve just restarted the keto adaptation process. Anything you previously did is now for naught. Thanks! *browser closed automatically*
Granted, the longer youve been keto, the easier the re-adaptation process, but during that initial transition, it is IMPERATIVE that one maintains the correct macronutrient split or the adaptation will not occur.
Since that process is neither glamorous nor comfortable, not many can push through with near perfect consistency, myself included.
As you can hear, I found keto to be rough going but, again, your experience may be different.
The Ketogenic Diet And Diabetes: The Definitive Guide
The ketogenic diet has been around for a LONG time. Its popular. Its controversial. Some love it. Some hate it. Some even say it can help your blood sugars stay in better control.
After thoroughly reviewing the scientific literature and trying the ketogenic diet myself for over 6 months, I am ready to unfold everything youve been hearing and let you decide for yourself what you think about the diet that has taken the world and diabetes community by storm.
In this guide to the ketogenic diet and diabetes, I will cover the following:
This guide is relevant for people with any type of diabetes. I will mainly talk about insulin when I discuss how a keto diet affects blood sugar, but some studies also show a possible reduction in certain type 2 medications.
Disclaimer: Please always consult with your medical team before you start a new diet, adjust your medication or change your diabetes management routine.
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You Have Access To More Energy For Cardio
Your body stores a lot more energy as fat than it does as glycogen . A keto diet allows you to tap into that reservoir of stored fat energy more easily.
This is why you sometimes hear about endurance athletes who have successfully switched to keto and continued to perform at a high level because they no longer hit the metaphorical wall. They have access to a gigantic reservoir of fuel that was previously more difficult and took longer to access
Your Blood Sugar Isnt Just Because Of What You Eat
Mainstream media would have you believe that your blood sugar levels are impacted only by what you eat and how much you exercise, but people with type 1 and type 2 diabetes who test their blood sugars frequently could tell you otherwise.
Its especially important to keep this mind when looking at your own blood sugars and your goals because there are certain variables and challenges that impact blood sugar levels that you cant always control.
For example:
- Menstrual cycles: raises blood sugar and insulin needs
- Adrenaline rushes from competitive sports, heated arguments, rollercoaster rides: raises blood sugar and insulin needs
- The common cold and other illnesses: usually raises blood sugar and insulin needs
- Hormonal changes due to puberty and healthy growth in young adults: raises blood sugar and insulin needs
- An injury which raises overall inflammation levels: raises blood sugar and insulin needs
- Glucogenesis during anaerobic exercise: raises blood sugar
While you cant necessarily prevent these factors that affect your blood sugar from occurring, you can work with your diabetes healthcare team to adjust your insulin, other diabetes medications, nutrition and activity levels to help compensate for them when they do occur.
For example, when engaging in anaerobic exercise like weightlifting many people with type 1 diabetes find it necessary to take a small bolus of insulin prior to or during their workout because anaerobic exercise can actually raise blood sugar.
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Who Should Do The Test
According to the American Diabetes Association, screening for diabetes is recommended in people over 45 , or at any age if you have certain risk factors, including :
- Being overweight, obese, or physically inactive
- Having a close relative with diabetes
- Belonging to a certain race/ethnic group
- Having signs of insulin resistance or conditions associated with insulin resistance, such as high blood pressure , low good cholesterol and/or high triglycerides , and polycystic ovary syndrome
- Having had diabetes in pregnancy
Keto Diet And Exercise
Starting on a ketogenic diet can influence your exercise performance in multiple ways, both positive and negative. During the first 1-2 weeks , you will most likely see a decrease in energy and athletic performance across the board while your body adjusts to the new diet. This is perfectly normal and should NOT be a cause for concern or make you abandon the diet.
When your body has adapted to the ketogenic diet, you will most likely experience that cardio returns to its previous level of difficulty, but strength training may or may not be harder.
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Fasting Glucose Reading Of : How Dangerous Is This
Fri, 01 Oct 2021 18:20:00 GMT – Because if you keep seeing 119, youre in big trouble and your excessive worrying is quite justified. A fasting blood glucose of 119 is outside of the normal range but less than the diabetic range , says Stacy Mitchell Doyle, MD, resident physician of FoodTherapyMD and long-time advocate of plant-based nutritional protocols. What this means is that you are in the prediabetic range, continues Dr. Doyle.
What Is Hyperglycemia
Hyperglycemia is the medical word for high blood sugar levels. The hormone insulin is supposed to control the level of glucose in the blood. But someone with diabetes doesn’t make enough insulin or the insulin doesn’t work properly so too much sugar can get into the blood and make the person sick.
If you have high blood sugar levels, you may need treatment to lower your blood sugar. Your parents and your diabetes health care team will tell you what your blood sugar levels should be and what to do if they get too high.
Managing diabetes is like a three-way balancing act because you have to watch:
All three need to be balanced. If any one of these is off, blood sugar levels can be, too. Your parents and doctor can help you with this balancing act.
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What Is A Normal A1c
Now that you have your A1c number, lets look at what that number actually tells you. The American Diabetes Association has established the following guidelines:
This does NOT mean that you need an A1c of less than 5.7% if youre living with diabetes. It means that if you do NOT live with diabetes, your A1c is expected to be below 5.7%. There are different recommendations for what an appropriate A1c is for people living with diabetes.
I had a chance to asked Dr. Anne Peters, MD, Director, USC Clinical Diabetes Program and Professor of Clinical Medicine Keck School of Medicine of USC as well as Gary Scheiner, MS, CDE, owner and Clinical Director of Integrated Diabetes Services and author of Think Like a Pancreas, what their perspectives are on a good A1c target:
Dr. Peters:
The A1c target should be whatever is best given the persons clinical situation. For athletes, too many lows can limit performance, for someone who is pregnant it should be < 6%, for an older person the target should be higher. I generally think an A1c target of 6.0 7.0% is ideal and data shows that going below 7% has fairly little impact on complications. Basically, Id rather see someone with an A1c of 6.9% and low blood sugar variability than an A1c of 6.2% with lots of variability
Gary Scheiner, MS, CDE:
To learn more about blood sugar levels, please read What are Normal Blood Sugar Levels.
Consider Talking To Your Doctor
If you think you’ve been doing all you can to keep blood sugar in control, but still have high blood sugar readings, it might be time to switch medication. Diabetes is a progressive disease, and over time, the beta cells in the pancreas that produce insulin can stop making the hormone. “So, even if your numbers have held steady for years, that could change if the beta cells change, which is usually a gradual change but can be sudden,” says Rice. “That change doesn’t mean you’ve done anything wrong, it’s just the nature of the disease. The beta cells can only put out so much insulin, and over time they start to put out less.” Your doctor will look at the big picture and do additional testing to find out if there is a bigger problem.
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How Much Fat Protein And Carbs To Eat On A Keto Diet
To follow a keto diet, youre looking at approximately this split in daily calorie intake:
- 75-85% fat
- 10-20% protein
- 5% carbohydrate or < 20-50g
As an example, if we converted this to grams for a person on a 2,000-calorie diet, this equals:
- 167-182 grams of fat
- 50-100 grams of protein
- 25 grams of carbohydrates
NOTE: I am NOT saying that you should eat a 2,000-calorie diet. This is just an example! Please read this post to learn how to calculate your daily calorie need.
Protein is key here, because in the absence of carbohydrates, protein can be converted into glucose via gluconeogenesis. Since it is glucose, it can kick you OUT of ketosis. Thus, dont overdo your protein if you want true ketosis.
I will be spending the rest of the article talking from the 20-50g of carbs and moderate protein perspective. When I tried the keto diet, I was able to eat that quantity of carbohydrates and up to 150-160g of protein per day and remain in ketosis. Results may vary.