Other Ways To Treat Low Blood Sugar
Glucose tabs and glucose gel may be eaten to help raise blood sugar levels, or you can administer a glucagon injection. Glucagon is a hormone that tells your liver to release stored glucose into the bloodstream.
Typically, your pancreas releases glucagon when your blood sugar levels are too low. People with diabetes can get a prescription for glucagon kits.
If they ever lose consciousness due to low blood sugar, a glucagon injection is the best way to bring their levels back to normal. Friends and family should also know how to use a kit in case of an emergency.
If you have frequent episodes of hypoglycemia, talk to your doctor. If you have diabetes, you may need to reduce your diabetes medicines, says Barnathan. Youll also want to make sure you are eating three meals a day.
Repeated episodes of hypoglycemia can cause hypoglycemia unawareness, where you no longer have early symptoms like shakiness or irregular heartbeat. Without those warning signs, you may not notice your blood sugar is low until more severe symptoms set in.
If you dont have diabetes but frequently have low blood sugar, you and your doctor need to check for other possible causes.
Faq: Frequently Asked Questions
Who is most at risk for hypoglycemia? Aside from diabetics, Dr. Jennifer Shine Dyer notes that children are more prone toexperience episodes of hypoglycemia because of their smaller body size, as well as having less fat to burn to maintain energy when glucose levels are low. Eating meals every 4 to 6 hours should maintain glucose levels if this is the only cause of hypoglycemia, she says.
How do I know it’s low blood sugar? To know if you’re suffering from hypoglycemia, you’ll need to begin tracking your glucose levels under the supervision of your doctor. Drugstores and pharmacies carry test strips, as well as glucose meters, which will help. You can even see the effect that different foods have on your body by checking your blood sugar after eating.
Does fasting affect my blood sugar levels? Yes, going without food can trigger hypoglycemia. If you have diabetes and are concerned about hypoglycemia, aim to eat smaller, more frequent meals and snacks that are low in processed sugars every three hours or so.
Does alcohol consumption trigger low blood sugar?Excessive alcohol consumption, defined as more than one drink per day for women and more than two drinks per day for men, especially with little food, can keep your liver from releasing glucose, which can lead to hypoglycemia.
Foods That Raise Blood Sugar
The quickest way to raise your blood sugar is by having something to eat or drink, says Barnathan.
If your blood sugar levels are extremely low and you need a quick boost, youll need something with some carbohydrates so that you can restore your blood glucose. But you shouldnt overdo it.
Its best to have something with simple carbs that are quick and easy to break down. About 15 grams of simple carbohydrates is ideal. Examples include:
- One-half cup of fruit juice or regular, non-diet soda
- One tablespoon of sugar
- One tablespoon of honey or syrup
- Four or five hard candies, jelly beans, or gumdrops
Doctors recommend waiting 15 minutes and check your blood sugar levels once more before eating again to avoid raising your blood sugar too much.
If you notice your blood sugar levels may be dropping, but you havent reached hypoglycemia, it may be best to add some protein and fat into the mix, like by eating a protein bar or meat sandwich.
Protein and fat will slow down digestion, delaying an increase in glucose. However, they can also prevent a big blood sugar spike and subsequent drop. For this reason, those who experience insulin resistance are recommended to regularly include protein and healthy fats in their diet.
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When To Call The Doctor
If signs of low blood sugar do not improve after you have eaten a snack that contains sugar, have someone drive you to the emergency room or call your local emergency number . DO NOT drive when your blood sugar is low.
Get medical help right away for a person with low blood sugar if the person is not alert or cannot be woken up.
What Causes A Low Blood Sugar Level
In people with diabetes, the main causes of a low blood sugar level are:
- the effects of medicine especially taking too much insulin, medicines called sulfonylureas , medicines called glinides , or some antiviral medicines to treat hepatitis C
- skipping or delaying a meal
- not eating enough carbohydrate foods in your last meal, such as bread, cereals, pasta, potatoes and fruit
- exercise, especially if it’s intense or unplanned
- drinking alcohol
Sometimes there’s no obvious reason why a low blood sugar level happens.
Very occasionally, it can happen in people who do not have diabetes.
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How To Diagnose Blood Sugar Level
Its possible to check your glucose level without a glucose meter by pricking your finger with a clean needle and putting the drop of blood on a strip that has been dipped in a special liquid. The strip will show your blood sugar level in both mg/dL and mmol/L.
A fasting blood glucose level is the amount of glucose in a persons blood after they have not eaten for about 8 hours. The level is usually around 100 milligrams per deciliter . Its possible to measure it using a glucose meter. 80-99 mg/dL is the right amount of sugar to be present in the blood.
A Low Blood Sugar Level And Driving
You may still be allowed to drive if you have diabetes or you’re at risk of a low blood sugar level for another reason, but you’ll need to do things to reduce the chance of this happening while you’re driving.
You also need to tell the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency and your car insurance company about your condition.
For more information, see:
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Foods Minerals & Spices That May Help Control Blood Sugar
When it comes to managing blood sugar, the types of foods and drinks you consume plus what you sprinkle on top to add zest and a pop of color can help to stabilize your glucose.
Higher doses of spices are available in pill form. Check with your doctor before taking any supplements, and for advice on specific dosage recommendations.
Here are some foods, spices, and minerals that may help you control blood sugar:
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Symptoms Of Low Blood Sugar In The Morning
Ive been looking after many diabetic patients throughout my career. When it comes to symptoms of a low in the morning, 4 symptoms down below are the most common ones. Here are my four lovely patients whom I cant forget regarding low blood sugar in the morning symptoms. Their names are all pseudonyms for the sake of privacy.
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Hypoglycemia Tests And Diagnosis
To diagnose nondiabetic hypoglycemia, your doctor will do a physical exam and ask questions about any medicines you take. Theyâll want to know all about your health and any history of diseases or stomach surgery.
Theyâll check your blood glucose level, especially when you are having symptoms. Theyâll also check to see if you feel better when your sugar goes back to a normal level.
If your doctor suspects hypoglycemia, you may have to fast until you start to have symptoms. Theyâll test your blood glucose level at different times throughout the fast.
To check for reactive hypoglycemia, you may have to take a test called a mixed-meal tolerance test . For this, you take a special drink that raises your blood glucose. The doctor will check your blood glucose levels over the next few hours.
Why Am I Having Lows
If you are experiencing low blood sugar and youre not sure why, bring a record of blood sugar, insulin, exercise and food data to a health care provider. Together, you can review all your data to figure out the cause of the lows.
The more information you can give your health care provider, the better they can work with you to understand what’s causing the lows. Your provider may be able to help prevent low blood sugar by adjusting the timing of insulin dosing, exercise and meals or snacks. Changing insulin doses or the types of food you eat may also do the trick.
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Causes Symptoms Diagnosis Treatments And Support
With Elena Christofides and Jennifer Shine Dyer MD, MPH
When youre diabetic, a severe drop in blood sugar can strike even when youre doing everything right. Glucose is your bodys main source of energy and fuels your brain, so its critical to recognize the early signs of an episode before it becomes severe enough to cause you to pass out or worse. Were here to empower you with clear answers to all your pressing Qs.
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How Is It Treated
You can treat a sudden episode of low blood sugar by eating or drinking something with sugar in it. Some examples of “quick-sugar foods” are fruit juice, soda, milk, raisins, and hard candy. You may also take glucose tablets. This is usually all that’s needed to get your blood sugar level back up in the short term.
If your hypoglycemia is caused by a health condition, you may need treatment for that condition. There also may be steps you can take to avoid low blood sugar. For example, talk to your doctor about whether changes in your diet, medicines, or exercise habits might help.
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What About The Glycemic Index
Your daily carb total, spread steadily across the day, is one key to good blood sugar control. Some people also use the glycemic index , a rating of how individual foods raise blood sugar levels. Beans and whole-grain breads and cereals have a lower GI than white bread and regular pasta. Juice has a higher GI than whole fruit. Craving a high-GI food? Eat it along with a lower-GI choice to help control your levels.
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How To Check Your Own Blood Sugar Level
One way to check ones own sugar level is by pricking a finger with a lancet and placing the blood that comes out onto a test strip, then inserting the strip into a glucose monitor. A meter can tell you what your levels are in about 5 seconds. Another option is by taking an oral glucose tolerance test , which takes longer but may also provide more accurate results. A persons individual level will depend on many factors including how old they are, their ethnicity, their weight and height, and the activity theyve performed recently. Blood sugar levels can be checked by pricking a finger to get a drop of blood and putting it on a glucose meter.
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When Blood Sugar Is Too Low
Glucose is a sugar that comes from the foods we eat, and it’s also formed and stored inside the body. It’s the main source of energy for the cells of our body, and is carried to each cell through the bloodstream. Our brains depend on glucose to function, even when we’re sleeping.
The is the amount of glucose in the blood. When these levels drop too low, it’s called hypoglycemia . Very low blood sugar levels can cause serious symptoms that need to be treated right away.
Things To Do If You Have Diabetes
Common things that people with diabetes should avoid include eating lots of simple sugars, eating too much food for the activity theyve performed recently, and not following medication or exercise plans.
Some things that can be harmful to people with diabetes are smoking cigarettes, drinking alcohol in excess, and eating large portions of unhealthy foods.
The person should maintain a healthy diet and exercise regularly. The doctor may also recommend taking insulin or other medications to manage their blood sugar levels.
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How To Treat Someone Whos Unconscious Or Very Sleepy
Follow these steps:
They may need to go to hospital if theyre being sick , or their blood sugar level drops again.
Tell your diabetes care team if you ever have a severe hypo that caused you to lose consciousness.
Can Blood Sugar Go Too Low On Keto
When you restrict carbs, your blood sugar levels go down. And when your blood sugar levels go down, your ketone levels go up.
If your blood sugar dropped to 0 mg/dl, however, you wouldnt be around to learn about blood sugar anymore. You need some glucose in your blood to survive.
Along with too little glucose, you also dont want too many ketones. In fact, if your ketone production were to skyrocket ketoacidosis territory that would spell disaster.
Fortunately, your body has mechanisms to prevent these things from happening:
1) Gluconeogenesis: No matter how many carbs you restrict or how many ketones you produce your blood sugar never drops to 0 mg/dl. Thats because you can create your own glucose usually in the liver through a process called gluconeogenesis.
Gluconeogenesis keeps your blood sugar from dropping to dangerous, hypoglycemic levels during an extended fast or long period of carb restriction.
2) Glycogenolysis: When your blood sugar drops during a fast, carb restriction, or intense exercise your liver and muscle cells release glycogen to restore your blood sugar to normal levels. Glycogenolysis, in other words, helps keep enough glucose in your blood.
3) Inhibition Of Lipolysis: When your blood becomes oversaturated with ketones, this sends the signal to your body: okay, enough ketones, stop breaking apart fat. Without this mechanism, youd keep producing ketones until a dangerous condition called ketoacidosis sets in. .
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How To Prevent Low Blood Sugar
Small changes to your diet and physical activity habits can help prevent blood sugar spikes and decreases.
- Take smaller portions of high-carb foods, such as bread, pasta, potatoes, desserts, soft drinks and other sugar-sweetened beverages, and rice.
- Include a source of protein, fat, and/or dietary fiber when you eat carbohydrates.
- Choose less-processed versions of foods, such as whole fruit instead of juice, whole grains instead of refined, and pasta al dente instead of very well-cooked pasta.
- Instead of exercising on an empty stomach, have a small snack an hour or two before you start, or a larger snack or small meal three hours before.
- Have a snack or your next scheduled meal as soon as possible after exercising.
These changes can help prevent blood sugar swings.
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How Do I Treat An Episode Of Hypoglycemia
The American Diabetes Association recommends the 15-15 rule for an episode of hypoglycemia:
- Eat or drink 15 grams of carbs to raise your blood sugar.
- After 15 minutes, check your blood sugar.
- If its still below 70 mg/dL, have another 15 grams of carbs.
- Repeat until your blood sugar is at least 70 mg/dL.
If you have symptoms of hypoglycemia but cant test your blood sugar, use the 15-15 rule until you feel better.
Note: Children need fewer grams of carbs. Check with your healthcare provider.
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Blood Sugar Wont Stay Up What To Do
Suddenly feeling dizzy? Head starts spinning out of the blue? Feeling drowsy and lethargic? Then its probably because the glucose level in your blood isnt where it should be.
We consume sugar in foods as a source of energy. In that way, we maintain a constant level of sugar in our blood in the form of glucose. This level of blood sugar fluctuates within minutes depending on what we do. If these levels are too low, we experience the symptoms of low blood sugar.
If your blood sugar wont stay up, there are measures you can take to control your blood sugar level and thats what we will be talking about today.
We know that diabetic patients have erratic blood sugar levels. Thats because they have abnormalities in insulin that is produced in their bodies. However, blood sugar can go up and down rapidly in non-diabetic persons for different causes.
Now, lets look at the causes of blood sugar rise and fall in non-diabetics.
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- Kidney problems
- Pancreatic tumor
So, as we can see, high and low blood sugar levels are possible without diabetes. Most of these factors can be kept under control by leading a healthy lifestyle, taking a nutritious and balanced diet as well as proper physical exercise.
There are many signs that may show you that you have high or low blood sugar. Its important to understand these signs to take early action and protect your well-being.
So now, lets take a look at the signs and symptoms of abnormal blood sugar levels.