What Is A Dangerous Blood Sugar Reading And What Should You Do About It
How high is high and how low is low find out so that next time you know how to handle an emergency.
Your blood sugar levels dont stay constant throughout the day. They vary, rising and falling before and after you have a meal, exercise, or take your medication. People who do not have diabetes dont feel the difference very much, as their variations remain within a certain range. But if you have diabetes, you may unexpectedly experience blood glucose levels that are acutely higher or lower than usual, which can be dangerous.It is important for you to be able to recognise the symptoms of high blood sugar hyperglycaemia, and low blood sugar hypoglycaemia, and know how to treat them quickly before they can lead to disastrous complications. The best way to do this is to frequently self-monitor blood glucose levels with a glucometer.
According to Dr Ketan K Mehta, Consulting Physician, CardioPulmonologist & Diabetologist at Health Harmony, Mumbai, Blood sugar levels are a marker of diabetes complications. Too high or too low levels of blood sugar values are detrimental. An important aspect of managing diabetes is self-monitoring of blood sugar levels. But do more than only monitoring blood sugar levels. Go the extra mile and use smartphone app-based programmes to keep track of your blood sugar levels and learn to get them under control by managing your diet, activity levels and weight.
Fasting Blood Glucose Level Test Preparation
What should you do if your doctor orders a fasting blood sugar test? The preparation is the same as when you take a fasting test for cholesterol. First, be sure to find out if you need to schedule an appointment for your test . Ask your doctor what time is best to take it.
Then:
- Schedule your test if necessary
- Ask your doctor if you need to change any of the medications you take on the morning of the test
- If you normally drink coffee or have caffeine, ask your doctor if that is okay. It may not be, since it affects blood sugar levels
- Fast for at least 8 hours before your test. Usually, an overnight fast is most convenient
- You can drink water
High Blood Sugar Symptoms
Hyperglycemia is the medical term for high blood sugar. Hyperglycemia happens when the body doesnt have enough insulin or when it cant use insulin correctly. Many things can cause high blood glucose levels like Type 1 diabetes, Type 2 diabetes, stress, illness, or the dawn phenomenon. If you have hyperglycemia or suspect you may have it, talking with a healthcare provider is always a good idea. A doctor can help you determine whats causing your high blood sugar levels and lower it to a healthy range.
Here are some of the most common symptoms that may indicate hyperglycemia:
- Fatigue
- Vision loss
You should seek immediate medical attention if your blood sugar reaches 400 mg/dL or higher.
When patients experience any of these accompanied by elevated blood sugar levels, diabetic patients are advised to go directly to the ER to avoid diabetes-induced coma, says Vikram Tarugu, MD, a gastroenterologist and the CEO of Detox of South Florida. Patients who have elevated blood sugar may also present with frothy, ketone-like smelling breath.
Here are some lifestyle changes and medical treatments that can help treat hyperglycemia:
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How To Avoid Hyperglycemia
One high blood sugar reading does not indicate failure. People with diabetes should expect that their blood sugar will fluctuate. Rather than viewing an episode of hyperglycemia as something bad, looking at it as a learning experience may give us some benefit for the future. What caused the episode? Did I eat something different? Did I move more or less than usual? Was I ill or stressed? Taking the time to problem solve to avoid these situations in the future is one way to take control of your health.
The main goal of managing diabetes is to maintain a blood sugar as close to normal as possible. Recommendations for avoiding hyperglycemia are the same as the general recommendations for treating diabetes:
Just Ate Too Much The Night Before
If you had a late night high carb snack, then it is possible that your fasting blood glucose is high simply due to poor food choices in the presence of insulin resistance. As well, a large late night dinner high in fat can delay digestion and absorption of the carb content of the meal enough so that your post-meal rise in BG is going like gangbusters around the time the Dawn Phenomenon is kicking in.
Need help controlling carbs at meals? You can start with a typical goal of 30-45 grams of total carbs/meal if you are an adult woman or 45-60 grams/meal if you are an adult man. Try limiting your bedtime snack to 11- 20 grams total carbs. Discuss personalized meal and snack goals with your healthcare provider. If you have diabetes, ask your doctor for a referral to a Certified Diabetes Educator . This type of specialist is trained to help patients manage all aspects of their diabetes care including how to lower morning blood sugar.
Originally published on Dec 4, 2012,Updated: Updated: Jan 17, 2020
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Normal Range For Blood Sugar Two Hours After Eating
Your blood glucose levels can determine whether you have or are at risk for developing diabetes, a condition in which your body no longer effectively processes and absorbs glucose from the bloodstream. Blood glucose levels fluctuate during the day, particularly after meals. Postprandial — which means after eating — glucose levels that rise beyond a certain level may mean you have diabetes or prediabetes. However, two-hour postprandial blood sugar testing is not recommended to screen for or diagnose diabetes. Video of the Day Two to 3 hours after eating a meal, blood glucose levels typically fall to normal fasting levels. For people without diabetes, this is typically 125 mg/dL or less, according to criteria established by the American Diabetes Association. If your 2-hour postprandial blood glucose level is higher than 125 mg/dL, your doctor will likely order one of the ADA-recommended blood tests for diagnosing diabetes. The options include a hemoglobin A1c test and an oral glucose tolerance test. Before developing type 2 diabetes, many people go through a phase called “prediabetes.” With this condition, postprandial blood sugar levels are typically abnormally high — but not elevated enough to meet the criteria for a diagnosis of diabetes. Modest weight loss, increased physical activity and dietary changes can often prevent prediabetes from progressing to type 2 diabetes.Continue reading > >
How Does The Test Work
Glucose is a form of sugar and comes from the foods people eat.
It is the bodys primary energy source and fuels every cell, including those in the brain, heart, and muscles.
The body works continuously to keep the amount of blood glucose at optimum levels. It produces a hormone called insulin to achieve this, which helps glucose get into the cells that need it for energy.
People with type 1 diabetes do not produce insulin because their immune systems attack and destroy the cells in the pancreas that make insulin.
People with type 2 diabetes either do not produce enough insulin or their body does not respond to it appropriately.
When a person does not make insulin correctly, glucose remains in the blood. Hyperglycemia occurs when levels remain consistently high and hypoglycemia when they are too low.
Random glucose testing is one way of checking the levels of glucose in the blood. Doctors may carry out a random glucose test at any time of the day.
If the result indicates that a person has higher than expected glucose levels, the doctor will usually order a follow-up test to confirm the diagnosis, including the following:
Fasting glucose test. This test measures blood glucose levels after the person has had nothing to eat or drink for 8 hours.
Doctors usually perform this test in the morning before breakfast.
Oral glucose tolerance test . People with diabetes can sometimes demonstrate normal results in the fasting or random glucose tests yet still have diabetes.
Procedure
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High Blood Sugar Level Causes
Several types of diabetes and medical conditions are the primary cause of high blood sugar levels. Most of which are unpreventable issues but are the reason for a spike in high blood sugar. The causes for high blood sugar levels are as follows:
Causes of low blood sugar levels are very different and are as important to be aware of, as they are in fact easier to control.
Important Facts About Blood Sugar
- Glucose is a simple sugar and is one of the primary molecules which serve as energy sources for both plants and animals.
- Insulin, a hormone produced by the pancreas, helps maintain normal blood sugar levels.
- Uncontrolled or high blood sugar levels can lead to health complications such as blindness, heart disease and kidney disease.
- Increase or decrease in the glucose level in the blood can lead to a condition called “diabetic coma”.
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What Is A Good A1c Level
Levels between 5.7 and 6.4 are considered prediabetes. For most people with diabetes, the general A1C goal is to have a level between 6.0 and 6.9. While it might sound like the ideal A1C target is under 6.0, for those with diabetes, this level can indicate low blood sugar levels, which can be just as dangerous as high blood sugar levels. If A1C results fall between 7.0 and 8.9, a doctor might suggest lifestyle changes or medications to help lower the levels to what is considered controlled. However, for some people, these levels might be appropriate, such as:
- Those with a limited life expectancy
- People with long-standing diabetes who have trouble reaching a lower goal
- Those with severe hypoglycemia or the inability to sense hypoglycemia
The 411 On A1c: Normal A1c Levels And 15 Ways To Lower High A1c
The hemoglobin A1C test is the closest thing to a diabetes scorecard you can find. Whether someone has had diabetes mellitus for years or if they have just been diagnosed, they have probably heard about this test. Unlike blood sugar meters people use at home, the A1C measures an average blood sugar level over the past several months by analyzing how many of a patients hemoglobin cells have glucose attached to them. The test results keep track of how well a person is managing his or her diabetes.
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How To Lower Your A1c Levels
Its important to get your hemoglobin A1C levels as close to normal as possible, says Dr. Bellatoni, Decreasing your hemoglobin A1C decreases your risk of having complications from diabetes. Even if you cannot get your A1C back to the normal range, any improvement lowers your risk of diabetes complications.
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.
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My 40 Year Old Husband Had A Casual Random Sugar Test With A Handheld Instrument Yesterday And It Showed A Reading Of 166 Mg/dl Does He Have Diabetes How Do I Confirm This
Answer:
A random blood sugar level done on a hand-held meter is not accurate enough to diagnose diabetes. The level of 166 mg/dl may be high, or normal. See Classification and Diagnosis of Diabetes.
Id ask your husbands doctor to do a fasting blood sugar in a laboratory along with a urinalysis to confirm or rule out a diagnosis of abnormalities in glucose metabolism.
[Editors comment: As Dr. Songini indicates, testing for diabetes should include blood sugar levels performed by a medical laboratory. The timing of the sample would influence how high a level is considered abnormal.
Occasionally, lab blood sugar testing might be normal in an early case of diabetes, repeat blood sugar testing at the same or a different time, or performing a glucose tolerance test, might be appropriate if there is a high suspicion of diabetes despite normal initial testing. Another test, the glycosylated hemoglobin, might be used to help confirm a suspected diagnosis of diabetes, but the GHB is not usually considered as appropriate to make an initial diagnosis. Antibody testing is occasionally done as a screening test in high-risk situations, or as confirmatory of type 1A diabetes, but is not part of routine testing.
WWQ]
What Is Normal Blood Sugar After 1 Hour Of Eating
. Simply so, what should blood sugar be 1 hour after eating?
Normal blood sugar levels after eating for diabeticsThe American Diabetes Association recommends that the blood sugar 1 to 2 hours after the beginning of a meal be less than 180 mg/dl for most nonpregnant adults with diabetes. This is typically the peak, or highest, blood sugar level in someone with diabetes.
Furthermore, what is the highest blood sugar level that is safe? Yes, there is a safe blood sugar level. It is the optimum range that safely provides the body with adequate amounts of energy. For the average person, it is 70 to 105 mg/dl in a fasting state.
Likewise, people ask, what level of blood sugar is dangerous after meal?
Blood glucose is commonly considered too high if it is higher than 130 mg/dl before a meal or higher than 180 mg/dl two hours after the first bite of a meal. However, most of the signs and symptoms of high blood glucose don’t appear until the blood glucose level is higher than 250 mg/dl.
Is 200 blood sugar normal after eating?
The highest reading was 200 after a meal by 1 hour. Fasting blood sugar is almost between 80 to 100. The ideal post-meal blood glucose reading is less than 140. 140-200 post meal/random reading is considered pre-diabetes.
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Inflammation And Oxidative Stress
A low-grade inflammatory process occurs in both diabetes and hypertension . Even chronic periodontitis is a latent factor in the development of diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular diseases, and the metabolic syndrome . In some ways, diabetes and hypertension could be considered as chronic inflammatory diseases.
Inflammatory markers ) are increased in patients with diabetes, hypertension, and the metabolic syndrome, and also predict the development of these diseases . The local renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system plays a very important role in vascular pathophysiology. Angiotensin-converting enzyme is expressed in the shoulder of coronary artery plaques. Angiotensin II is to a large degree responsible for triggering vascular inflammation and inducing oxidative stress . It stimulates NADH/NADPH oxidase, and activates Rho/Rho kinase, protein kinase C , and mitogen-activated protein kinase . Also, Ang II down-regulates proinflammatory transcription factors such as nuclear factor-B , resulting in the generation and secretion of reactive oxygen species , inflammatory cytokines , chemokines, and adhesion molecules . These actions lead to endothelial dysfunction and vascular injury.
The Power Of Prevention
The high prevalence of adult obesity in America, which is now around 35%, is largely to blame for the prediabetes epidemic, says Dr. Ganda. But if your blood sugar is on the high side, you don’t need to make drastic changes to see improvements. The Diabetes Prevention Program, a landmark study published 15 years ago, showed that cutting out 150 calories per day and walking briskly for 30 minutes, five days a week, cut the risk of developing diabetes by more than half . You should also avoid refined carbohydrates, such as white rice, foods made with white flour, and sugary treats like desserts and sodas. Losing weight is ideal but not absolutely mandatory.
“I tell my patients, don’t be disheartened if you don’t lose weight,” says Dr. Ganda. If you keep exercising regularly, even if your weight doesn’t change, your body composition will change. Losing fat and gaining muscle will improve your response to insulin, as will the exercise itself. “Think of doing exercise as having a little bit of extra insulin on board,” he says.
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