Is 168 High For Blood Sugar

October 5, 2021

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What Can I Do To Fix This And Get Healthy Again

What is Normal Blood Sugar? (HIGH Blood Sugar on KETO?!)

With some minor life-style changes, you can see and feel big improvements quickly. Here are some things you should focus on:

Lose Unwanted FatThis may not be fun, but its very important and its the first step in keeping your glucose in check.
Eat Better Natural FoodsThis means lower glycemic foods, less carbohydrates, healthy proteins and fats. It also means to stay AWAY from processed, man-made foods. Also, make sure you eat often smaller meals throughout the day to stabilize your blood sugar and have lots of fiber as well.
Exercise Daily Aerobic & AnaerobicExercise utilizes the carbohydrates you eat, so it keeps your blood sugar stable. Having more muscle also improves insulin sensitivity, which means less insulin is needed.
Proper SupplementationThere are specific natural herbs, vitamins and minerals that can help stabilize your blood sugar, while also improving insulin sensitivity.

Simply making some small adjustments in each of these categories will mean fast results for you. Which means more energy, less body fat, better cognition and you’ll simply look and feel YOUNGER!

High Blood Sugar Is An Ongoing Science Experiment

In the end, its all just learning, studying, improving and adjusting! The lifelong science experiment of life with diabetes. You may have recently come out on the other side of a stressful divorce or been managing the diagnosis of something incredibly stressful like breast cancer–and those stressors in life had caused you to let your blood sugars run higher for a period of time.

Hey, it happens! To any of us!

But when youre ready to focus on reducing your A1c, make sure that your idea of a normal blood sugar vs. a high blood sugar lines up realistically with your goals.

A High Sugar Level After A Meal

High Blood Sugar Causes

Diabetes mellitus is one of several persistent conditions causing high blood sugar levels. For someone with diabetes, hyperglycemia has many possible causes:

Carbohydrates: Eating food containing too many carbohydrates, a form of sugar. The body of a person with diabetes cannot process high levels of carbohydrates fast enough to convert it into energy. Blood sugar levels in patients with diabetes can rise within hours after eating.
Insulin control: Not producing enough insulin action . People with diabetes must control blood sugar by a combination of dietary discretion, taking medication, and physical activity. When food, exercise, and insulin are not balanced, blood sugar levels rise.
Stress: Emotions can play a role in causing hyperglycemia, but should not be used as an excuse for poor control of diabetes.
Low levels of exercise: Daily exercise is a critical contributor to regulating blood sugar levels.
Infection, illness, or surgery: With illness, blood sugar levels tend to rise quickly over several hours.
Other medications: Certain drugs, especially steroids, can affect blood sugar levels.

Unconsciousness or coma

Ketoacidosis is life-threatening and demands immediate treatment.

Symptoms include:

Blood Sugar Levels During Pregnancy

The NIDDK states that gestational diabetes is high blood sugar that occurs during pregnancy if you were not diabetic before getting pregnant. Healthy blood sugar during pregnancy can help lower your risk of developing type 2 diabetes later. It can also lower the risk of your baby being born prematurely, at a high birth weight, and having respiratory problems.

Blood sugar and insulin levels during the first trimester of pregnancy tend to be lower than usual, but they rise during the late second and early third trimesters. You can be diagnosed with an oral glucose tolerance test .

These are the steps for the 2-step strategy.

Drink a solution with 50 grams of glucose about the amount in 1 16-oz. bottle of a soft drink
Get your blood drawn after 1 hour. IF the value is high, retest
Fast overnight
Drink a solution with 100 grams of glucose about the amount in 12 peanut butter cups
Get your blood drawn immediately and after 1, 2, and 3 hours

Or, your doctor might use the 1-step strategy with a 2-hour OGTT:

Fast overnight
Drink a solution with 75 grams of glucose
Get your blood drawn immediately and after 1 and 2 hours

These are some values to know from NIDKK related to gestational diabetes and healthy blood sugar in pregnancy.

Time or Situation
Baseline: at least 105 mg/dl1 hour: at least 190 mg/dl2 hours: at least 165 mg/dl3 hours: at least 145 mg/dl

Also Check: Non Diabetic A1c Level

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.

What Is The Right Amount Of Sugar In Your Blood On An Empty Stomach

Does Blood Sugar Level Change With Age

Many factors changes with age and even sometimes co-morbidities gets added. To adopt with these certain conditions, optimum levels of different substances in blood also changes. So the same goes for the blood sugar. It has been confirmed by different studies that fasting blood sugar level increases with age considering different factors like obesity.

But, now the question comes, how much increment will be considered as normal? Obviously not random! It has a specific level but the increment varies depending on various conditions.

It is said that the ideal level of blood sugar increases with the passing of decade through your adult years due to benign physiological changes which decrease the glucose tolerance.

Basically, if you are quite healthy then, 2mg per 100 ml rise is considered as normal through the advancing years. But this issue is seen to bewilder both clinicians and investigations alike.

However, this small extent is only for fasting. Besides this, you may notice that your postprandial sugar levels are also escalating. Be conscious! Because it must not increase more than 4mg per 100ml. Again, sugar level may elevate up to 8 to 13mg per 100 ml per decade following a glucose challenge.

The above-mentioned levels are for those who are comparatively healthy and are not suffering from any other disease apart from diabetes.

Establish Your Correction Factor

9 Signs Your Blood Sugar Is High – Diabetes Symptoms

Establish your Correction Factor …and use it! Your correction factor is the number of points 1 unit of insulin will reduce your blood sugar. For instance, the common CF is 1:50 or 1:75. Once your CF is established as 1:50, for example, when you see a 150 mg/dL on your glucometer 3 hours after lunch , you could take a ½ unit of insulin to bring your blood sugar down 25 points.

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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:

Improving Blood Sugar Control

Good blood sugar control can help you avoid the symptoms and complications of going too high or low. Youll also feel better and have more energy, says Rasa Kazlauskaite, MD, medical director of the Rush University Prevention Center in Chicago, Illinois, and associate professor in the department of preventive medicine and internal medicine.

Get started with these 10 tips to help you rein in your blood sugar and better manage type 2 diabetes:

1. Stick to your medication plan. There are many drugs to help control blood sugar, Reddy says. Taking your medication as directed is vital don’t skip doses.

2. Eat on schedule. Eating healthy meals at about the same time every day helps keep blood sugar steady. Also, meal routines and consistency help to avoid severe hunger and help medications work better, Dr. Kazlauskaite says.

3. Distribute carbohydrates throughout the day. Make it a goal to eat two to four carbohydrate servings about 30 to 60 grams per meal, says Margaret Powers, PhD, RD, CDE, president-elect of health care and education for the American Diabetes Association and a research scientist at Park Nicollet Health Services International Diabetes Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Because carbohydrates raise your blood sugar, spacing them out can help keep your levels in a healthy range.

9. Make it a family affair. Reddy suggests recruiting family members to eat healthy and exercise with you so it feels more like fun than a task.

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What Is Gestational Diabetes

During pregnancy, some women develop high blood sugar levels. This condition is known as gestational diabetes mellitus or gestational diabetes. Gestational diabetes typically develops between the 24th and 28th weeks of pregnancy.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, its estimated to occur in 2 to 10 percent of pregnancies in the United States.

If you develop gestational diabetes while youre pregnant, it doesnt mean that you had diabetes before your pregnancy or will have it afterward. But gestational diabetes does raise your risk of developing type 2 diabetes in the future.

If poorly managed, it can also raise your childs risk of developing diabetes and increase the risk of complications for you and your baby during pregnancy and delivery.

The exact cause of gestational diabetes is unknown, but hormones likely play a role. When youre pregnant, your body produces larger amounts of some hormones, including:

human placental lactogen
hormones that increase insulin resistance

These hormones affect your placenta and help sustain your pregnancy. Over time, the amount of these hormones in your body increases. They may start to make your body resistant to insulin, the hormone that regulates your blood sugar.

Youre at a higher risk of developing gestational diabetes if you:

are over the age of 25

Thesymptoms Of Blood Sugar Levels 250

Diabetes can be a sneaky disease. It sometimes causes no symptoms, unless levels of blood sugar are detected at high range. Normally, glucose levels of 250 mg/dl and higher are associated with diabetes symptoms:

– polyuria

– fatigue,

– tingling or numbness of lower limbs,etc.

These symptoms are the same for fasting blood sugar levels too with a difference that they will be present first thing in the morning and not a few minutes after eating.

On contrary, in type 1 diabetes, levels of blood sugar above 250 mg/dl can cause diabetic ketoacidosis , which is a dangerous complication which can also cause death. This life-threatening condition happens when there is insufficient insulin, and glucose cannot make it to enter inside the cells.

In this condition, the body breaks down fat and muscles to create energy. This causes the increase of ketones in the bloodstream, causing DKA.

DKA happens in people suffering from type 1 diabetes. People with type 2 diabetes do not develop DKA, because there is a basal production of insulin, even though it is not sufficient for the bodys needs.

Symptoms of DKA include abdominal pain, cramps, fruity breath, rapid deep breathing, thirst, drowsiness, loss of appetite, confusion, and when it is severe it can cause cerebral edema, coma, and even death.

Are you experiencing one of these symptoms? Tell our doctors and find out if you have diabetes Now.

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Does High Blood Sugar Make You Sleepy

Surprisingly, one of the symptoms of diabetes or pre-diabetes is excessive sleepiness. But the cause of it is probably different than youd guess.

Youd think that a high blood sugar would create a sugar rush, which would give you a boost of energy. Right?

That is true initially especially if youre healthy and you dont have insulin problems. But if you arent, then things are different for you.

What Causes Hyperglycemia

Hyperglycemia happens either when your body does not have enough insulin, or when your body is not using insulin correctly. There are a variety of things that can lead to this, including:

Inadequate insulin dosing

Individuals on insulin may be prescribed basal and/or bolus doses. Bolus doses are given for 2 reasons:

To cover carbohydrates intake for meals and snacks

To correct high blood sugar

Basal doses are given to act as a âbackgroundâ dose working over a 24-hour time frame. If either of these doses are too low, high blood sugar can occur. Expired or improperly stored medication may also cause hyperglycemia as these medications will not work as effectively.

Insulin resistance

Individuals with Type II Diabetes experience insulin resistance. Even though the body still produces insulin, the bodyâs cells may not recognize the insulin as effectively. When this happens, excess insulin remains in the bloodstream but does not bring glucose into the cells. This means that the glucose stays in the blood, causing high blood sugar.

Eating more than planned

Individuals with type I diabetes or those who dose insulin based on carbohydrate intake may, occasionally, underestimate their intake. When a person plans to eat 60 grams of carbohydrates but actually eats 90 grams, he/she will not have given enough insulin to cover the meal, leading to high blood sugar.

Not exercising as much as planned or inactivity

Illness or stress

Certain Medications

Dawn Phenomenon

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High Vs High Blood Sugar

The trick, in this scenario, is to adjust the way you think of “high” BG. Sure, we all know 300 mg/dL is “high.” But, if you’re looking to get that 8.0% A1C down to a 7.0%, 183 mg/dL should now resonate with you as “high” as well. It sounds so easy! But when you try putting it into practice, it can actually be quite tricky. So you see a 183 mg/dL on your meter screen what do you do to correct it? It’s not high like a 300 mg/dL high, but it’s still, technically, “high” if the goal is to get to 7.0%. But are you registering it as such? If not, it’s OK! Here are the steps to take to change that mindset, and reach your A1C goal.

The Power Of Prevention

10 Alarming Signs Your Blood Sugar Is Too High

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.

Also Check: What Is A Normal A1c For A Non Diabetic

Blood Sugar 168 Mg/dl

Nerve damage, nerve pain and numbness or tingling in the extremities Individuals with diabetes are not able to convert blood sugar into energy either because on insufficient levels of insulin or because their insulin is simply not functioning correctly. This means that glucose stays in the bloodstream, resulting in high blood sugar levels. Diabetes takes two distinct forms: Type 1 and type 2. Diagnosing hyperglycemia is done by assessing symptoms and performing a simple blood glucose test. Depending on the severity of the condition and which type of diabetes the patient is diagnosed with, insulin and a variety of medication may be prescribed to help the person keep their blood sugar under control. Insulin comes in short, long and fast-acting forms, and a person suffering from type 1 diabetes is likely to be prescribed some combination of these. Individuals who are either diagnosed with type 2 diabetes or are considered at risk for the disease are recommended to make alterations to their diet, lifestyle habits and exercise routine in order to lower blood sugar and keep it under control. These changes generally help to improve blood glucose control, individuals with type 2 diabetes may require medication eventually. These can include glitazones, acarbose, glucophage or sulphonylureas.Continue reading > >

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