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Stabilizing High Blood Sugar
For Your Own Diabetic Health

So you were just diagnosed as a diabetic and have been told you have high blood sugar or its common name, hyperglycemia. What exactly does this mean to you and your diabetic health?

What Is Blood Sugar

The human body uses glucose (sugar) which it captures from the foods we eat daily. High blood sugar does not only come from eating "sweet foods". In our body, as the digestive system breaks down the foods we feed it, many of these are converted to glucose. All foods, to varying degrees have glucose.

Many carbohydrates such as corn, white potatoes, white rice and white bread are carbohydrate-rich foods. When these are processed and broken down there is a spike in blood sugar levels in our system. Full fat dairy products such as 4% milk, many cheeses, yogurts etc. also have high concentrations of natural occurring sugars.

There is also other products, such as many fruits and vegetables, that are also a carbohydrate source. This type of food though, when digested does not spike our blood sugar as much or as quickly. The difference is in the type of carbohydrates which yields a much slower steadier rate of change in our bloodstream.

What Is Normal Blood Sugar?

All blood sugars, whether they be low or high blood sugar, is denoted as a range which will be suggested by your doctor. Most commonly we hear try to keep our blood sugar levels between 80mg/dl to 120mg/dl. A reading of 70md/dl to 80md/dl is anticipated before meals. As you eat though, your blood sugars will rise. Ideally, it is hoped they will not rise over 120mg/dl.

What Makes It Go Up

Some of the common everyday occurrences in our lives can also affect your blood sugar readings. Although many of these can not be avoided, you can learn to adjust your lifestyle and habits to try to maintain better control. Take some time, if necessary and talk with your doctor to see if he can give you any suggestions to help you control these other factors:

Any active infection or illness in your body
Long-running or repeated stress or emotional turmoil
Incorrect choices of foods or eating more than your diet allows
Not enough diabetes medications
Side effects causing fluctuations from other medications you may be on
Your monthly menstrual cycle or pregnancy (changes in hormones)
sedentary lifestyle

Common Reported Anomalies Of High Blood Sugar

Many people who do have tight glucose control will report that at different times of the day their testing yields unsatisfactory numbers and they do not understand what they did wrong. An average insulin medication will only offer control for 4-6 hours. If you eat the standard 3 meals a day:

Breakfast: 7:00 AM - 8:00 AM
Lunch: 12:00 noon
Dinner: 7:00 PM - 8:00 PM

Effectively you can see your insulin shot from lunchtime has worn off before dinner. When your body believes it is going into "starvation mode" (it has been 8 hours since your last meal), your body will pull stored glucose from your liver for energy. Now more sugars are circulating in your blood which will raise your blood sugar levels and yet it is still not time for dinner. This phenomenon is also prevalent first thing in the morning for many people because of the extended hours of sleep.

Often, many practitioners in the health care field will recommend 4-6 mini meals each day. This is a method of preventing the blood sugar spikes (as long as you don't abuse your suggested amount of carbs for your snack). If you give your body a snack every few hours, your body does not slip into starvation mode so the blood sugars can and will stay more steady.

If Blood Sugars Are High--Increase My Dose?

This is a common misconception between many patients and also many medical practitioners. The standard suggestion to increase your dose by 1-2 units is no where near enough to make any kind of noticeable improvement in a high blood sugar reading. About the only "extra" you are getting from this extra two units is a slightly longer frame of time for the insulin to work.

So what should you actually do in this scenario? If you are a type 2 diabetic on a regular insulin shots program, try the following after approval from your doctor:

take an immediate dose of your normal amount
drink extra water to prevent signs of dehydration
delay your next meal until your blood sugars are back below 200mg/dl. This could mean you have to wait until 1-5 hours until your body has re-adjusted.

If you are taking a fast-acting insulin for your regular shots (such as Lispro), again check with your doctor first but try this suggestion:

taking a larger dose of short-acting insulin will bring your blood sugars down quickly, usually within 15 minutes, but you will also notice with continual blood sugar checks you may start having the symptoms of hypoglycemia (your blood sugar is now too low). Try to stay off this roller coaster ride.

All of this information is just basic guidelines. Remember, the control of your blood sugar is a direct result of your medication, your meals and mealtimes, stress levels plus your current health and fitness levels. All of these suggestions must be handled by your doctor so a suitable "game plan" can be set up and then discussed until you understand your plan of action if and when the situation of high blood sugar ever arises.

Return to "Symptoms Of Diabetes" from "High Blood Sugar".

*Disclaimer*
This site is not intended to replace the advice and supervision of your professional medical treatment plan. Although all of the information is true and accurate to the best of our knowledge, we still recommend you carefully check all food labels before consuming any food product. We can not assume any legal responsibility for any illness obtained while following the advice contained on this site.

SBI!