Hyperglycemia
What Is Hyperglycemia?
Hyperglycemia means high blood sugar or high blood glucose. It can develop when your body creates too little insulin, or when it doesn't properly use the insulin that it does make.
High blood sugar causes many of the complications that can accompany diabetes. To minimize your risk of complications, it's very important to keep your blood sugar levels as normal as possible.
What Causes Hyperglycemia?
Hyperglycemia can occur for a number of reasons, including:
- Eating too much food or consuming too many calories for the amount of insulin you take
- Forgetting to take your diabetes medication
- Illness or infection
- Not exercising enough - or even exercising too much if your blood sugar is already high (usually more than 300 mg/dL)
- High levels of stress
How Do You Know If You Have Hyperglycemia?
Because high blood sugar levels don't always cause symptoms, test your blood sugar level often to know for sure.
Sometimes though, symptoms do occur, including:
- Increased thirst
- More frequent urination
- Weight loss
- Headaches
- Difficulty concentrating
- Blurred vision
- General tiredness
If your blood sugar stays high, and if you urinate often, you can become dehydrated. If this happens, you might need medical care to provide your body with extra fluids.
How Can You Treat Hyperglycemia?
The best way to treat hyperglycemia is to prevent it by checking your blood sugar levels before it happens.
However, if your blood sugar levels do run high, you can treat this condition in a variety of ways.
- Drink more water.
- Exercise — but check your blood sugar level first. If it measures more than 300 mg/dL, do not exercise, since doing so might increase your blood sugar level.
- You might also need to make other changes, such as changing the amount of food you eat, changing your medications, or even changing when you take those medications. Talk with your doctor to find what will work best for you.
How Can You Prevent Hyperglycemia?
Test your blood sugar often to make sure it stays in your normal range.
Follow your meal plan to the best of your ability, and eat at regular and consistent meal times.
If you're taking diabetes medicine, remember to take it as prescribed. It's also important to let your doctor know what other medicines you take.
Also, speak with your doctor about whether you need to adjust your exercise routine.
Finally, if your blood sugar levels often run high, talk with your doctor. He or she may need to adjust your medication.
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Thursday
November 20, 2008
Tip of the Day
Regular exercise increases the number of insulin receptor sites on cells, making the body more sensitive to insulin.
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