Hyperglycemia And How To Treat It
What is hyperglycemia? Hyperglycemia, or high blood sugar, occurs when glucose is trapped in the bloodstream due to lack of insulin. Individual blood glucose ranges vary, so talk with your diabetes team about your threshold for high blood glucose levels. A reading above 160 mg/dL (8.9 mmol/L) indicates hyperglycemia according to the Joslin Diabetes Center, although symptoms may not be present until blood sugar levels reach 200 mg/dL or 11 mmol/L (Mayo Clinic). If left untreated, hyperglycemia may lead to severe dehydration, diabetic ketoacidosis, and coma. The effects of tong-term hyperglycemia include damage to the eyes, kidneys, nervous system and heart. Why does it occur? Taking too little insulin, under-counting carbohydrates at mealtimes, stress, not exercising as much as planned, fluctuating hormones and illness can all contribute to hyperglycemia. Hyperglycemia can occur when when your body is under physical stress, like when you’re fighting an infection or other illness, if you’re recovering from an injury, or recently had surgery. Emotional stress also contributes to hyperglycemia as hormones produced in response to stress cause blood glucose levels to rise. Make a plan with your endocrinologist for sick days as your insulin needs may change (your pump may even have a “sick day” category in the basal settings). Keep a close eye on your blood sugar and check for ketones when you’re under the weather to prevent yourself from feeling the negative effects of hyperglycemia, too. Communicate with your diabetes team about how you’re feeling and ask questions about adjusting your insulin schedule. Sometimes hyperglycemia can occur when insulin has expired or if it “goes bad,” from being exposed to extreme heat or cold. Store your insulin within appropri Continue reading >>
Two-hour Postprandial Glucose
Does this test have other names? Glucose, postprandial; glucose, two-hour postprandial; two-hour PPG; two-hour postprandial blood sugar What is this test? This is a blood test to check for diabetes. If you have diabetes, your body doesn't make enough insulin to keep your blood sugar in check. This means your blood sugar levels are too high, and over time this can lead to serious health problems including nerve and eye damage. This test is done to see how your body responds to sugar and starch after you eat a meal. As you digest the food in your stomach, blood glucose, or blood sugar, levels rise sharply. In response, your pancreas releases insulin to help move these sugars from the blood into the cells of muscles and other tissues to be used for fuel. Within two hours of eating, your insulin and blood glucose levels should return to normal. If your blood glucose levels remain high, you may have diabetes. Why do I need this test? You may need this test if your healthcare provider wants to see if you have diabetes or another insulin-related disorder, especially if you have symptoms such as: Frequent urination Unusual thirst Blurred vision Tiredness Repeated infections Sores that heal slowly If you're pregnant, you may have this test to screen for gestational diabetes, diabetes that can develop during pregnancy. Treating gestational diabetes reduces the risk for health problems for you and your baby. What other tests might I have with this test? Your healthcare provider may order other tests to confirm or evaluate whether you have diabetes. These may include: Fasting blood glucose test. This measures the amount of sugar in your blood. A1C (glycosylated hemoglobin) test. This measures your average blood sugar level over the last 2 to 3 months. Glucose tolerance test. This m Continue reading >>
- Postprandial Blood Glucose Is a Stronger Predictor of Cardiovascular Events Than Fasting Blood Glucose in Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus, Particularly in Women: Lessons from the San Luigi Gonzaga Diabetes Study
- Advice to walk after meals is more effective for lowering postprandial glycaemia in type 2 diabetes mellitus than advice that does not specify timing: a randomised crossover study
- The Effect of Walking on Postprandial Glycemic Excursion in Patients With Type 1 Diabetes and Healthy People
Blood Pressure: 160/100
The information below is designed to help you understand what your latest blood pressure readings may mean for your health -- and to provide tips on what you can do to get or keep your blood pressure in a healthy zone. NOTE: This information isn't a substitute for medical advice provided by your doctor. If you think you might have hypertension or elevated blood pressure, be sure to discuss your blood pressure concerns with a doctor or nurse, who can help you factor in other important information, such as other medical problems you may have. In particular, the information below may not always apply to those who are very old, very frail, or have multiple chronic medical conditions. View the full blood pressure chart. Definitions of blood pressure terms Systolic (the upper number in the reading) is the pressure in the arteries when the heart beats; it measures how hard the heart muscle is working to pump blood throughout the body. Diastolic (the lower number in the reading) is the pressure of the blood against the blood vessel walls between heartbeats when the heart is relaxed. What a blood pressure reading of 160/100 means Readings between 140/90 and 180/110 usually indicate STAGE 2 HYPERTENSION, which puts you at high risk for life-threatening problems such as heart attack and stroke. Often people don't notice any symptoms, even when blood pressure is very high. Over time, however, uncontrolled high blood pressure leads to chronic damage of the body's arteries and organs. Common results of this damage include enlargement of the heart, which can cause heart failure, and chronic kidney damage, which can eventually require dialysis. What to do if your blood pressure reading is 160/100 Don't make a decision based on one blood pressure (BP) reading alone; lie down and rest fo Continue reading >>
10 Simple Strategies For Blood Sugar Control
Looking for ways to rein in your blood sugar? Prevent your levels from going too low or too high with these tips. Thinkstock Maintaining good blood sugar control might take dedication and time, but making it a priority can help you avoid or delay serious complications of type 2 diabetes. “Managing type 2 diabetes is a long war, not a battle won within a month or two,” says Sethu K. Reddy, MD, MBA, chief of the adult diabetes section at Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston, Massachusetts. Blood Sugar: When It’s Too Low or Too High The hormone insulin takes sugar (glucose) from food and uses it for energy. With type 2 diabetes, you don’t have enough insulin or your body isn’t effective at using insulin, and excess sugar continues to circulate in your bloodstream. A target blood sugar range for most people with type 2 diabetes is 80 to 130 milligrams per deciliter (mg/dl) before a meal and less than 180 mg/dl one to two hours after starting a meal, according to the American Diabetes Association. A reading of 160 mg/dl or higher is typically considered high blood sugar (hyperglycemia). Over time, blood sugar in the range of 160 to 250 mg/dl can affect every organ in your body, Dr. Reddy says. It's associated with heart disease, eye disease, kidney disease, neuropathy, stroke, and vascular disease. If blood sugar goes as high as 500 mg/dl, you may experience symptoms such as thirst, the urge to urinate more often, weight loss, low energy, and drowsiness, he says. Low blood sugar (hypoglycemia) occurs when levels fall to less than 70 mg/dl. This is a risk when you take insulin or other diabetes medications, have gone too long without a meal, have been active, or have been drinking alcohol. If your blood sugar goes too low, you’ll probably feel shaky and sweaty and you Continue reading >>
Expected Blood Glucose After A High-carb Meal
Blood glucose levels normally rise after a high-carbohydrate meal and drop back to normal levels within a few hours. But if your glucose levels rise higher than normal and recover more slowly, you might have diabetes. Your doctor can administer tests that measure your blood glucose levels immediately before you consume a high-carbohydrate meal and for several hours afterward. If you already have diabetes, your doctor might want you to check your blood glucose levels after meals, to make sure you're keeping your glucose within the expected range. Normal Levels After Eating Healthy, non-diabetic people normally have blood glucose levels of less than 120 milligrams per deciliter two hours after a normal meal, rarely exceeding 140 mg/dL, according to the American Diabetes Association. Levels return to normal within two to three hours. When you undergo a glucose tolerance test, you consume a high-carbohydrate drink or snack containing 75 grams of carbohydrate. At one hour, your test falls into the normal, non-diabetic range if your blood glucose remains below 200 mg/dL. Two hours after your meal, blood glucose should remain below 140 mg/dL. A level of over 200 mg/dL at two hours post-prandial -- which means after a meal -- indicates diabetes. Levels between 140 and 200 mg/dL indicate pre-diabetes, a condition with a strong risk of developing diabetes in the future. Expected Results in Diabetics Diabetics experience larger spikes in blood glucose that take longer to return to baseline. For diabetics, blood glucose an hour after eating should remain below 180 mg/dL or no more than 80 mg/dL over your pre-meal levels. The highest spikes in blood glucose levels often occur after breakfast. If you experience hypoglycemia, or low blood glucose levels before a meal, you might experi Continue reading >>
New Research On High Glucose Levels
American Diabetes Association (ADA) guidelines advise “lowering A1C to below or around 7%” and postprandial (after-meal) glucose levels to 180 mg/dl or below. But new research shows that these glucose levels damage blood vessels, nerves, organs, and beta cells. An article by diabetes blogger Jenny Ruhl analyzes at what blood glucose level organ damage starts. According to Ruhl, research shows that glucose can do harm at much lower levels than doctors had thought. This news could be discouraging or even terrifying. If it’s hard to meet your current glucose goals, how will you reach tighter goals? Such news might make some people give up. But remember, a high postprandial or fasting reading won’t kill you. All we know is that higher numbers correlate with higher chances of complications. You have time to react. In fact, we could choose to look at this as good news. We all know of people who developed complications despite “good control.” But complications are not inevitable; it’s just that so-called “good control” wasn’t really all that good. First, the numbers. “Post-meal blood sugars of 140 mg/dl [milligrams per deciliter] and higher, and fasting blood sugars over 100 mg/dl [can] cause permanent organ damage and cause diabetes to progress,” Ruhl writes. For nerve damage, University of Utah researchers studied people with painful sensory neuropathy, or nerve damage. They found that participants who did not have diabetes but who had impaired glucose tolerance on an oral glucose tolerance test, or OGTT, (meaning that their glucose levels rose to between 140 mg/dl and 200 mg/dl in response to drinking a glucose-rich drink) were much more likely to have a diabetic form of neuropathy than those with lower blood glucose levels. The higher these OGTT num Continue reading >>
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- Why do I have high blood sugar levels in the morning?
Doctors Overlook Leading Cause Of Premature Death
Diabetes is defined as a disease in which a person has high blood sugar. The problem is that physicians are failing to determine how low blood glucose needs to be to protect against dreaded diabetic complications. In a series of published studies, the definition of what constitutes diabetes, (or said differently, a person with high blood sugar) is about to be turned upside down. This is not a trivial matter. The term "diabetic complications" encompasses the most common diseases of aging, ranging from kidney failure1-3 and blindness,4-6 to heart disease,7-12 stroke,13,14 neuropathy,15,16 and even cancer.17-22 This means that most degenerative disease can be traced back to undiagnosed glucose control problems, which we assert will soon become the new definition of diabetes. High blood sugar appears to be the leading killer today, yet the medical mainstream is not properly diagnosing or treating it. The tragic result is an epidemic of diabetic complications that cripple and kill millions of Americans because simple steps are not being taken to suppress after-meal glucose spikes. As you are about to learn, it is not just elevated fasting glucose that creates diabetic complications. Excess after-meal glucose surges have turned into a silent diabetes plague, thus mandating new steps be taken to protect against what may be the leading cause of premature death. Fasting Glucose Is a Delayed Marker of Diabetes When people take blood tests to measure glucose levels, they are asked to fast for 8 to 12 hours. Doctors ask for this 8-12 hour fast because they want a consistent baseline to measure glucose and lipids in comparison with the general population. There is one problem with this. A person who suffers from dangerously high blood sugar several hours following a typical meal may Continue reading >>
4 December 2012why Is My Blood Glucose So High When I Wake Up?
It doesn't seem fair, does it? You haven't eaten anything all night and you still wake up with high blood glucose! What is going on and how can you lower it? For those of you with diabetes, this post is for you! Basics Your body strives to keep blood glucose (BG) within a safe range, but with diabetes the balance is disturbed. The insulin your pancreas produces might not be sufficient to cover your BG lowering needs. As well, the insulin it does produce might not be handled properly by target body cells. And to make matters worse, your liver might be on glucose production overdrive. All of this results in your body's failure to control BG overnight as well as after meals or snacks. For more basic information about diabetes, please be sure to read my article, Diabetes Basics at MyNetDiary's library. Dawn Phenomenon Due to normal daily changes in our body's release of hormones during sleep and wake cycles, BG typically starts to rise in the very early morning – starting about 3 AM - and continues to rise as the morning progresses. For folks without diabetes, insulin production simply increases and takes care of the rising BG. However, for folks with diabetes, unless there is medication on board to cover this early morning rise, BG will eventually rise out of target range by the time they wake up. The classic pattern is to see BG within target range at both bedtime and during the middle of the night, and then see a high fasting BG. If you have noticed that your fasting BG is creeping up over time and is no longer within target range despite sticking to a carb controlled eating plan and taking your diabetes medication as prescribed, then it might be time to talk with your doctor about your diabetes medication. The type, dose, and/or timing might need to be adjusted to bet Continue reading >>
- Rob Kardashian Home After Hospitalization: Surprise Diabetes Diagnosis Was a "Wake Up Call," Source Says
- Postprandial Blood Glucose Is a Stronger Predictor of Cardiovascular Events Than Fasting Blood Glucose in Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus, Particularly in Women: Lessons from the San Luigi Gonzaga Diabetes Study
- Lower Blood Sugar Naturally to Prevent High Blood Sugar from Leading to Diabetes
Blood Sugar Guidelines
Absolute numbers vary between pets, and with meter calibrations. The numbers below are as shown on a typical home glucometer while hometesting blood glucose, not necessarily the more accurate numbers a vet would see (though many vets use meters similar to those used in hometesting). For general guidelines only, the levels to watch are approximately: mmol/L mg/dL(US) <2.2 <40 Readings below this level are usually considered hypoglycemic when giving insulin, even if you see no symptoms of it. Treat immediately[1] 2.7-7.5 50-130 Non-diabetic range[2] (usually unsafe to aim for when on insulin, unless your control is very good). These numbers, when not giving insulin, are very good news. 3.2-4.4 57-79 This is an average non-diabetic cat's level[3][4], but leaves little margin of safety for a diabetic on insulin. Don't aim for this range, but don't panic if you see it, either. If the number is not falling, it's healthy. 5 90 A commonly cited minimum safe value for the lowest target blood sugar of the day when insulin-controlled. 7.8 140 According to the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists (AACE)[5], threshold above which organ and pancreatic dysfunction may begin in hospitalized humans[6] and the maximum target for post-meal blood glucose in humans.[7] 5.5-10 100-180 Commonly used target range for diabetics, for as much of the time as possible. <10-15 <180-270 "Renal threshold" (varies between individuals, see below), when excess glucose from the kidneys spills into the urine and roughly when the pet begins to show diabetic symptoms. See Hyperglycemia for long-term effects of high blood glucose. 14 250 Approximate maximum safe value for the highest blood sugar of the day, in dogs, who are more sensitive to high blood sugar. Dogs can go blind at this level. Cats Continue reading >>
What Is Normal Blood Sugar?
Thank you for visiting my website! If you need help lowering your blood sugar level, check out my books at Amazon or Smashwords. If you’re outside of the U.S., Smashwords may be the best source. —Steve Parker, M.D. * * * Physicians focus so much on disease that we sometimes lose sight of what’s healthy and normal. For instance, the American Diabetes Association defines “tight” control of diabetes to include sugar levels as high as 179 mg/dl (9.94 mmol/l) when measured two hours after a meal. In contrast, young adults without diabetes two hours after a meal are usually in the range of 90 to 110 mg/dl (5.00–6.11 mmol/l). What Is a Normal Blood Sugar Level? The following numbers refer to average blood sugar (glucose) levels in venous plasma, as measured in a lab. Portable home glucose meters measure sugar in capillary whole blood. Many, but not all, meters in 2010 are calibrated to compare directly to venous plasma levels. Fasting blood sugar after a night of sleep and before breakfast: 85 mg/dl (4.72 mmol/l) One hour after a meal: 110 mg/dl (6.11 mmol/l) Two hours after a meal: 95 mg/dl (5.28 mmol/l) Five hours after a meal: 85 mg/dl (4.72 mmol/l) (The aforementioned meal derives 50–55% of its energy from carbohydrate) ♦ ♦ ♦ Ranges of blood sugar for young healthy non-diabetic adults: Fasting blood sugar: 70–90 mg/dl (3.89–5.00 mmol/l) One hour after a typical meal: 90–125 mg/dl (5.00–6.94 mmol/l) Two hours after a typical meal: 90–110 mg/dl (5.00–6.11 mmol/l) Five hours after a typical meal: 70–90 mg/dl (3.89–5.00 mmol/l) Blood sugars tend to be a bit lower in pregnant women. ♦ ♦ ♦ What Level of Blood Sugar Defines Diabetes and Prediabetes? According to the 2007 guidelines issued by the American Association of Clinical Endocrinol Continue reading >>
Are You Non-diabetic? Your After-meal Blood Sugar Spikes May Be Killing You Softly
Something millions of people don’t realize is that non-diabetics do experience blood glucose spikes after meals. Yes, non-diabetics get blood sugar highs believe it or not. They just don’t know it and this phenomenon has implications for your health. Your doctor won’t tell you how important your blood glucose control is as a non-diabetic. I will. The reason your doctor fails to tell you this is mainly because it is generally thought that until a diagnosis of diabetes is made, you are assumed to be metabolically competent. But that is not always the case. In actual fact, this is the reason why a lot of prediabetes cases are missed. Prediabetes is the abnormal metabolic stage before type 2 diabetes actually bites. And before the prediabetes stage, you also develop insulin resistance which is largely silent as well. Doctors don’t pay attention to metabolic health in a run-of-the-mill consultation even if the consultation is for a wellness overview. There are so many individuals with insulin resistance, prediabetes and frank type 2 diabetes walking around totally unaware they have any of those conditions. If only we paid just a little attention to our metabolic health, we could prevent millions of cases of type 2 diabetes raging around the globe like a wild summer forest fire. Do non-diabetics have blood sugar spikes? I often get asked about whether non diabetics have blood sugar highs i.e blood sugar spikes. The short answer is they do but there is a caveat there. Not every non diabetic does. It all depends on what I call metabolic competence along with other variables. Before I talk about the variables involved, let me draw your attention to this study carried in Ulm University in Germany. They recruited 24 healthy volunteers into the study and made them eat simil Continue reading >>
Why All The Morning Highs?
Sometimes diabetes doesn’t make a lot of sense. Think of those mornings when you wake up to find your blood glucose looking as if you’ve been up all night eating cookies. What’s up with that? You’d think that not eating for those seven or eight hours would give you lower blood glucose, right? Such morning highs are common in people with diabetes, but one of the reasons has a particular name: the dawn phenomenon. The dawn phenomenon is a natural rise in blood glucose between 4 and 8 a.m., which happens because of hormonal changes in the body. All people have the “dawn phenomenon,” whether they have diabetes or not. People without diabetes would never notice it happening, as a normal body’s insulin response adjusts for this. However, because people with diabetes don’t have normal insulin responses, they may see an increase in their fasting blood glucose. This is primarily because people with diabetes produce less insulin and more glucagon than they need. The less insulin produced by the pancreas, the more glucagon the pancreas makes as a result. Glucagon, in turn, signals the liver to break down its storage supplies of glycogen into glucose. This is why high fasting blood glucose levels are commonly seen in patients with type 2 diabetes. The effects of dawn phenomenon vary in each person, and your blood glucose may be higher on some mornings than on others. But not to worry—there are steps you can take to get those numbers down and start your days more comfortably in your target blood glucose range. Treatment for dawn phenomenon depends on how you treat your diabetes. If you take insulin, you may be able to adjust your dosing so that peak action occurs closer to the morning rise in your blood glucose. If you have type 2, diabetes pills provide options as Continue reading >>
Blood Glucose 160
What happens when blood glucose hits 160 mg/dl? A blood glucose at this level is typical after, say, a bowl of slow-cooked oatmeal with no added sugar, a small serving of Cheerios, or even an apple in the ultra carb-sensitive. Normal blood sugar with an empty stomach, i.e., fasting; high blood sugars after eating. Conventional wisdom is that a blood sugar of 160 mg/dl is okay, since your friendly primary care doctor says that any postprandial glucose of 200 mg/dl or less is fine because you don't "need" medication. But what sort of phenomena occur when blood sugars are in this range? Here's a list: --Glycation (i.e., glucose modification of proteins) of various tissues, including the lens of your eyes (cataracts), kidney tissue leading to kidney disease, skin leading to wrinkles, cartilage leading to stiffness, degeneration, and arthritis. --Glycation of LDL particles. Glycated LDL particles are more prone to oxidation. --VLDL and triglyceride production by the liver, i.e., de novo lipogenesis. --Small LDL particle formation--The increased VLDL/triglyceride production leads to the CETP-mediated reaction that creates small LDL particles which are, in turn, more glycation- and oxidation-prone. --Glucotoxicity--i.e., a direct toxic effect of high blood glucose. This is especially an issue for the vulnerable beta cells of the pancreas that produce insulin. Repeated glucotoxic poundings by high glucose levels lead to fewer functional beta cells. A blood glucose of 160 mg/dl is definitely not okay. While it is not an immediate threat to your health, repeated exposures will lead you down the same path that diabetics tread with all of its health problems. Continue reading >>
- Postprandial Blood Glucose Is a Stronger Predictor of Cardiovascular Events Than Fasting Blood Glucose in Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus, Particularly in Women: Lessons from the San Luigi Gonzaga Diabetes Study
- Exercise and Glucose Metabolism in Persons with Diabetes Mellitus: Perspectives on the Role for Continuous Glucose Monitoring
- Exercise and Blood Glucose Levels
How Food Affects Blood Sugar
When you have problems handling blood sugar the area of focus always lands on diet and exercise. With good reason, you have the direct ability to be able to change these areas. Increasing your exercise and limiting carbohydrates are a place to start. Many people assume that by decreasing carbs in general it will help to manage all of blood sugar. Decreasing carbohydrates can make an impact if you are eating a very high carb diet. Yet investigating what foods influence blood sugar is best, especially if you are already following a low carb diet. What changes how food affects blood sugar? Not all carbohydrates are the same, thus they will not affect blood sugar all the same. In addition, what raises one person’s blood sugar will not always affect the next person similarly. Here is a list of many factors of how carbohydrates in food affect blood sugar. portion size – obviously the bigger the portion the more of an affect the food will have fiber – the higher the fiber content of a food, the less impact it will have on blood sugar pairing – a carb by itself will have a bigger affect on blood sugar than a carb that is eaten with protein and/or a healthy fat ripeness – generally speaking the more ripe a carbohydrate is, the sugars will “mature” causing a higher rise in blood sugar storage – some foods are better stored at room temperature, while others are better stored in the refrigerator ultimately affecting the ripeness processing – foods in their whole form tend to have less of an affect on glucose; for instance fruit juice has a bigger impact than whole fruit cooking method – the way a food is cooked affect how it affects glycemic control All of these factors make a big impact on the glycemic load and ultimately how food influences your blood sugar. S Continue reading >>
How To Maintain Sugar Levels In Gestational Diabetes?
Q: My wife was diagnosed with gestational diabetes in her 30th week of pregnancy. She is strictly on diabetic diet, she goes for a one hour walk everyday and takes insulin twice (14, 14) daily. Doctor has told her to maintain post meal 1 hour sugar levels up to 140. Her readings generally comes in 135-145 range. I read somewhere that post meal 1 hour sugar levels for pregnant women should be less than 120/130. What level should she maintain? A:During a healthy pregnancy, mean fasting blood sugar levels decline progressively to a remarkably low value of 74 ± 2.7 (standard deviation) mg/dL. On the other hand, peak postprandial blood sugar values rarely exceed 120 mg/dL. Meticulous replication of the normal glycaemic profile during pregnancy has been demonstrated to reduce the rate of macrosomia (large babies). Specifically, when 2-hour postprandial glucose levels are maintained at less than 120 mg/dL, approximately 20% of fetuses demonstrate macrosomia. Conversely, if postprandial levels range up to 160 mg/dL, macrosomia rates rise to 35%. The current recommendations are: Fasting whole blood glucose level less than 95 mg/dL (5.3 mmol/L) Two-hour postprandial whole blood glucose level less than 120 mg/dL (6.7 mmol/L) Dietary therapy Metabolic management of a patient is focused on dietary control, regular home glucose monitoring, and judicious use of insulin therapy. Most patients with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) diagnosed in the third trimester can maintain 1-hour postprandial blood glucose levels less than 130 mg/dL via diet manipulation alone (i.e., multiple, small, nonglycaemic meals and increased exercise). Glucose monitoring A home glucose monitor is essential to assist the patient in choosing the types and timing of food ingestion. For the first 1-2 weeks, t Continue reading >>
