Articles | Diabetes Healthy Solutions

What Are Normal Glucose Levels?

What are normal glucose levels? This is the kind of question that most people never ask. Most people could care less about blood glucose levels and live blissfully unaware of how glucose levels can affect health, unless they suddenly find themselves diagnosed with diabetes.

Heart disease, cancer, and stroke rates are all on the decline, but diabetes rates are rising at a staggering rate and an increasing number of people find themselves concerned with the question of, “What are normal glucose levels?”

In order to answer the question, “what are normal glucose levels?” one should first understand what glucose is and how it works. Glucose is basically what fuels every cell in the body. When we ingest sugars and carbohydrates the body metabolizes them into glucose which is actually a type of simple sugar. The glucose goes into the bloodstream where insulin, a hormone produced by the pancreas, causes the cells to “open up” so that the glucose can enter the cell and be used for fuel.

Without glucose the body would cease to function as surely as trying to run a car without gas, and higher than normal levels of glucose can damage many different body systems, causing kidney damage, heart problems, neuropathies, glaucoma, or even coma and death. Like most everything in medicine the answer to the question, “what are normal glucose levels?” may vary from patient to patient based on factors such as age, weight, other health conditions, and even exercise levels. Because of this, there are no hard and fast answers, but in most cases if you asked a doctor “what are normal glucose levels?” he would answer that normal glucose levels are usually between 60 and 110 in a normal person. If you check your sugar regularly and find that it is running higher than 110 or lower than 60 it is probably a good idea to stop asking “what are normal glucose levels?” and go see your doctor to find out if your body is metabolizing glucose correctly.

Using Blood Glucose Charts

Diabetes is quickly becoming one of the greatest health care concerns of modern times, and if you are a diabetic the best way to keep a handle on your diabetes is by keeping track of your blood sugar by using blood glucose charts. Diabetes, if not properly treated, can lead to heart problems, kidney failure, peripheral neuropathy, coma, and even death. The only way to keep these things from happening is to keep your blood sugar as close to normal as possible for as much of the time as possible and this can be done with blood glucose charts.

What are Diabetic Testing Machines?

When someone mentions diabetic testing machines the device they are referring to is usually called a glucometer. Diabetic testing machines are designed to read the level of glucose, or sugar, in a drop of blood so that the blood sugar level can be tracked.

The use of diabetic testing machines is pretty simple and straight forward. To use the machine a special test strip is placed in the machine, then a drop of blood is collected by pricking the skin (usually on the finger) with a lancet, the drop of blood is placed on the test strip and the machine “reads” the amount of sugar (glucose) in the blood. Though there is a huge variety of different makes and models of diabetic testing machines on the market, they all work in virtually the same way, some may require a little smaller drop of blood and some may “read” the sugar level quicker than the others, but the basic principal remains the same.

Peripheral Neuropathy

Peripheral neuropathy is a general term that means nerve damage in the peripheral nervous system. This damage may occur due to some sort of trauma to the nerves or as a result of any of several disease processes. Peripheral neuropathy may occur in any one of several varieties, but the most common type, and the type most people think of when the name is mentioned is symmetric polyneuropathy which generally effects the feet and legs and is commonly seen in diabetic patients. The reason this type of peripheral neuropathy is so common is that while heart disease and hypertension rates are currently on the decline, the number of people who are diagnosed with diabetes each year continues to climb steadily each year.

Glucose Monitor Review

If you are in the market for a new glucose monitor you can easily type the words glucose monitor review into your search bar and be inundated with information. You can also find a glucose monitor review, glucose monitor guide or even list of glucose monitor specifications in healthcare magazines, at the doctor’s office, and even in some pharmacies. While this is a vast amount of information to have at your fingertips, you should remember, when it comes to glucose monitors, it is your fingertips that will pay the price if you purchase the wrong one. So if you follow a printed glucose monitor review you may be setting yourself up for a disappointment.