The Dangers of Extremely High Blood Sugar Levels

There are many dangers of having an extremely high blood sugar level. When the insulin levels are low the glucose skyrockets, which can permanently damage the body. The damage that the body can sustain includes heart damage and the increased chance of getting:

heart disease
nerve damage
blindness and
kidney damage

which can be life threatening in the end. Extremely high blood sugar symptoms include tiredness, dehydration, a very dry mouth, vomiting and nausea, excessive urination, stomach pain and other side effects. Hypoglycemia, or extremely low blood sugar, is also very dangerous and can lead to fainting, dizziness, confusion, hunger, feeling sweaty or clammy, increased heartbeat and other serious life threatening problems that can be dealt with by adding some simple sugar to the system.

If your blood glucose levels remain too low, or too high, for a long period of time, this can cause what is called a diabetic coma.

So what happens when a person goes into a Diabetic Coma?

It is a life-threatening complication of diabetes that causes unconsciousness – if you don’t seek medical help immediately, this can be fatal. All people with diabetes are at risk of diabetic coma. The very first this you would do if faced with this situation is to call 911. This is an emergency situation.

Treatment for a diabetic coma

Hyperglycemic diabetic coma: Which is if you have extremely high blood sugar levels, the medical professional will administer insulin and rehydrate the patient.

Hypoglycemic diabetic coma: The patient would be injected with glucagon and give glucose.

How to Care for Extremely High Blood Sugar.

Monitoring your blood glucose levels constantly: helps diabetics to avoid the complications that can arise. This is done with a blood glucose meter. There are many different kinds of meters to choose from. Many of the meters available today are quite small and easy to use.

Most of the meters available have fast test times, only really require a tiny blood sample and you are able to download the results to keep good records of your levels.

Here’s some of the popular, portable and preferred pocket-sized meters you may want to look into:

Lifescan One Touch Ultraeasy
Abbott Diabetes Care Freestyle
Accu-Chek Mobile
Accu-Chek Aviva Nano
Truone by Home Diagnostics
Bayer’s contour Next USB

Diets can easily help with your extremely high blood sugar.

The correct diet for diabetes, will certainly help to lower your high blood glucose levels and maintain them. The foods you choose to eat can be so important to your overall health and wellbeing. What you eat can make an enormous difference to your blood sugar levels, to your cholesterol and also your blood pressure levels.

These days we are advised by our diabetes health care professionals to focus more on creating healthy eating patterns, lower in saturated fats and higher in fiber, and our overall weight control.

High Fiber Foods:

High fiber foods are beneficial as they have a low glycemic index. They regulate blood sugar metabolism and improve the health of the digestive system. A fiber-rich diet is generally lower in fat and sugar and makes you feel “fuller” for longer! You can find soluble fibers in oat bran, barley, fruits, vegetables, legumes, seed husks and flaxseed.

Plant Foods:

All fresh, whole, unprocessed plant foods are beneficial. Below are a few of these listed, that have been shown to improve blood sugar management.

Green tea
coffee
cocoa
black rice
Pumpkin, beans, eggplant
Blueberries, black currants, raspberries and strawberries

Protein Foods:

Animal proteins that contain very little carbohydrates will reduce the glycemic index of foods they are eaten with and help to stabilize your blood sugar levels. Lamb is a great option. Free range preferably organic chicken is a good source of protein – but the best you could probably get would be fish! Make sure it’s wild fish though, as fish farming is becoming an increasing problem with all the chemicals and the antibiotics used in the farming processes.

Exercise is Vital for Extremely High Blood sugar

I’m sure we could probably all gain from a few lifestyle changes – one of the main one being exercise! Some of these changes can certainly be challenging, but if you have diabetes, you really do need to make them a priority in your life. It’s no secret that losing those extra kilos and keeping them off, will definitely help to control your blood sugar levels. Apart form losing weight, regular exercise also increases insulin sensitivity. It’s recommended that a diabetic perform at least two and a half hours of medium to vigorous intensity exercise in a week. some examples would be fast walking, swimming, jogging, water aerobics.

So talk to your doctor about lowering your dangerously high blood sugar levels!.

How a diabetic Alert Dog can Help

How a Diabetic Alert Dog Can Help.

For insulin dependent diabetics, I think this is such a great idea! They are often known by the acronym ‘DAD’. They are a service dog, specially trained to warn their human companion when their blood sugar is too low or too high. They can also remind their diabetic friend to take their insulin at the right time.

This of course can be very useful in managing your diabetes. A diabetic service dog also can help to save lives by preventing permanent health damage due to

seizures,
passing out, and
brain damage.

Diabetic Alert Dogs – smell great!

Pardon the pun, but in fact the canine nose has more than two hundred million scent receptors compared to a measly 5 million scent receptors in humans. Moreover, a large portion of a dog’s brain is devoted to processing olfactory (sensory) information. This makes a dog’s nose far superior to that of a human!

Dogs can smell things that humans simply cannot smell. The training they receive to become a diabetic alert dog teaches them how to hone in on specific scents associated with high and low blood sugar.

When a person’s blood sugar rises too high, they produce ketones that can be easily detected by a trained canine nose, while the human nose smells nothing different. When a person’s blood sugar drops too low, they produce excess nitrogen in the form of urea that escapes through the skin pores.

This can be easily detected by a trained canine nose but not a human’s nose.

Common Breeds of Diabetic alert Dog

The most common types of dogs that become service dogs for diabetics are

poodles,
labrador retrievers, and
golden retrievers.

These breeds are chosen because they usually have a good temperament, an extremely good sense of smell, and can be trained more easily than most other breeds.

How old you ask? is a Diabetic Alert Dog

A fully trained diabetic alert dog is usually one to two years old when they are paired with their diabetic friend. Sometimes these service dogs are also trained to alert a family member when their companion’s blood sugar goes too high or too low. This can be especially helpful with smaller children.

Sleeping can be a dangerous time for an insulin dependent diabetic because a sleeping person is unaware of their own symptoms of low blood sugar and high blood sugar. An alert dog can be a real safety net, especially for a young child. They are taught how to wake their companion up and signal to them if their blood sugar becomes too high or too low during the night. This is particularly important for sound sleepers who have extreme fluctuations in their blood sugar levels.
Driving is another potential danger for diabetics since blood sugar irregularities can cause black outs and sleepiness while driving. In extreme cases, some diabetics are advised to not drive because it can be too risky.

This can become quite frustrating, even just when driving to work, school, or just performing basic everyday life tasks, such as shopping for instance. However, having a diabetic therapy dog riding along with you can give you back your freedom!

Kids with diabetes are notoriously forgetful and or resistant to testing their blood sugar. I think the practice of adding friendly reminders to cell phones and social media services is a brilliant idea – but a lot of the time (like my good friends daughter) even with these kid friendly technologies, kids just don’t like to test! However, giving them a lovable playmate at the same time –allows kids to take a little of the seriousness out of their situation. Takes the focus off the fact that they may well be chronically ill.

Training for a diabetic alert dog.

Part of the training they receive is obedience training so they can fit into a normal household without causing any additional stress. In fact, a diabetic alert dog has a calming effect and help to reduce anxiety in their diabetic companions. This is a significant advantage of having a DAD that is a sometimes overlooked. These dogs help their diabetic companions cope with the day to day stresses of living with diabetes. Since these dogs are service animals, they can go almost anywhere with their companions.

If you need more info or wish to find out about getting a diabetic alert dog, please checkout diabetic alert dogs.

Facts on What is Good Blood Sugar Level

What is good blood sugar level?

This is a question everyone should know the answer to. A blood sugar test measures the amount of a particular type of sugar, glucose, in the blood. Knowing and maintaining a normal blood sugar level ensures that the body continues to function properly. It is also important to know what levels indicate high or low blood sugar levels. They could be indicators of other underlying conditions.

Test that Determines What a Normal Blood Sugar Level is.

Blood tests vary depending on when blood is taken. The fasting blood sugar test is done after going eight hours without eating or drinking anything except water.

This is usually done before breakfast or a morning dose of insulin is taken. Good blood sugar levels are expected to fall between 70 and 99 milligrams per deciliter. If it is 126mg/dL or more, it is high. If it is 40mg/dL it is too low.

Post-Meal blood sugar level is done exactly two hours after you start to eat your last meal. This level is expected to be higher than at any other time. This is because it takes about two hours for any carbohydrates you have eaten to be converted into glucose and absorbed into the blood. Normal blood sugar levels range between 70 and 145 milligrams per deciliter. Random tests are done to measure blood sugar level at any time of the day. If sugar levels are normal then the results will not vary much. Normal blood sugar levels range from 70 to 125 mg/dL. If it is 200ml/dL, it is too high.

What It Means When Test Shows Levels are Above or Below Normal Blood Sugar Levels

When blood sugar level is high, it could mean that there is insufficient insulin in your blood. Diabetes may be the cause of this. If glucose levels remain high, it could cause damage to the eyes, kidneys and nerves. Other tests will have to be done to accurately determine whether you have diabetes. When levels fall below what is good blood sugar level, it could indicate high amounts of insulin in your system. This comes about due to the presence of a tumor that is releasing too much insulin, malnutrition, eating disorders, or hypothyroidism.

Importance of Knowing Normal Blood Sugar Levels

It is important to know what range your blood sugar should be in. To fully appreciate the importance of this, you should know what higher and lower levels mean to your health. Simple blood tests can be carried out to determine these levels. Some of the tests require a bit of preparation, but the casual (random) test needs none. Before concluding that you have any other underlying condition, it is advisable that you have a doctor carry out more tests to accurately measure your blood sugar levels.

What Number Is Low Blood Sugar For A Diabetic

What number is low blood sugar for a diabetic? That depends on the age of the diabetic and the type of diabetes that he or she has. According to the International Diabetes Federation:.

A child with diabetes should have a blood glucose level ranging from 4 to 8 mmol/L.
Adults with type 1 or type 2 diabetes should have a blood glucose level ranging from 4 to 7 mmol/L.

However, a diabetic’s glucose level will always rise right after eating. A child with diabetes may have a blood glucose level of up to 10 mmol/L. Those who have type two diabetes may have a glucose level ranging from 4 to 9 mmol/L while those with type one diabetes should never have a blood glucose level of over 8.5 mmol/L.

How to Normalize Your Blood Sugar

You should not only focus on what the number of a low blood sugar level is but instead try to maintain a healthy blood sugar average within the ranges mentioned above. As each person is different, seeking advice from a doctor is the first step.

Only your doctor will be able to give specific advice regarding diet, exercise and medication.

Eating certain foods may cause blood sugar levels to rise or fall. Dr. Bernstein notes in his book “Dr. Bernstein’s Revised and Updated 2011 Diabetes Solution” that a person with type 1 diabetes should have a low carb diet and get plenty of exercise. The American Diabetes Association notes that a person with type 2 diabetes simply needs to maintain a healthy diet and eat plenty of fruits, vegetables and whole grain foods.

Low Blood Sugar Level and What to do if its too Low?

A person who knows the low blood sugar number will notice when his or her blood sugar level dips too low. If this happens, then eating a candy, drinking fruit juice or taking a glucose tablet will immediately resolve the problem. Those who are prone to low blood sugar should keep the above mentioned around the house, in the car and at the office in case blood sugar levels suddenly drop.

Simple Things You can Do to Control Your Blood Sugar

A diabetic should do all that he or she can to maintain healthy blood sugar levels by eating right, exercising and following a doctor’s specific counsel and advice. Knowing what your low blood sugar levels are can help a person avoid the dangerous effects of hypoglycemia. In short, the answer to the question “What number is low blood sugar” is that any number under 4 mmol/L is dangerous.

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Just How Low Is Low Blood Sugar

How low is low blood sugar?

Generally speaking, your blood sugar should never dip to 70 mg/dL or lower. When a person’s blood sugar dips lower than it should, this is known as hypoglycemia. It is a dangerous condition that could even be life threatening if not attended to. While hypoglycemia is more of a problem for diabetics than for non-diabetics, it should be noted that 70 mg/dL is the standard limit for what constitutes low blood sugar.

Causes and Symptoms

Hypoglycemia can be caused by one or more factors. It is often brought on if either glucose or insulin is released into the bloodstream too quickly. Taking insulin or diabetes medication at the wrong time can also cause hypoglycemia. Those who have diabetes should be sure to eat enough at mealtimes and for snack, especially if insulin has just been taken.

Skipping meals, drinking alcohol and/or changes in exercise habits can also bring about hypoglycemia if a person has diabetes type 2.

Some of the many symptoms of hypoglycemia include:

double vision
headaches
nervousness
rapid heartbeat
shaking
sweating
fatigue

However, there is also the danger of a person not feeling any of the above mentioned symptoms before more serious symptoms set in. Some of the most serious symptoms of hypoglycemia include fainting and seizures.

Blood Sugar Goals

Knowing how low is low blood sugar is not enough. A person needs to take action to ensure that his or her blood sugar levels remain stable. Generally speaking, a healthy person’s blood sugar levels should remain between 80 mg/dL and 160 mg/dL. While many diabetics have a higher range that what has been mentioned here, it is not impossible for a person with diabetes type 2 to attain to this healthy blood sugar level. However, those who have diabetes will want to consult a doctor, as one’s ideal blood sugar level range does vary from person to person.

An Introduction to Hemoglobin A1C Tests

Hemoglobin A1C tests can help to determine just how low is low blood sugar. These tests can be found in many doctor offices, but there are also home kits that can be used by a diabetic without professional medical help. The hemoglobin A1C home test should be used before mealtimes, after mealtimes and before going to bed. It will help one get a good idea of what his or her average blood sugar level is at various times of the day.

Ideally, a diabetic should strive for a blood sugar level of 80 mg/dL to 160 mg/dL. However, this goal may not be realistic for everyone, which is why consulting a doctor and using a Hemoglobin A1C home test kit is important. Knowing about blood sugar ranges, especially the low range will help keep you in good health.