Diabetes and Hyperglycemia
Hyperglycemia is defined as blood glucose levels over 10 mmol/L
Hyperglycemia occurs when a diabetic has too much sugar in their bloodstream. Hyperglycemia occurs when blood glucose levels are higher than 10 mmol/L.
Hyperglycemia usually occurs when diabetes is not being strictly controlled, although it can happen to almost any diabetic.
What is hyperglycemia?
Hyperglycemia is the term for expressing high blood sugar and is accepted as being when blood glucose levels are higher than 10 mmol/L.
Although blood sugar levels levels exceeding 7 mmol/L can damage internal organs, symptoms may not develop until blood glucose levels exceed 15 mmol/L.
What are the symptoms of hyperglycemia?
High blood sugar levels can increased urination and thirst. Diabetics with hyperglycemia commonly report feeling tired.
Hyperglycemia (high blood sugar) symptoms include:
- Regular and above-average urination
- Weakness or feeling tired
- Loss of weight
- Increased thirst
- Vision blurring
How does hyperglycemia occur?
Hyperglycemia occurs when the cells in the pancreas have either been destroyed or are not functioning properly. Insulin therefore does not do its job of helping glucose to move about the bloodstream and into the cells of the body. Unlike hypoglycemia, where blood sugar gets too low, hyperglycemia is when blood sugar levels get too high.
How is hyperglycemia caused?
Hyperglycemia is usually caused by diabetics missing one or more doses of insulin, or taking too little insulin. Other risk include missing oral diabetes tablets. Sometimes, diabetics can be using an incorrect insulin injection technique and cause hyperglycemia.
Let’s talk about hyperglycemia. When you think of hypoglycemia, its low, hypo is low. Hyper is like hyperactive, it’s too much. What you have got is too much sugar. The state of diabetes is being unable to control your blood sugar levels by yourself and are going to need external help with medications, technology, blood test meters and so on.
Hyperglycemia is technically any blood sugar reading over about 8mmol/L. Now, you don’t need to start panicking with a 8mmol/L reading or anything up to about 12mmol/L. It’s only when you start to get higher sugars than that, in a sustained way, that you are in trouble.
After you’ve eaten a meal, your sugars will go up and testing after a meal and finding a high blood sugar shouldn’t really mean that you adjust anything that you are doing, unless those sugars remain high.
What can happen if you stay with high blood sugar levels for too long is that it leads on to the production of ketones. Once that happens, if they build up, you can end up with ketoacidosis.
The only way you can treat a hyperglycemia is by medication. If you are on insulin then you are probably taught to do adjustments so that if you have a sustained high blood sugar you can give yourself a little pip of insulin to bring it down.
Be careful. Having little pips of insulin can be more powerful if you haven’t actually had food because instead of the insulin going in and having the food to deal with it goes in and across the system - so you can go from having high blood sugar to a blood sugar that is too low. Keep all that in context so that you don’t overdo it.
One of the other reasons for hyperglycemia could be infection. If you are ill or coming down with something your body tends to gear up and release sugars in order to fight the infection. It might even make you little bit insulin insensitive. That means that the insulin in your body isn’t actually being as effective, so just be aware of that.
It is what you will hopefully get taught at some point about sick day rules, so that when you are ill you don’t just look after the illness but you have to look after the diabetes as well.
Do keep taking your medication, do keep blood testing. The most important thing is blood testing and if you have got a blood test kit, use it and make a record of what’s happening, because if you can’t bring your blood sugars down you might need to seek medical help.
Eating too much, particularly carbohydrates, can also cause a rise in blood sugar levels. Failure to exercise also reduces the functioning of insulin.
Being mentally or emotionally stressed can increase the release of glucose into the bloodstream. Being physically stressed (injury, surgery, infections etc) can cause extra glucose to be made by the body.
Is hyperglycemia serious?
Hyperglycemia can happen quickly, and lead to diabetic ketoacidosis. Ketoacidosis is extremely serious. For type 2 diabetics, hyperglycemia usually develops more slowly, but can still lead to dehydration and, eventually, coma.
How to avoid and deal with hyperglycemia?
Diabetics usually have to test their own blood sugar levels, and if they find indications of hyperglycemia it can usually be treated with either oral diabetic medications or insulin. If blood glucose levels don’t respond to insulin or medication, diabetics are advised to contact their GP immediately.
