Living with diabetes part 3 

Dealing with diabetes emergencies

This is part 3 of the living with diabetes series

You can follow part 1  of the living with diabetes series here 

and part 2 of the living with diabetes series here

Treating hyper and hypoglycemia symptoms 

There comes a time in the regular living when you have  symptoms of hyperglycemia or hypoglycemia and today we will talk about how to treat these symptoms without having to panic and rush to the ER.

Having blood sugar control does not necessarily mean that you will not sometimes have to deal with spikes and testing is important to keep a weather eye on them. 

When your blood sugar gets high (hyperglycemia)

hyperglycemia can be caused by eating too much food especially carbs and exercising less or when you are sick or stressed out. 

Symptoms include:

1. Increased thirst

2. unexplained weight loss

3. frequent urination

4. feeling tired

5. wounds and skin infections that will not heal

6. blurry vision 

what to do when you have hyperglycemia 

Check your blood sugars if they are above range then do the following:

1. Drink plenty of water or sugar and caffeine free liquids

2. If your sugars are below 240 then do some exercise if they are then don’t

3. if you are taking insulin then check your recommended guidelines for taking extra insulin

4. check every 1 to 2 hours and if the symptoms persist or get worse then contact your doctor 

when your blood sugars are too low (hypoglycemia) 

when your blood sugars get too low either by taking too much medicine, skipping meals or exercising too much means that you are hypoglycemic and you need to treat hypoglycemia right away 

The symptoms of hypoglycemia 

The symptoms of hypoglycemia include

1. sweating, cold or damp, clammy skin

2. shaking or dizziness

3. a hard fast heartbeat

4. pangs of hunger

5. headache

6. irritability or confusion

what to do when you have hypoglycemia 

Check your sugars to see if its below target ranges if it is then do the following right away.

1. Eat or drink 15 grams of fast acting sugar, like 3 or 4 glucose tablets, 4 oz fruit juice or regular soda, 8 0z fat-free milk or 1 tbs of sugar. No more than that though because you risk your blood sugars going high again.

2. Check your sugar every 15 minutes

3. If your sugars are still too low then redo step 1 and 2

4. If after the second try the sugars are still too low then seek medical help immediately

5. Once your sugar climb back up then eat a regular meal.(if your scheduled meal time is less than an hour away then you should eat now if it is over an hour away then you should have your snack)

If you are having persistent lows or highs then you should have your doctor adjust your medications.

Tomorrow we will discuss part 4 of the living with diabetes series which is

preparing for the proverbial rainy day