Keeping your blood glucose under control

How To Keep Your Blood Sugar Levels Under Control? Keeping your blood sugar under control can prevent many of the devastating effects of diabetes including blindness, limb amputation, and kidney failure. In this article we shall dwell upon each key factor that is required to keep your blood glucose under control factors such as using blood glucose test strips, blood glucose monitors, glucose supplements etc, but shall obviously avoid giving specific recommendation – only your doctor can do that for you.

Diabetic diet foods and drink: Eating regular small diabetic diet meals throughout the day will avoid major fluctuations in your blood glucose levels. For Type 2 diabetics, attention to food, adequate daily exercise and once-a-week monitoring of blood glucose levels through blood glucose monitors is usually more than adequate. If you need to take glucose tablets or insulin, you might need to alter your eating pattern to suit the timing of your dosage. Your doctor would have more advice on this.

Physical activity: Physical activity controls your body’s sensitivity to insulin and is therefore the key to keeping your blood glucose levels under control. If you are taking glucose tablets or insulin injections, please consult your doctor about the timing of your daily exercise because physical activity will reduce the blood glucose levels in a short time.

Diabetes supplements & Medication: You may need to take tablets or insulin injections to control your blood glucose levels. Insulin injections take effect within 5 minutes and its effect wears off after 4 hours. Some modern (and more expensive) insulin syringes /delivery systems work for 24 hours or more. Please talk to your doctor about how you can alter the dosage based on your daily blood glucose monitoring.

Hypoglycaemia (commonly called ‘Hypo’): If you are taking insulin injections of insulin stimulating tablets, Hypoglycaemia can occur if your blood glucose levels fall below 4 millimoles per liter.

Symptoms of Hypoglycaemia: Feeling weak or ‘shaky’, sweaty, hungry, pins and needles in your lips, and slurred speech.

Hypoglycaemia occurs when:

* You take a high or wrong dosage.

* Hyper activity (too much exercise can be counterproductive for a diabetic)

* Missing or delayed diabetic meals

* Too much alcohol and less or no food

* Taking insulin stimulating drugs in combination with other prescription

* Weakened kidneys

If you feel you have a Hypoglycaemia coming on, you should immediately eat or drink something. Diabetics should always keep a sugar free candies or chocolate or packet of sugar with them. Also, always inform your friends that you are a diabetic and how they can diagnose and assist if you go ‘Hypo’ because if Hypoglycaemia is not treated instantly, you will lose consciousness.

Hyperglycaemia (commonly called ‘Hyper): Hyperglycaemia is just the opposite of Hypoglycaemia and occurs when your blood glucose level rises above 7 millimoles per liter. The symptoms of Hyperglycaemia appear when you cross 10 millimoles per liter.

Symptoms of Hyperglycaemia: Passing large amounts of urine frequently, intense thirst, fatigue and infections such as thrush and cystitis.

Hyperglycaemia occurs when:

* You are not taking enough medication to lower your blood glucose

* Skipping on your exercise (If you need to skip your exercise, you need to increase your tablets/insulin dosage – speak to your doctor).

* Over eating or eating wrong kind of foods i.e. high calorie food.

* You are suffering from some other illness.

If you feel you have a Hyperglycaemia coming on, you should immediately take your medication. Diabetics should always keep a dose of diabetes nutritional supplements or insulin syringes and needles with them at all times because Hyperglycaemia can lead to coma.

Make an appointment with your physician and always prefer to use diabetic strips. You will need to work with them to keep your blood glucose, blood pressure, and cholesterol under control. They can also recommend an education class where you can learn nutrition tips and other diabetes matters.

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