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Tell me more»How to handle blood sugar highs and lows
When you have diabetes, you may have high or low blood sugar levels from time to time. It's important to know the signs and symptoms of each and follow your healthcare provider's instructions for handling them.
When blood sugar drops below normal low levels, it is called hypoglycemia. Different things, including too little food, too much physical activity, too much diabetes medication, other medications, and/or alcohol can cause low blood sugar in people with diabetes. Because hypoglycemia is potentially serious, it’s important to be able to understand the signs and symptoms when it happens so blood sugar levels can be brought back into your recommended range. There may be no symptoms, so checking blood sugar levels as recommended by your doctor is important.
Common symptoms of low blood sugar:
Follow the rule of 15* to treat hypoglycemia
If you experience low blood sugar frequently, it is important to talk to your healthcare provider and find out if you need to change anything in your overall diabetes management plan. To learn more about hypoglycemia, watch the video below.
*Per American Diabetes Association
When your blood sugar level is too high, it is called hyperglycemia. It means your body doesn’t have enough insulin, or it's not processing insulin properly. Too much food, too little physical activity, too little diabetes medication, and taking other medications, such as steroids, as well as stress or illness are some of the things that can cause hyperglycemia. There may be no symptoms, so checking blood sugar is important.
Common symptoms of high blood sugar:
Left untreated, high blood sugar
can be very serious
Work with your doctor to find the safest way to lower your blood sugar levels. This may include adjusting your:
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Keep a hard candy
or juice on hand if
your blood sugar
gets too low