what level of blood sugar is dangerous?
WHAT IS BLOOD SUGAR LEVEL?
if you live with diabetes you probably know that life with diabetes is a constant balancing act as we Thrive to keep up blood sugars and range not wanting too many high blood sugars also known as hypoglycemia or too many low blood sugars AK hypoglycemia but there is no need to constantly worry blood sugar fluctuations are quite normal even for people who do not live diabetes but I think it’s a really valid question to ask when is it that blood sugars actually dangerous at what levels should we worry so let’s talk about it and
let’s also talk about why high blood sugars can be dangerous how you know whether or not you’re having a high blood sugar and of course what you can do about it I’m Alisha from diabetes strong and I’ve been live with typ 1 diabetes since 1999 that’s a long time that I’ve been managing my blood sugars I try to have a fairly objective approach to my blood sugar management I try not to stress too much much about daily fluctuations high and lows without letting my blood sugars run wild of course but I think it’s
really important that we know the facts about fluctuation high and lows and when it becomes problematic and when it becomes outright dangerous before we can talk about what levels are dangerous we have to agree on a Baseline and that is what is a blood sugar for person who do not live with diabetes so generally a person who do not live with diabetes will have blood sugars in the range of 70 to 130 migs per dilit um depending on the time of day and when was the last time that person ate a meal newer findings or
theories show that postmeal blood sugars can go all the way up to 140 milligrams per da liter though but those are all for people who do not live with diabetes now let’s talk about us who do for most people high blood sugars become symptomatic once blood sugar reaches levels of 180 to 200 mg per dilit blood sugar is above 200 Mig per dies ler needs to be treated with insulin immediately in some cases exercise and water can help as well however you have to be careful if your blood sugar is above 250 Mig per deciliter you should
testyour urine for ketones you want to make sure that you’re not spilling ketones and that you’re not developing dka diabetes keto acidosis dka is when the blood turns acidic due to prolonged high blood sugars and ketones in the bloodstream this can be extremely dangerous it can be fatal and you need to be treated immediately dka can occur if you’re sick or if you’re fighting an infection it can be due to for example an insulin pump malfunction or even if you forget to take your insulin for a
few days if your blood sugar is running higher than 250 milligrams per day aiter over several hours and if you’re also spilling ketones medium to high ketones and you cannot get your blood sugars down on your own you should definitely seek medical attention ASAP you have to reach out to either medical team or seek emergency medical care people living diabetes are at a heightened risk of slipping into a diabetic coma due to high blood sugars once blood sugars go over 600 milligrams per Deiter at this point your blood turns thick in syrupy
and excess glucose or sugar gets moved from the bloodstream and out through the urine and this kickstarts a filtering process that draws large amount of fluid from your body this is a true medic IAL emergency this can be very dangerous and it can be life-threatening if you’re in this situation you should call 911 that was a lot of scary stuff I just threw at you and the immediate dangers of high blood sugars are very real should be taken very serious all that being said though some of us even us who live with diabetes for
a long time have not necessarily been in the situation where we needed medical attention to help get our blood screws down into range so even though if you low diabetes you’re at risk there’s nowhere written that this will definitely happen to you but aside from the immediate danger of high blood sugars what do we actually mean when we say chronic high blood sugars are dangerous having a high blood sugar means there is too much sugar in the bloodstream and not enough insulin to lower it this can happen for a lot of
different reasons including not injecting enough insulin if you inject insulin or maybe eating a little bit too much not enough exercise hormones stress or even lack of sleep high blood sugar is dangerous however it’s important to remember that high blood sugars are primarily dangerous over prolonged periods of time unless of course we’re talking about dka this means for the most part occasional increases in your blood sugars won’t impact you over the long term but chronic prolonged high blood sugars here
imagine a lifetime of diabetes with blood sugars over 200 milligrams per daiter will for most people lead to diabetes related complications the most common long-term diabetes related complications are macrovascular complications that can include damages to the large blood vessels in your legs in your heart and in your brain as well as microvascular complications which can include damages to the small blood vessels which can lead to problem for your kidneys your nerves your eyes and your feet so how do you know if your blood
sugar is high well the fastest probably most accurate way to determine if your blood sugar’s high maybe even too high is to do a finger stick using glucometer but there are also symptoms that you can pay attention to that will indicate if you have a high blood sugar however the symptoms might vary you might might feel some you might not feel any and they might also vary depending on how high your blood sugar is I personally do not feel any symptoms when my blood sugars are moderately high but if your blood
sugar is around the 200 milligrams per dail liter you might start to feel some of these symptoms and I’m going to read you off the list here so it could be increased thirst frequent need to urinate fatigue achy muscles slightly blurred vision as well as headaches if your blood sugar is dangerously high if you have ketones so now we’re close to going into dka you might experience some of these symptoms nausea vomiting fruity smelly breath dry mouth weight loss weakness extreme fatigue confusion severely aching
muscles extremely blurred vision shortness of breath if you are experiencing any of these later stage symptoms of high blood sugars seek medical attention immediately balancing blood sugars is not easy every day we have to strive to keep our blood sugars in range not to go too high as we just discussed or too low so here are some strategies that you can Implement to help you keep your blood sugars in range this first one is in my opinion probably the most important one and that is to understand the food that
you’re eating and how it most often impacts your blood sugars and this is a learning process look up the carbohydrates in your food and what you’re drinking if in doubt cook most of your meals at home that way you’ll know exactly what’s in the food or the drinks that you’re consuming another one is get enough sleep if you use insulin to manage your blood sugars double check that your doses are accurate or that your ratios are accurate talk to your doctor doctor make sure that you’re getting the right
amount not too much not too little insulin for your meals you should check the expiration date on your diabetes medication if it’s expired it might not work as effectively or at all if you manage with insulin you should also always keep your rapid acting insulin nearby another good tip is to always take your diabetes medication insulin tablets other injections as prescribed and it’s so important that we work with our Medical team to adjust our medications or however else we’re managing our diabetes so that it’s
adjusted to where we are in our life maybe your activity level has changed maybe your life situation has changed there’s a lot of things that can impact how we need to manage our blood sugars and finally treat all high blood sugars as well as low blood sugars early so that you catch them before they become dangerous I know high blood sugars can be annoy believe me I know but I think it’s important to highlight that there are things that we can do to help limit the risk of them becoming scary or even dangerous.
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