How do you feel when your sugar is too high

Blood sugar control is at the center of any diabetes treatment plan. High blood sugar, or hyperglycemia, is a major concern, and can affect people with both type 1 and type 2 diabetes . There are two main kinds:

Table of Contents Show

How Is It Treated?
How to Prevent It
High blood sugar levels
Symptoms of high blood sugar
Causes of high blood sugar
How to lower your blood sugar
Non-urgent advice: Speak to your care team or GP surgery if:
Problems caused by high blood sugar

Fasting hyperglycemia. This is blood sugar for patients who have diabetesthat's higher than 130 mg/dL (milligrams per deciliter) after not eating or drinking for at least 8 hours.
Postprandial or after-meal hyperglycemia. This is blood sugar that's higher than 180 mg/dL 2 hours after you eat. People without diabetes rarely have blood sugar levels over 140 mg/dL after a meal, unless it’s really large.

Frequent or ongoing high blood sugar can cause damage to your nerves, blood vessels, and organs. It can also lead to other serious conditions. People with type 1 diabetes are prone to a build-up of acids in the blood called ketoacidosis.

If you have type 2 diabetes or if you’re at risk for it, extremely high blood sugar can lead to a potentially deadly condition in which your body can’t process sugar. It's called hyperglycemic hyperosmolar nonketotic syndrome (HHNS). You’ll pee more often at first, and then less often later on, but your urine may become dark and you could get severely dehydrated.

It's important to treat symptoms of high blood sugar right away to help prevent complications.

Causes

Your blood sugar may rise if you:

Skip or forget your insulin or oral glucose-lowering medicine
Eat too many grams of carbohydrates for the amount of insulin you took, or eat too many carbs in general
Have an infection
Are ill
Are under stress
Become inactive or exercise less than usual
Take part in strenuous physical activity, especially when your blood sugar levels are high and insulin levels are low

Symptoms

Early signs include:

Thirst
Headaches
Trouble concentrating
Blurred vision
Frequent peeing
Fatigue (weak, tired feeling)
Weight loss
Blood sugar more than 180 mg/dL

Ongoing high blood sugar may cause:

Vaginal and skin infections
Slow-healing cuts and sores
Worse vision
Nerve damage causing painful cold or insensitive feet, loss of hair on the lower extremities, or erectile dysfunction
Stomach and intestinal problems such as chronic constipation or diarrhea
Damage to your eyes, blood vessels, or kidneys

How Is It Treated?

If you have diabetes and notice any of the early signs of high blood sugar, test your blood sugar and call the doctor. They may ask you for the results of several readings. They could recommend the following changes:

Drink more water. Water helps remove excess sugar from your blood through urine, and it helps you avoid dehydration.

Exercise more. Working out can help lower your blood sugar. But under certain conditions, it can make blood sugar go even higher. Ask your doctor what kind of exercise is right for you.

Caution: If you have type 1 diabetes and your blood sugar is high, you need to check your urine for ketones. When you have ketones, do NOT exercise. If you have type 2 diabetes and your blood sugar is high, you must also be sure that you have no ketones in your urine and that you are well-hydrated. Then your doctor might give you the OK to exercise with caution as long as you feel up to it.

Change your eating habits. You may need to meet with a dietitian to change the amount and types of foods you eat.

Switch medications. Your doctor may change the amount, timing, or type of diabetes medications you take. Don’t make changes without talking to them first.

If you have type 1 diabetes and your blood sugar is more than 250 mg/dL, your doctor may want you to test your urine or blood for ketones.

Call your doctor if your blood sugar is running higher than your treatment goals.

How to Prevent It

If you work to keep your blood sugar under control -- follow your meal plan, exercise program, and medicine schedule -- you shouldn’t have to worry about hyperglycemia. You can also:

High blood sugar (hyperglycaemia) is where the level of sugar in your blood is too high. It mainly affects people with diabetes and can be serious if not treated.

People with diabetes can also have blood sugar that's too low. This is called low blood sugar (hypoglycaemia).

High blood sugar levels

If you have diabetes, you can find out if your blood sugar level is high by having a blood sugar (blood glucose) test.

You may have regular tests by your care team or GP surgery, or you may have tests you can do at home.

Types of diabetes test and high blood sugar levels.Type of testHigh levelTest done by a health professional to check your blood sugar level over the last 2 or 3 months (HbA1c test)48 mmol/mol or over (6.5% if you're given a percentage)Test done by a health professional after not eating for a few hours (fasting glucose test)Over 7 mmol/LHome test done after waking up or before eatingOver 7 mmol/LHome test done at any other timeOver 11 mmol/L

Important

These blood sugar levels are a guide. Your levels may be different depending on your age and the type of diabetes you have. Check with your doctor or care team.

Symptoms of high blood sugar

Symptoms of high blood sugar usually come on gradually and may only start when your blood sugar level gets very high.

Common symptoms include:

feeling very thirsty
peeing a lot
feeling weak or tired
blurred vision
losing weight

Causes of high blood sugar

Common causes of high blood sugar in people with diabetes include:

being unwell
feeling stressed
eating too much sugary or starchy food
being less active than usual
missing doses of diabetes medicine

You can also get high blood sugar if your diabetes medicine is not working well, you're taking certain medicines (such as steroids) or you recently had an operation.

How to lower your blood sugar

If you have diabetes, it's important to try to stop your blood sugar level getting too high.

Do

take any diabetes medicine you've been prescribed, as advised by your doctor or care team
avoid eating too much sugary or starchy food
try to find ways to manage stress
exercise regularly
lose weight if you're overweight
follow advice from your doctor or care team about what to do while you're ill (sometimes called "sick day rules")

Don’t

do not skip or change doses of your diabetes medicine unless advised by your doctor or care team

Non-urgent advice: Speak to your care team or GP surgery if:

you've tried to lower your blood sugar but your blood sugar level is still high or you still have symptoms
you have symptoms of high blood sugar and you have not been diagnosed with diabetes

Problems caused by high blood sugar

It's not usually a serious problem if your blood sugar is sometimes slightly high for a short time.

But high blood sugar can cause serious problems if it stays high for a long time or gets to a very high level.

It can lead to:

permanent damage to the nerves in your hands and feet (peripheral neuropathy)
permanent damage to your eyes and problems with your sight (diabetic retinopathy)
life-threatening conditions such as diabetic ketoacidosis

If you have high blood sugar, your doctor or care team may ask you to test your blood or pee to check for ketones. A high level of ketones is a sign of diabetic ketoacidosis.