If you have diabetes, you know your goal is to keep too much blood sugar, or glucose, from building up in your bloodstream. If you don’t keep your blood glucose under control, your body can react with conditions that range from fuzzy thinking to heart problems, vision loss, and kidney disease. Knowing what your blood sugar level is at all times -- and keeping your doctor in the loop, too -- is vital to your well-being.
Your health care provider might want you to test as often as four to 10 times a day, which is common for type 1 diabetes. A few times a day might be enough if you have type 2 diabetes. Either way, frequent monitoring per your treatment plan gives the best possible picture of your health.
What Your Blood Sugar Readings Tell You
Your blood sugar levels speak volumes. They can tell you:
Your blood sugar is too high. Insulin helps direct sugar out of your bloodstream and into your cells. This creates energy. Without this key hormone, though, the sugar can’t go anywhere. Even if your body makes insulin, sometimes it doesn’t process it right. High sugar levels for either reason can damage your blood vessels.
Elevated blood sugar, or hyperglycemia, is measured as higher than 125 mg/dL (milligrams per deciliter). If you have a reading like this when you haven’t eaten for the last 8 or more hours, or your fasting level, it could mean you have type 1 or type 2 diabetes or have a chance of getting type 2 diabetes. But you won’t usually have symptoms until your levels reach about 180-200 mg/dL.
While you might have signs of diabetes, such as unintentional weight loss, needing to urinate often, thirst, or blurry vision, they might be mild or fly under the radar. You might need blood sugar numbers to flag you.
Your blood sugar is too low. Say your blood glucose levels drop below 70 mg/dL and you have symptoms. This is hypoglycemia, and it means you need to use the right tools, such as diet, exercise, or special meds, to bring your blood sugar up. When your blood sugar drops too low and you don’t do anything to balance it, you can have trouble thinking and functioning as well as possible.
A low blood sugar reading doesn’t always cause symptoms. Or the symptoms may be so mild that you don’t see the signs without a test result to prompt you. It can happen most often when you’ve had diabetes for a long time.
Hypoglycemia unawareness can be dangerous. For example, you might be driving when your blood sugar drops too low but don’t yet have low blood sugar symptoms. These can range from feeling shaky to having a seizure. If you’re asleep and have a low blood sugar level, you may not wake up in time to take steps to treat it.
Your numbers are at dangerous levels. Sometimes your readings can mean the dosage of insulin or oral diabetes meds you’re taking isn’t doing the job. This is your cue to call your doctor.
If you check your blood sugar regularly, it will also let you know if your levels are severely high or low. Both hyperglycemia and hypoglycemia can cause you to lose consciousness. This is called a diabetic coma. When you’re in this state, you can’t wake up or respond to anything. If no one else is around and you don’t get treatment, it can be fatal. Keeping track of your blood sugar can stop this from happening.
You might need insulin. Insulin therapy provides your body with this critical hormone. If you have type 1 diabetes, you have to take insulin every day to live. If your body has insulin but doesn’t use it correctly, as with type 2 diabetes, you still might need insulin therapy alongside other treatments such as eating a healthy diet and getting enough exercise or additional medications.
Your doctor will prescribe the insulin treatments that work best for you.
How your glucose levels shift throughout the day. To chart the right course of treatment, your health care provider needs to know how your blood sugar levels vary throughout the day. The numbers reveal how your diet, meds, exercise habits, stress levels, and other things affect your blood sugar. Knowing your numbers can help put off or prevent serious problems.
You have prediabetes. This means your blood sugar levels are higher than normal, but not high enough right now to get a type 2 diabetes diagnosis. This condition can not only raise your chances of having type 2 diabetes, but your risks of stroke and heart disease rise, too.
How do you know you may have it if you don’t test regularly? You should ask your doctor about a blood sugar test if:
- You’re overweight.
- You’re over age 45.
- A close family member has type 2 diabetes.
- You’ve had gestational diabetes.
Your blood sugar is normal. This means you’re hitting your treatment goals and you’re managing your glucose levels well. Even so, it’s key to keep checking and stay on your treatment plan.
Show Sources
Photo Credit: Alden Chadwick / Getty Images
SOURCES:
CDC: “What is Diabetes?” “Monitoring Your Blood Sugar,” “Prediabetes – Your Chance to Prevent Type 2 Diabetes.”
Mayo Clinic: “Blood Sugar Testing: Why, When and How,” “Diabetic Coma,” “Diabetes Treatment: Using Insulin to Manage Blood Sugar,” “Hyperglycemia in diabetes.”
British Heart Foundation: “Why Should I Know My Blood Sugar Levels?”
Cleveland Clinic: “Hyperglycemia: High Blood Sugar.”
American Diabetes Association: “Hypoglycemia (Low Blood Glucose),” “The Big Picture: Checking Your Blood Glucose,” “Type 2 Diabetes.”