How To Control High Blood Sugar levels Fast
With diabetes, the blood sugar level is permanently high. It can be reduced by a lifestyle that is adapted to diabetes. Hypoglycemic drugs are also often used. The treatment depends on the long-term blood sugar level (HbA1c). How it should be set differs from person to person: Permanently too high blood sugar leads to serious consequential damage for some people in the long term. Too low a blood sugar level causes dangerous hypoglycemia in some people.
Recommendation:
Agree with your doctor about the HbA1c level you are aiming for. Also consider any comorbidities, life expectancy, or possible side effects of the treatment.
What is the HbA1c value?
The HbA1c value describes how high the blood sugar was in the last 8 to 12 weeks. It shows the amount of red blood pigment to which sugar is bound. The value is given in percent or in mmol/mol Hb. A sudden and temporary rise or fall in blood sugar cannot be detected with this value. In order to measure it, blood will be drawn from you in the doctor's office. Sometimes the HbA1c value is not meaningful, for example in the case of severe kidney disease. With age, it also increases somewhat in people without diabetes.
How should my HbA1c value be set?
Experts agree: there is no single target blood sugar level that applies to everyone. There are good reasons for this: Diabetes does not lead immediately and does not always lead to complications. However, for some people with persistently high levels, the complications can be serious. On the other hand, dangerous hypoglycemia can occur if the value is lowered too much. Therefore one has to weigh up: How likely are you to experience serious diabetes consequences? How well are you coping with the treatment?
The target value for blood sugar should be adapted to your personal situation: depending on age and therapy goal, it should be between 6.5 and 8.5 percent.
Below is an overview of the circumstances that play a role in the target value:
For those who are younger and otherwise healthy and who can tolerate the treatment well, a lower value is possible. For those who are physically very limited and have other illnesses, a higher HbA1c is cheaper.
Whether one should already give diabetes medication at values between 6.5 and 7 percent or just adjust one's lifestyle is something that experts judge differently.
What are the benefits of strict blood sugar control?
Studies have looked at the benefits of strict versus less strict blood sugar control. These studies were very different and had some shortcomings. They do not deliver reliable results. Therefore, the numbers given below are only a very rough guide:
It is unclear whether a strict setting prevents severe consequential damage such as death, strokes, amputations, or blindness.
There were fewer non-fatal heart attacks: about 1 less per 100 people treated.
But there was also more hypoglycemia: about 8 more per 100 people treated.
Overview: Which long-term blood sugar value (HbA1c) for whom?
The following picture shows which circumstances you and your doctor should take into account when setting a target value for HbA1c. The picture also shows what speaks for a low and what for a higher blood sugar level.
The advantages of a very low blood sugar level only become noticeable after several/many years. Therefore, the older you are or the more health-impaired you are, the less a low target value will help you.
If you do not tolerate the treatment well, are heavily stressed as a result, or are already taking a lot of medication, this speaks in favor of a higher target value. If you have to take a lot of medication, you make more mistakes and more often have serious side effects.
Some of the circumstances listed below can point in different directions. For example, You have several comorbidities. That speaks in favor of a less strict attitude. However, the comorbidities do not affect you much and your life expectancy is normal. Then the target value for blood sugar could be a little lower. What matters is what is more important to you.
Not everything can be considered right from the start. You may not notice some things until a few months later when you can assess how well you are coping with the treatment.
During the course of treatment, your doctor should check with you again and again whether the agreed HbA1c target value is still appropriate, or whether your personal situation has changed in such a way that another target value would be more favorable.
0 Comments