Diabetes Management: Tips for Lowering Blood Sugar by Diabetes Specialist

If you have diabetes and need to lower your blood sugar quickly, the best course of action is to take fast-acting insulin. Fast-acting insulin is especially important to take if you are experiencing a hyperglycemic emergency, as it helps your body’s cells absorb blood sugar to use it for energy. This type of insulin acts most similarly to the insulin that your pancreas produces and is administered through injection. It starts working approximately 15 minutes after injection, reaching peak effectiveness around one to two hours after injection and lasting for two to four hours.

Some other tips for lowering blood sugar in the long term include:

• Exercising often
• Staying hydrated
• Limiting your carbohydrate intake
• Increasing your fiber consumption
• Regulating your calorie intake to maintain a healthy weight level
• Choosing foods that are low on the low glycemic index
• Managing stress levels
• Prioritizing healthy sleep habits
• Increasing intake of chromium and magnesium
• Eating healthy snacks
• Including probiotic-rich foods in your diet

Blood sugar levels are measured according to the number of milligrams (mg) of glucose that is in every decilitre (dL) of your blood. A decilitre is 1/10 of one liter of fluid. Further, blood sugar tests measure your blood sugar level in two situations — after fasting and two hours after meals. 

With that in mind, a normal blood sugar level after fasting for those who have diabetes is 80 to 130 mg/dL. The normal blood sugar for a person with diabetes two hours after a meal is less than 180 mg/dL. In contrast, the normal blood sugar level for someone without diabetes is 70 to 99 mg/dL after fasting and less than 140 mg/dL two hours after eating.

High blood sugar can cause problems in both the short term and the long term. In the short term, some of the symptoms that high blood sugar can cause include:

• Dry mouth and increased thirst
• Frequent urge to urinate
• Increased fatigue and weakness
• Blurry vision
• Dehydration
• Headache

High blood sugar also negatively impacts your long-term health and increases your risk of various diseases. Some of these conditions and health issues include:

• Cuts and sores that don’t heal or take longer than usual to heal
• Heart disease
• Increased risk of infections
• Kidney disease
• Nerve damage
• Neurological conditions
• Stroke
• Vision loss
• Weight loss

Considering the short-term and long-term effects of high blood sugar, lowering your blood sugar is an important way to prevent serious illness if you have diabetes or hyperglycemia.

As mentioned, the early symptoms of high blood sugar include heavy thirst, blurry vision, excessive urination, tingling, and fatigue. If you notice these symptoms, it’s a good idea to take steps to lower your blood sugar by exercising and drinking lots of water. You may also want to eat foods that have a low glycemic index, are low in carbohydrates, and are high in fiber and probiotics.

If you experience vomiting, rapid heartbeat, confusion, or loss of consciousness along with common symptoms of high blood sugar, you could be experiencing diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA). DKA is a severe blood sugar complication that can be life-threatening. Thus, you should go to your nearest emergency room if you experience those symptoms.

Keeping blood sugar levels at healthy levels is an important part of diabetes management. At Portsmouth Family Care, our primary care physician can help you manage your diabetes in effective ways. Feel free to call us to learn more about how we can help you with diabetes management and lower blood sugar, or schedule an online consultation with us today! We serve patients from Portsmouth NH, Newington NH, Durham NH, Madbury NH, Dover NH, Greenland NH, Stratham NH, and Newfields NH.