Diabetes FAQ » Diabetes Tips » Tips for Recognizing High or Low Blood Sugar when you Don’t Have a Glucometer with You

Tips for Recognizing High or Low Blood Sugar when you Don’t Have a Glucometer with You

In a perfect world, all diabetics will have their glucometer with them at all times, but there are times when we go out to dinner and forgot to check your blood sugar before going out. There is no way to know what the value of your blood glucose is without testing it with a glucose meter, but you can usually recognize if your blood sugar is elevated, low or near normal.

The following tips may indicate when your blood sugar is high:

1. Your blood glucose could be elevated above normal if you are experiencing extreme thirst. You can drink, but you don’t seem to be satisfied. You aren’t satisfied, partly due to losing water. The term diabetes comes from ancient Greece, and means “running through” or “going through,” which means the water you drink is running through you and not hydrating your cells.

2. Your blood sugar level could be high when you feel very tired or fatigued. When your body is resistant to insulin, the insulin cannot carry the blood glucose into your body’s cells. Your body’s cells are starving for nourishment; which is why you have no energy.

3. Your blood sugar may be elevated when you find yourself frequently urinating. When your blood sugar is high, your kidneys try to normalize your blood glucose level by spilling glucose into the urine. The glucose acts like a pump that keeps causing the cycle of “running water” through your body.

4. You may have elevated blood sugar if you are steadily losing weight day by day. You lose weight with high blood sugar because your body cannot utilize it without insulin transporting it into your body’s cells. Glucose is the food your body uses; which means that glucose carries the calories your body needs. When you spill out glucose into your urine you are losing precious calories that your body needs.

5. Your blood sugar level may be high if you experience vision changes. If your vision becomes blurry, it could be because glucose is being collected in the eye, and changing the shape of the lens.

6. Your glucose level may be elevated when you are moody or unable to concentrate, because your brain cells are not being fed with enough glucose.

7. Your blood sugar level may be up when you experience muscle cramping. Your muscles cramp when they cannot receive the nourishment they need due to insulin resistance.

8. Your blood glucose may be above normal if you are experiencing numbness of your hands and feet. Excess glucose invades the nerve fibers and upsets the fluid and electrolyte balance, which causes your hands and feet to feel like they are asleep.

9. Your blood glucose may be elevated if you have a yeast infection in the genital area of women and men, axillary, groin and thigh areas.

10. Your blood glucose could be high when your skin is flushed.

11. Your blood sugar level can be elevated when you have no symptoms at all, which is why you need to keep your glucometer with you at all times.

The following tips may indicate when your blood sugar is low:

1. Your blood glucose could be low when you feel extremely hungry.

2. Your blood sugar may be low when you feel nauseated.

3. You could have low blood glucose when you feel cold, clammy or you start sweating without exercise other obvious cause.

4. Your blood glucose cold be below normal when you feel numbness in your fingertips.

5. You could low blood sugar if you become confused, have difficulty speaking, experience slurred speech.

6. Your blood sugar could be low if you experience lethargy, drowsiness, shaking or trembling.

7. You could have low blood glucose if your skin is extremely pale.

It is important to always keep your glucometer with you, because some symptoms of high blood sugar could look like symptoms of low blood sugar. There is a definite danger of becoming comatose with very high or very low blood sugar levels. Always test your blood glucose levels with you glucose meter at scheduled times, and more often when you are sick, had surgery, or under some sort of stress.

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