Keep Your Blood Sugar Level Under Control
Controlling blood sugar (glucose) levels is one of the most important aspects of managing your diabetes. It will make you feel better in the short term and it will help you to stay fit and healthy in the long term.
People who do not have diabetes keep their blood glucose levels within a narrow range most of the time.
The beta cells in the pancreas can produce just the right amount of insulin at the right time and they are constantly fine-tuning the blood glucose level.
People with diabetes do not have this fine control over their blood glucose levels.
This might be because the beta cells have been destroyed and there is no insulin production at all, as in Type 1 diabetes.
If the body does not respond to the insulin and/or not enough insulin is produced when it is needed, as in Type 2 diabetes.
The approach to managing Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes is slightly different, but whichever type of diabetes you have, you will still need to step in and with the help of your doctor take over that fine-tuning of your blood glucose level.
Blood glucose is dynamic.
It changes constantly and it is influenced by a host of factors including your choice of food, how much you eat, the timing of your medication or insulin, your emotions, illnesses, your weight, and your body’s resistance to insulin.
Some of these factors are relatively constant from day to day and are quite easily accounted for while some factors are more variable. No two days are ever the same, or entirely predictable, and this makes it difficult.
You will need to learn about those things that raise your blood glucose level and those things that lower your blood glucose level.
Then you will need to balance these factors on a day-to-day and possibly even hour-by-hour basis.
This means coordinating your medication, food, and activity levels while making appropriate allowances for stress, illness, or changes in your daily activities.
You will be aiming to avoid the extreme highs and lows, trying to manipulate your blood glucose toward the normal range.
You will be doing regular finger-prick blood glucose tests and using these results to help balance those things that make your blood glucose rise with those that make it fall.
When you have evened out your blood glucose level you will still need to keep an eye on it and continue to make adjustments.
Controlling blood glucose is a continuous process and it will require your attention for the rest of your life.
It may sound daunting to you right now, but it will soon become second nature.
Your diabetes team will give you individual guidance on the blood glucose levels that you should be aiming for.
In the short term, controlling blood glucose levels is important to avoid diabetic emergencies with very high or very low blood glucose levels.
Both of these conditions are unpleasant and can be dangerous, so they should be avoided if at all possible.
High blood glucose levels in Type 1 diabetes, if caused by a lack of insulin, can lead to a condition known as diabetic ketoacidosis or ‘DKA’ which can be fatal if it is not treated in time.
