How to lower your blood sugar fast and what to do if it's an emergency – Insider

If you have diabetes, your body isn’t able to regulate blood sugar properly, either because the pancreas doesn’t produce insulin (type 1 diabetes) or the body has become resistant to it (type 2 diabetes). 
As a result, people with diabetes have to carefully manage their blood sugar levels through diet, exercise, and medications to make sure it stays in a healthy range. 
But sometimes, blood sugar can become too high. In many of these cases, people with diabetes will be able to quickly lower blood sugar on their own, by taking more insulin. However, other times, they may need to visit the ER for immediate medical attention. 
Here’s how to tell if your blood sugar is too high and what you’ll need to do in order to lower it quickly. 
People with diabetes are considered to have high blood sugar, or hyperglycemia, if blood glucose levels are higher than: 
While there are other conditions that can cause hyperglycemia, it is most commonly linked to both type 1 and type 2 diabetes. That’s why it is important for people with diabetes to check their blood sugar using blood glucose meters — with the goal of keeping levels from getting too low or too high. 
In addition, there are other signs and symptoms of high blood sugar you might notice. 
The most common symptoms of hyperglycemia are: 
“If someone … has hyperglycemia, it would mean they would be very thirsty, tired, they might be urinating more frequently and basically not feeling well,” says Sam Zager, M.D. a family medicine physician in Maine.
Hyperglycemia is not automatically an emergent situation. Anyone with diabetes knows high blood sugar readings will happen, and it’s okay, as long as it doesn’t last too long or get too high. 
If it does occur, here are a few ways to quickly lower blood sugar on your own: 
Insulin can be used to treat acute cases of high blood sugar for people with diabetes. 
People with type 1 diabetes (who always use insulin) and some people with type 2 diabetes (who sometimes use insulin) can give themselves an extra dose of insulin to quickly lower their blood sugar to safer levels. How much to take depends on the situation and what your doctor recommends. 
When you have high blood sugar, you may experience frequent urination as your body tries to get rid of the extra glucose. Losing this fluid can cause dehydration and make hyperglycemia symptoms even worse. 
It’s important to drink water when you have hyperglycemia in order to stay hydrated and help your body regulate and lower blood sugar. But drinking lots of water won’t necessarily lower blood sugar on its own. For more information, read about how much water you’re supposed to drink a day. 
Exercise isn’t always the safest or most effective way to quickly lower blood sugar. It is important to note that exercise only works if there is insulin present, whether naturally or through injection, so that glucose can get into the cells to be metabolized. 
If there is no insulin, your body will start burning fat for energy, and this could lead to a dangerous condition called diabetic ketoacidosis. People with type 1 diabetes should not exercise if they have hyperglycemia. 
However, exercise can lower blood sugar for most people with diabetes — it just shouldn’t be used in emergency situations. In a 2013 study in the journal Diabetes Care, more than 5,000 people with diabetes recorded their blood glucose levels before and after exercising for as little as 10 minutes. Overall, more than 75% of people saw their level decrease an average of about 17%.
Overall, Zager says that exercise is important for managing diabetes, but warns that it isn’t a great short-term fix. For more information on how to control blood sugars in the long-term, learn about the 6 best ways to lower blood sugar naturally.
For people with type 1 diabetes, untreated high blood sugar can lead to a life-threatening condition called diabetic ketoacidosis, or DKA. 
When there is no insulin and glucose can’t get into cells, your body starts breaking down fat into a fuel called ketones. If ketones build up in your blood, it becomes dangerously acidic. DKA can cause very serious health complications — such as fluid building up in the brain, kidney failure, and cardiac arrest. 
If your blood sugar is above 240 mg/dL, you should check your urine for ketones, a sign you may be at risk for DKA. You can do this with an at home test, but you also should contact your doctor. If there are ketones in your urine, you should go to the emergency room. Other symptoms of DKA include:
In rare occasions, DKA can occur in people with type 2 diabetes, but the more common complication for people with type 2 is called hyperglycemic hyperosmolar state, or HHS. HHS occurs when blood glucose levels are high for an extended period of time. The extra sugar is passed into the urine, causing the person to urinate frequently and become severely dehydrated, just like with DKA.  
For people with type 2 diabetes, blood sugar above 600 mg/dL indicates HHS. Other symptoms include: 
These symptoms generally come on slowly, but you should contact your doctor immediately. In the ER, doctors will likely use insulin to lower your blood sugar, as well as give you fluid and electrolytes, to keep your heart, kidneys, muscles, and nerve cells functioning properly.
For people with diabetes, a single instance of high blood sugar is generally not an emergency, as long as it is addressed. Usually, taking an extra dose of insulin will quickly lower your blood sugar back to normal levels. However, if you are on insulin and run out, or have symptoms of DKA or HHS, you should get medical attention right away. 

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