Important numbers in diabetes management

Have you just been told you have diabetes or know someone who has?

It’s a complicated disease. It can be managed fairly well, but it takes thought and preparation most of the time. It’s not a disease that you can forget about.

One of the first things you learn is how to test your own blood sugar levels. At first, it seems like it’s so often, that your fingers are like pin cushions. This does get better. Your fingers may not get entirely used to it, but most often, the frequency of testing goes down as you become more controlled and aware of your body.

What are those numbers?

Your blood sugar levels can range wildly from below 2.0 mmol/L in a severe hypoglycemic crisis to above 24, heading towards a serious hyperglycemic crisis.

The idea blood sugar levels are between 4.0 and 7.0 mmol/L before meals or after you’ve been fasting and between 5.0 and 10.0 mmol/L about two hours after eating.

Symptoms

If your blood sugar is too low (hypoglycemia), you may experience mood swings, blurry vision, sweating, severe hunger, shakiness, headache, extreme fatigue and dizziness. If your blood sugar is too high (hyperglycemia), you may experience thirst (dry mouth), blurry vision, frequent urge to urinate, and fatigue.

A trick that I used to give patients uses a few words. Unfortunately, I couldn’t come up with words that made sense when using them with diabetes, but they do do the trick for some.

For signs of hyperglycemia, think THEFT .

• TH – thirsty and dry mouth
• E – Eyes are blurry
• F – Frequent urge to urinate
• T – Tired, extreme fatigue, exhausted

For hypoglycemia, think of two words: SHED and MESH.

• S – Shakiness
• H – Headache
• E – Extreme fatigue
• D – Dizziness

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• M – Mood swings
• E – Eyes blurry
• S – Sweating
• H – Hunger

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Image: Morguefile.com

Illustrations: Marijke Vroomen-Durning