Health Science | How to deal with high fasting blood sugar?

Health Science | How to deal with high fasting blood sugar?

Tongling Disease Control

The blood sugar level of diabetics is sometimes mysterious and unpredictable. For example, the causes of excessive fasting blood sugar are complicated. If the right cause is not found, the result will often be counterproductive and the more you adjust the blood sugar level, the more confused you become. Today we will talk about how to deal with high fasting blood sugar.

1. Misconceptions about fasting blood sugar

Fasting blood sugar refers to the blood sugar level in the early morning after fasting for 8 to 12 hours (excluding drinking water).

1. Insufficient fasting time

Some diabetics have irregular work and rest schedules, often stay up late, and often eat midnight snacks. So when they measure their blood sugar in the morning, it is likely to be less than 8 hours. Although this blood sugar is high, it cannot be considered fasting blood sugar.

2. Measuring blood sugar too late

It is best to draw blood at 6-8 in the morning to measure fasting blood sugar. If the fasting blood sugar is measured too late, and the fasting interval exceeds 12 hours, the blood sugar value measured at this time will be inaccurate, and may be high or low. At this time, it can only be counted as random blood sugar, not fasting blood sugar.

3. Blood sugar before breakfast

Fasting blood sugar reflects the basic function of the body's own pancreatic beta cells. Therefore, do not use hypoglycemic drugs, skip breakfast, or exercise before measuring blood sugar. Many people do a lot of activities after getting up. Although they did not eat breakfast at this time, the blood sugar measured is not fasting blood sugar.

2. How to solve high fasting blood sugar

If you have high fasting blood sugar, don't act rashly. First find out the cause of high blood sugar, and then treat it accordingly to achieve twice the result with half the effort. The following 6 aspects will help you find the cause of high fasting blood sugar.

1. Eating too much or having an unreasonable dinner structure

Food has a direct impact on blood sugar. If you eat too much at dinner, it will lead to high blood sugar. In addition, food that is difficult to digest, too much coarse grains, too much greasy food, too much high-protein food such as fish and meat, and excessive intake of fried cooking fat.

Countermeasure: Don’t eat too much for dinner, but don’t eat too much either. Just have staple food + vegetables + appropriate amount of protein ingredients (lean meat/soy products/eggs) to ensure balanced nutrition.

2. No limit on the amount of snacks before bed

Diabetics who use hypoglycemic drugs, especially those who take insulin, should monitor their blood sugar before going to bed. If the blood sugar before going to bed is low, you need to have a meal to prevent hypoglycemia at night. If you are worried about hypoglycemia at night, eating and drinking casually before going to bed may cause you to eat too much and cause fasting high blood sugar.

Countermeasures: Snacks should be taken before hypoglycemia occurs, usually around 10 o'clock before bedtime. Snacks can be protein-rich foods, such as yogurt/milk/eggs/dried tofu. Such foods can prevent hypoglycemia while slowly raising blood sugar levels, thus not causing hyperglycemia.

3. Somogy phenomenon

Somogyi phenomenon, also known as Somogyi reaction, refers to transient hypoglycemia caused by excessive use of hypoglycemic drugs (especially insulin) or excessive hunger, followed by a rebound increase in blood sugar. In other words, excessive doses of hypoglycemic drugs at night, or too little dinner (drug dose and food do not match), cause hypoglycemia in the middle of the night, the body activates its self-protection mechanism, secretes glucose-raising hormones, and promotes the decomposition of glycogen into glucose, which increases blood sugar, leading to fasting hyperglycemia.

Countermeasures: Measure blood sugar levels at 3 a.m. If hypoglycemia occurs, you need to adjust your diet and medication to avoid eating too little or taking too many hypoglycemic drugs, prevent hypoglycemia from occurring again in the middle of the night, and eliminate rebound hyperglycemia.

4. Dawn Phenomenon

The patient does not experience hypoglycemia at night. Instead, starting from the early morning, glucose-raising hormones are over-secreted, and the body's own glucose-lowering hormones are not enough to suppress the momentum of rising blood sugar, resulting in increased fasting blood sugar. This is called the dawn phenomenon.

Countermeasures: Please measure blood sugar once at midnight and once at 7 am. If the blood sugar at 7 am is 1mmol/L higher than the blood sugar at midnight, it means that the patient has dawn phenomenon. If the fasting blood sugar is too high, it is necessary to adjust the hypoglycemic drug. Please follow the doctor's advice for the specific medication plan.

5. Insufficient glucose-lowering drugs

If your bedtime blood sugar is high, higher than your fasting blood sugar, or similar to your fasting blood sugar value, except for eating too much at dinner, it is likely caused by insufficient hypoglycemic drugs.

Countermeasures: In different seasons, people's diet and exercise have certain changes, so it is essential to adjust the drug treatment plan according to the blood sugar monitoring situation. Ask your doctor to adjust your medication for you.

6. Poor sleep

In the hot summer, the weather is hot and mosquitoes bite, making it difficult for diabetics to sleep, causing excessive anxiety and thus fasting hyperglycemia.

Countermeasures: Diabetics should not do strenuous exercise or overuse their brains two hours before going to bed. Create a good sleeping environment with appropriate temperature and humidity. When you have a good sleep, your mood remains stable, anxiety can be relieved, and fasting blood sugar can be controlled.

In short, you must find out the reason why your fasting blood sugar is high. Only by finding the right reason can you deal with it correctly.