There are actually two ‘normal’ Blood Sugar Levels. One is pre-meal and the other is a post-meal Blood Sugar Levels. Ordinarily, your Blood Sugar Levels as soon as you wake up should be the lowest. The ‘highs’ would happen post meal and would depend on the individual meals. The normal range of Blood Sugar Levels would be between 3.6 and 5.8 mM (mmol/L) or 70 and 150 mg. Anything over 150 mg would indicate high Blood Sugar Levels (diabetic or hyperglycemia) whereas anything below 3.6 (mmol/L) or 70 mg would indicate low Blood Sugar Levels know as hypoglycemia.
Impact of low Blood Sugar Levels
It is vital for human to stay within normal range of the Blood Sugar Levels as the high’s and low’s could prove to be fatal. For example if your Blood Sugar Levels are below 3.6 (mmol/L) or 70 mg, you would start to feel lethargic, be irritable, suffer from impaired brain function and ultimately your body would shut down i.e. go into comma.
Impact of high Blood Sugar Levels
High Blood Sugar Levels (hyperglycemia) are just as fatal. Untreated Hyperglycemia or diabetes mellitus causes extensive kidney, eye and nerve damage.
Causes of low or high Blood Sugar Levels
You could suffer from high or low Blood Sugar Levels either due to the adverse life style you might be following (irregular sleeping hours, irregular meals, unbalanced diets, unhealthy diets) or due to recent surgery, illness, stress, pregnancy, trauma etc. Only your family physician or specialist can tell you the cause of your abnormal Blood Sugar Levels. However, if the reason for abnormal Blood Sugar Levels is recent surgery, illness, stress, pregnancy or trauma, then chances are the abnormality will rectify itself as soon as you recover. In the interim period however, your doctor might prescribe some medication to ensure you do not suffer due abnormal Blood Sugar Levels.
Checking your Blood Sugar Levels
Essentially, there are two ways to check your blood sugar levels – at home by using a glucose meter or at a clinical lab. The usual norm is to first do a series of tests at a clinical lab. If the Blood Sugar Levels are abnormal then you would want to buy a blood sugar testing kit (usually costs under $60). A blood glucose or blood sugar testing kit consist of a box that contains a blood glucose meter, a lancing device that looks like a pen and is used to extract a small drop of blood and, a small (usually) cylindrical white box that contains blood glucose testing strips.
Checking your Blood Sugar Levels at home is simplicity itself – just follow the instructions of the leaflet that comes with the kit and you should be able to test your Blood Sugar Levels in less than 5 minutes. Of course, there will be a minor degree of error as compared to tests done at a clinical laboratory. But unless you have a faulty blood glucose testing kit, the margin or error is usually negligible. It would be like saying the time is 16:53:18 verses “oh its 4:55”.
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