What is Glucose and Blood Sugar?
Key Takeaways
Glucose is a particular type of sugar which is commonly used by cells throughout the body for energy.
The levels of glucose in the blood can be referred to as “blood sugar” or “blood glucose.” Glucose comes from the food that you eat, especially carbohydrates.
People with diabetes have blood sugar levels that are too high.
When blood sugar is too low, this causes symptoms like confusion, shakiness, and dizziness. It can be dangerous and even life-threatening.
When blood sugar is too high, this causes damage to the body over time, which can lead to long-term health complications like kidney disease and vision loss. Very high blood sugar can also be dangerous or life-threatening.
People with diabetes may need to monitor their blood sugar regularly at home. This can be done with finger prick testing or a continuous glucose monitor (CGM).
Glucose is a particular type of sugar. It’s used by cells in the body for energy. Most cells can use either glucose or other energy sources (such as fats), but cells in the brain rely primarily on glucose in order to function.
Your body creates glucose from the foods that you eat. Your digestive system converts the carbohydrates in your food into glucose. Your body can also create glucose from amino acids, which are the building blocks of proteins.
Glucose is not harmful or unhealthy overall. In fact, glucose is important for brain function and for ensuring that cells in the body have enough energy. When glucose levels are too low, this can lead to problems, especially with brain function. However, when glucose levels are too high, this causes damage to a variety of tissues around the body. The average levels of glucose of people with diabetes or prediabetes are usually higher.
Because glucose is a form of sugar, glucose in the blood is sometimes referred to as “blood sugar.” The terms “blood sugar,” “blood glucose,” and “blood glucose levels” all mean the same thing. All of these refer to the amount of glucose in the blood.
Blood Sugar Levels and Diabetes
Insulin is a hormone that’s produced when blood sugar levels rise. Normally, insulin triggers cells throughout the body to take up glucose from the blood. As the glucose enters into cells, the levels of sugar in the blood go down. This helps to keep blood sugar from rising too high. The cells will either use the glucose for energy or store it as fat.
In people with diabetes, this process does not occur normally. This causes them to have higher blood sugar levels. In those with type 1 diabetes, the body is not able to produce enough insulin. Without insulin, glucose remains in the bloodstream instead of entering into cells. In people with type 2 diabetes, insulin is produced, but the body’s cells are insulin resistant. This means that they’re not as responsive to insulin, so they don’t take up enough glucose from the bloodstream.
Prediabetes is an early form of type 2 diabetes. In people with prediabetes, there is some insulin resistance, but it’s not as severe, meaning that the cells are still partially responsive to insulin. People with prediabetes have increased blood sugar levels, but they’re not as high as those found in people with diabetes.
Blood Sugar Levels and Weight Loss
Glucose provides energy to cells throughout the body. When cells have more energy than they need, the excess glucose gets converted to fat. This stores the energy for later use.
In addition, insulin levels are also linked to body weight. Insulin promotes fat storage in the body. People with insulin resistance generally have higher levels of insulin, as the body attempts to compensate for the insulin resistance by making extra insulin. These higher insulin levels tend to promote weight gain, and make it harder to lose weight.
At the same time, being overweight can also cause insulin resistance. This can set up a vicious cycle, in which insulin resistance leads to weight gain, and the weight gain causes more insulin resistance. Losing weight will often help to reduce insulin resistance, which can then make it easier to lose weight.
Because insulin is secreted in response to high blood glucose levels, controlling blood sugar may help to avoid insulin spikes, which tell the body to store fat. This is one reason why low-carbohydrate diets are highly effective at causing weight loss in some people. In addition, medications that help to restore insulin sensitivity can also help to reduce blood sugar and promote weight loss.
What happens if your blood sugar is too high?
High blood sugar is medically known as hyperglycemia. When the levels of sugar in your blood are too high, the excess sugar binds to proteins throughout the body, and changes them chemically. Over time, this leads to damage to a variety of body tissues. This is what causes the long-term complications of diabetes, including kidney disease, vision loss, and heart disease.
High blood sugar can lead to a variety of symptoms, including:
Increased thirst and/or hunger
Frequent urination
Headaches
Fatigue
Frequent skin infections or vaginal yeast infections
Slower healing of wounds
If you have these symptoms and have not previously been diagnosed with diabetes, it’s a good idea to get tested.
If you have high blood sugar, then diabetes treatment will help to keep it under control and reduce your chances of experiencing long-term health complications. Some people with diabetes take insulin, which is either given by injection or through an insulin pump. Others take oral medications that help to lower blood sugar. Lifestyle changes can often be very helpful, including weight loss and eating a healthy diet. It’s also helpful to watch the amount of carbohydrates that you eat at one time, because these are quickly converted to glucose in the body.
When blood sugar is very high, it can lead to a potentially life-threatening complication known as diabetic ketoacidosis, or DKA. The symptoms of this include:
Nausea
Dry mouth
Rapid heartbeat
Difficult or rapid breathing
Abdominal pain
Strange smelling breath (has a fruity smell)
Confusion
DKA occurs when people have very high blood sugar and low insulin levels. If a person with diabetes develops these symptoms, it’s important to get medical attention immediately. Some people don’t know that they have diabetes until they develop DKA, so it’s important to seek medical attention if you have these symptoms even if you haven’t been diagnosed with diabetes.
What happens if your blood sugar is too low?
Low blood sugar is medically known as hypoglycemia. The most common cause is taking insulin or other diabetes medications that lower blood sugar. Although these medications are very helpful for preventing the long-term complications of high blood sugar, they can also cause blood sugar to drop too low. Hypoglycemia is uncommon in people without diabetes, but can be caused by alcohol use, diets, medications, or intense exercise.
Hypoglycemia can cause severe complications, and can even be fatal if it’s not detected and treated. It’s important to detect low blood sugar quickly. The symptoms may include:
Lightheadedness
Dizziness
Sweating
Shakiness
Fatigue
Difficulty concentrating
Hunger
Irregular or increased heart rate
When a person is experiencing hypoglycemia, it’s important to increase their blood sugar quickly. Have a snack that contains some sugar, such as fruit or fruit juice. You only need 10 to 15 grams of sugar to address hypoglycemia, so don’t go overboard – for example, eating an entire candy bar will give you two to three times as much sugar as you need.
Measuring your blood sugar levels
For people living with diabetes, it’s often important to monitor blood sugar levels at home on a regular basis. This helps to keep glucose levels within a normal range as often as possible. People using insulin therapy generally need to test more often, while those taking oral diabetes medications may be able to do less home testing. There are a few different methods for measuring your blood sugar levels.
Finger prick testing
The traditional method involves using test strips and an instrument called a glucometer. When you’re ready to test your blood sugar, you obtain a drop of blood through a finger prick, and place the drop on a test strip. The strip is then inserted into the glucometer, which reads your blood sugar level.
Although this method is highly accurate, many people don’t find it to be very convenient, because it requires pricking your finger each time you test. It also only gives you a blood sugar reading at the specific times when you perform the test – up to a few times a day at most. This can sometimes lead to missing high or low blood sugar levels, because you didn’t happen to test when those events were occurring.
However, finger prick testing also tests your blood glucose directly. This means that it offers the most up-to-date information about your current blood sugar level. In some cases, it may catch a high or low blood sugar reading that would be missed by a continuous glucose monitor. In addition, this method has a somewhat lower cost, so it may be preferred for those who are on a tight budget.
CGM/flash glucose monitoring
It’s also possible to use a device called a continuous glucose monitor, or CGM. This is a small device with a sensor that’s inserted under the skin. The device is waterproof, so you can wear it full-time, even while showering. It can measure your glucose levels continuously, and usually sends the data to your smartphone. The sensor is replaced every one to two weeks.
The same type of device can also be used for a method called flash glucose monitoring. The sensor is still inserted under the skin, but will only give you a blood glucose reading when you choose to scan the device (usually by waving your phone over it). This makes the process of obtaining a reading more comfortable and convenient than a finger prick glucometer test, but still doesn’t provide as much information as a CGM.
A CGM is a very convenient method of testing your glucose levels, since it doesn’t require any finger pricks. In addition, CGMs can detect trends in your glucose levels, and alert you if they’re trending towards a level that’s too high or too low. This allows you to take action to help keep your glucose in a healthier range.
The sensor for a CGM or flash glucose monitor is inserted into the interstitial fluid – the fluid between your cells – rather than directly into the bloodstream. The levels of glucose in this fluid are highly correlated to the levels in the blood, but they’re a few minutes behind. If your blood sugar levels rise or fall very rapidly, then a finger prick test will detect the abnormal sugar levels before a CGM will.
If you’re interested in a CGM, there are two main options currently available in Singapore. These are the Dexcom G6 and the FreeStyle Libre. Both systems can work with a smartphone, and will alert you when your blood sugar is trending too high or too low. The two systems are similar in many ways, but there are some differences to consider when deciding between them. We offer both of these systems to our patients here at NOVI Health.
Testing in your physician’s office
If you’re living with diabetes, your physician may order a blood test known as hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c), which is usually done once every few months. This test is used to check your average blood glucose levels over a period of about three months. The HbA1c test is useful for determining a person’s risk for long-term complications of diabetes, and for making sure that diabetes medications are appropriately adjusted. However, it is not a replacement for regularly checking your blood sugar levels at home.
There are also blood sugar tests that can be used to diagnose diabetes. A very common one is fasting glucose, which tests your blood sugar level when you’ve not eaten for several hours. If your fasting glucose is high, this is a sign of diabetes. Another test is called the oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT). This measures your body’s response to glucose. You consume a drink with a measured amount of glucose, and your glucose levels are measured both before the drink (when you’re fasting) and then over the next few hours, to see how your body responds. Your physician may order one of these tests if he or she suspects that you might have diabetes or prediabetes.
Proper support is crucial in helping to keep blood sugar in a healthy range
It’s important to have the right medical support in order to keep your blood sugar from rising too high or falling too low. Many people with diabetes benefit from taking insulin or other diabetes medications. Lifestyle changes are also a crucial part of treatment, even if you’re taking medications. It’s very important to have a team that supports you in developing these healthy habits and learning how to manage diabetes.
NOVI Magnum is designed to provide optimal support to people with diabetes. Your specialist physician, nutritionist, and health coach will all work together to help you develop healthy habits, choose the right equipment and learn how to use it, and use any prescribed treatments. With the right support, you’ll feel in control of your diabetes management, so you can live the longest and healthiest possible life.