The best way to prevent high blood sugar emergencies is to treat high blood sugar as soon as your child has symptoms or has a blood sugar level that is well above the target range. Your doctor will give your child blood sugar goals and recommend ways to treat high blood sugar. Here are some general guidelines.
Follow these steps if your child's blood sugar is over the target range set by the doctor. For example, that might be over 200 mg/dL for two or more readings a few hours apart.
Follow these steps if your child's blood sugar is extremely high—for example, over 600 mg/dL. Some blood sugar meters read only levels up to about 400 mg/dL.
An important part of living with diabetes is keeping your blood sugar in your target range. You'll need to know what to do if it's too high or too low. Managing your blood sugar levels helps you avoid emergencies. This care sheet will teach you about the signs of high and low blood sugar. It will help you make an action plan with your doctor for when these signs occur.
Low blood sugar is more likely to happen if you take certain medicines for diabetes. It can also happen if you skip a meal, drink alcohol, or exercise more than usual.
You may get high blood sugar if you eat differently than you normally do. One example is eating more carbohydrate than usual. Having a cold, the flu, or other sudden illness can also cause high blood sugar levels. Levels can also rise if you miss a dose of medicine.
Any change in how you take your medicine may affect your blood sugar level. So it's important to work with your doctor before you make any changes.
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