How To Lower a Blood Sugar Spike

What should you do when you have a “spike” of high blood sugar? Maybe you forgot or missed or didn’t take enough of your meds or insulin injection. Maybe your insulin has gone bad. Or maybe you were naughty and binged — even a little binge can cause a spike in blood sugar. What is a spike in blood sugar and how would you know it? You should always test your blood sugar two hours after meals or snacks. Anything over 140 mg/dl (7.5 mmol/l) at that time is high, but a “spike” is anything over 180 mg/dl (10 mmol/l).

What should you do? That depends on whether you are type 1 or type 2. If you are type 1: Anything above 250 mg/dl (14 mmol/l) requires at least testing for ketones. (If you are newly diagnosed with type 1 diabetes you really need to educate yourself on ketones. They are the toxic by-products of burning fat for energy instead of sugar. You can detect the presence of ketones with urine test strips.) IF KETONES ARE PRESENT, DO NOT EXERCISE in an effort to try to lower your blood sugar level. You have ketones because insulin isn’t present. That means the sugar cannot be metabolized.
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