What is hyperglycaemia?

Hyperglycaemia means a high glucose (sugar) level. It occurs in people with diabetes when they have too much glucose in their blood; either because their body hasn’t produced enough insulin to process the glucose and turn it into energy, or the insulin they do produce isn’t working properly.

Symptoms of hyperglycaemia

Symptoms of hyperglycaemia are similar to the symptoms of untreated or undiagnosed diabetes and include:

• Increased thirst
• Needing to pass urine frequently
• Tiredness
• Being irritable
• Over a longer time there may be other symptoms including weight loss and blurred vision.

What causes hyperglycaemia?

High glucose levels can happen for lots of reasons such as

• Your diabetes medication has changed (or needs to be adjusted)
• You ate more carbohydrate than you planned to
• You gave yourself less insulin than usual for a meal
• You missed an insulin dose or tablet
• You exercised less than you planned to
• Your hypo treatment worked too well
• You have a new medication
• Your period is due
• You are ill
• You have an infection or have had surgery
• Stresses or anxieties in your life

Treating hyperglycaemia

If hyperglycaemia happens, your blood glucose levels will need to be lowered again. Increasing your dose of insulin by a small amount is one way that can help to achieve this if you are confident you know what to do and have been instructed on how to do this by your health team. You can also try exercise or even walking around the block to lower your levels. Making small changes to your food intake can also help so avoid very sugary foods like cakes, biscuits, crisps, juice or high sugar drinks.

Keep checking your glucose levels before meals or more often if you are concerned. If you have been advised how to manage your high glucose levels, follow that advice. If you are at all unsure, contact someone to ask; your diabetes centre or GP surgery if they are open or NHS Direct.