Blood sugar level monitoring systems.What a diabetic is testing for:
- Hypoglycemia - Test results below 70mg/dL indicate low blood glucose.
- Hyperglycemia - Test results above 240 mg/dL indicate high blood glucose.
How do these results effect the diabetic?
Hyperglycemia: high levels usually lead to an immediate headache. Over time, damage to blood vessels that lead to neuropathy, amputations, blindness, and eventually diabetic coma.
Hypoglycemia: low levels immediate signs are sweating followed rapidly by disorientation. Hypoglycemia impacts the brain or nerve center, which derives almost all of its energy from glucose. The brain depends on the bloodstream for a continuous supply of glucose because it can only store a few minutes' worth of energy as glycogen. Any change in blood glucose levels can quickly and seriously affect thinking and coordination. The patient can be aware of what they need to do, but can't get themselves to co-ordinate moving body parts as simple as arms and legs to get up and move towards the blood glucose test meter. Hypoglycemia is dangerous. As a complication of diabetes, it is perhaps the most easily treated, but can also be the most immediately fatal.
