It can take work to keep diabetes under control. Luckily, you have helpers. You, your parents, and your diabetes health care team can work together so your blood sugar levels stay in a healthy range as much as possible.
Sometimes this can seem like a lot of work, but it will pay off. How?
Over time, having too much sugar in the bloodstream can damage important body organs, like the heart and kidneys. This can cause serious health problems.
Also, having low blood sugar levels can make you feel bad and make it harder for you to do all the things you want to do.
The good news is that keeping blood sugar levels under control can help keep you healthy and prevent health problems down the road. That's why everyone might seem concerned about keeping your diabetes under control. They want you to feel good, be healthy, and stay healthy.
Managing diabetes means balancing the medicines you take (insulin or pills), the food that you eat, and the amount of exercise you do. A problem with any one can send blood sugar levels up too high or down too low.
In general, out-of-control blood sugar levels can be caused by:
Check your blood sugar levels regularly and take good notes when your glucose levels are too high or too low. This will help your diabetes team make changes to your diabetes management plan, if needed. You and your mom or dad can work together to collect this info and pass it along to your doctor.
Your doctor or diabetes health care team will tell you what your blood sugar levels should be.
The only way to know if your blood sugar level is in a healthy range is to check it several times a day with a glucose meter. Your diabetes health care team will help you figure out when and how often to check. Depending on how old you are — and how long you've been dealing with diabetes — you might need help doing this.
Checking your blood sugar level tells you how much glucose is in your blood right this minute. But doctors can use another test to see how under control your blood sugar has been over the last 2 or 3 months. The HbA1C test can be done in your doctor's office or in a lab. In general, the lower your HbA1C level, the better you're doing controlling your blood sugar level.
Keeping blood sugars close to normal can be hard sometimes, and nobody's blood sugar control is perfect. Sometimes blood sugar levels can get too high or low even when you do all the right things to help keep them steady.
But you can do some things to help keep your blood sugar levels in a healthy range:
Take these steps and you'll be doing your very best to keep your diabetes under control.
Reviewed by: Cheryl Patterson, RD, CDE
Date Reviewed: Sep 30, 2021
