Is there any way to change hypoglycemia to hyperglycemia?

Wouldn’t that just be diabetes?

Hyperglycemia killed my kick ass grandfather. Is this question a joke? Maybe it’s late and I’m taking things too seriously. But you just reminded me of my gramp.

@jonsblond Nope, for once you got me being serious.

Hypoglycemia as a rule isn’t as dangerous as diabetes and much easier to control and monitor. Could you elaborate your question? I think we really need Shi’s input here.

@Sakata my grandma said it was the sweet-n-low that killed him. :(

@jonsblond Did he get cancer from the sweetener?

@steve6 Stomache, to be exact.

@Sakata I just know that it was artificial sweetener. My gramp was the coolest, not cold like my grandma. Didn’t mean to get serious on your thread, but he meant the world to me. He was the only one that really paid any attention to me.

@steve6 My goal is to keep the question simple and plain so there isn’t a whole lot of tangents.

Basically if someone had hypoglycemia is there anything they could do to change it into hyperglycemia?

@jonsblond Was it the saccharin?

@AstroChuck If I’m not mistaken, diabetes is actually one step below hyperglycemia… technically. I’m really not 100% on any of this though. Hence the question lol

OK, I really don’t think you can safely change or would want to. You can minimize the effects of hypoglycemia through diet and exercise.

I have Type II diabetes mellitus and I wouldn’t wish that on my worst enemy. Although hyperglycemia isn’t just another name for diabetes, it is abnormally high glucose in the blood and you would have to treat its symptoms much the same as you would diabetes and there is nothing good about that at all.

I’m pretty certain that chronic hypergycemia is a form of diabetes.
I know several diabetics and I have a son-in-law who is hypogycemic. Hypoglycemia seems much more controllable than diabetes. Why on Earth would you rather have that?

@steve6. I beg to differ. Hypoglycemia in general is a lot more dangerous than run of the mill hyperglycemia. Hypoglycemia will kill you. Hyperglycemia (at least in type II diabetes) may also kill you, but not nearly as acutely.

Now, as far as the question is concerned the most frequent causes of hypoglycemia are excess insulin or other diabetes drugs and insulinomas. There is no simple way to convert hypoglycemia to hyperglycemia, except for inhibiting the activity of insulin with neutralizing antibodies or drugs, or, large infusions of glucose containing solutions.

That’s why I deferred to you and I never said hyperglycemia.

The prescribed regimen for Type II diabetes treatment is diet, exercise, and medication in most cases. Diabetics can be known for having blood sugar swings in both directions at times. Both my endocrinologist and two of my first cousins, who are Registered Nurses, explained the differences to me.

If you have hyperglycemia, you can be administered insulin to help bring down your blood glucose levels. Even if someone were to go into a diabetic coma, you can be brought out of this and treated for it.

On other hand, if you are dangerously hypoglycemic and blood sugar levels drop to nothing, your body will go into seizures and the chances of you dying are seriously increased because at this point it is harder to introduce glucose back into the system rather than bringing it down from a high level.

As a condition of the body? Yes. As a disease (aka pertaining to diabetes)? No. I don’t believe so.

Simply put, it’s either high amounts, or low amounts of glucose in the blood. You can give a hypoglycemic patient an amp of glucose, or Glucagon, or a bolus of D5W, and raise their blood sugar. If you blood sugar gets low, you may pass out, slur your speech, or hit the closest thing to you in a fit of rage, but a normal person will course correct.

Hyperglycemia on the other hand, in a normal, healthy, non-diabetic, with a normal pancreas, will clear itself up. The person may be jittery, excited, and bouncing off the walls, but be ok.

Ok that wasn’t simple, but- The answer is yes.

P.S.- Im a medic working my way through med school, so bear with my ranting. And if I messed up the answer…at least it didn’t kill anyone.

@shilolo, the “simple way” would be to give them a candy bar, or OJ.

Everyone else- Hypo and Hyper Glycemia are conditions of the body, like being hypothermic or hyperkalcemic. NOT diseases onto themselves. Diabetes can cause these two conditions. There are many other reasons why a person could be hypo/hyper glycemic.

Diabetes is the result of a malfunctioning pancreas. You don’t want that, of course. But keeping yourself in a hyperglycemic state could bring it on. Diabetics often carry glucose tablets so get yourself some of those if you’re finding yourself about to pass out from low blood sugar.

Didn’t mean to contradict ya @shilolo, but wouldn’t a sugary substance help? Just wanted to double check. Sorry, I thought about it for a bit.

My mother has had a tendency to be hypoglycemic all of her life. Her solution was simply to eat small amounts frequently, typically a bit of protein and some carbs.

To become hyperglycemic a person simply has to have more sugar in their blood than the amount of insulin present to deal with it. So eat a whole bunch of sugar and you will be hyperglycemic, at least for a while.

The problem with having high blood sugar is that it causes damage on the cellular level that adds up over time. That is why diabetics who have poor control over their blood sugar levels (aka “brittle diabetics”) end up with problems such as peripheral neuropathy and diabetic retinopathy.

Neither hypo- nor hyperglycemia is a desired state. If you tend to become hypoglycemic then, as others have suggested, carry glucose tablets or simply design your life around eating frequent small meals to keep your blood sugar up around 100 more or less.

@cyrusbond. A sugary substance in an emergency is appropriate, but wouldn’t necessarily make one hyperglycemic (it would take you, transiently, to a euglycemic state). Most diabetics (especially those on insulin) carry around candy in the event their blood sugar drops below whatever threshold their body responds to. They can usually tell if they are too low by specific symptoms, and a quick dose of sugar usually can correct the problem until they can take in a bigger meal. My response was aimed at the issue of converting someone from hypo to hyperglycemia, which is more complex.

@Sakata I’m not used to the serious side of sakata. :) Sorry for assuming that this was a joke. I have learned a lot from this thread, which is important since diabetes runs in the family.

@shilolo, thank ya. I wasn’t too clear on what you were getting at. Now it’s clear. On a side note, I’m probably going to try do get a double specialty after my schooling. I’m thinking nephrology and ID. I’ll PM you for some tips, tricks, and advice if you wouldn’t mind.

@cyrusbond No problem. Your plan sounds original, and complicated. Feel free to send me a PM anytime (my wife is a nephrologist…)

Eat sugar

Ah, what does shilolo know, anyway?

Eating sugar, if you’re a diabetic, certainly can take you from being hypoglycemic to hyperglycemic, although you would by definition pass through a euglycemic (normal blood sugar) range in between, and if you ate just the right amount you could avoid becoming hyperglycemic at all.

As a side note, unless you have diabetes/pre-diabetes or a rare tumor like an insulinoma or glucagonoma, it is extremely unlikely that you are ever hypoglycemic or hyperglycemic. Being very hungry can feel a lot like the description of being hypoglycemic, but a normal person does not become hypoglycemic even when fasting. I know, people always say, “My blood sugar is low right now”, but it’s extraordinarily unlikely to be the case unless you’ve been taking insulin or certain oral diabetes medications or have an insulin-secreting tumor.

Neither Hypo, or Hyper glycemia is the optimal condition for your heath. The balance between the two is what you need to strive for. I have a condition known as intermittant thyroid malfunction, which is neither, because sometimes the thyroid functions properly, and sometimes it does not.

Discuss your concerns with your doctor and ask for his opinion about what will be the best path for you. Thyroid malfunction is a fairly difficult condition to correct, so you may find that doctor-supervised experimentation is the best course for your.

You don’t want either condition. Hypoglycemia will kill you real fast. Hyperglycemia is a lot slower (and a great deal more damaging, over the long haul).

I am not a diabetic but have had hypoglycemic episodes all of my life. It seems that if I have something sweet, like a donut at breakfast, at about 10:00 my sugar drops so low that I get extremely dizzy, start to sweat even though I feel cold, it feels like I am going into shock. If I eat something sweet, it passes quickly. Orange juice works best but a small candy bar will work too, but it takes longer if I can keep it down.

The thing is that this seems random, it doesn’t happen every time I eat something sugary but it always follows an especially sugary treat. If I stay away from sugar, there’s nerve a problem but sometimes I get tempted. One doctor even told me that there is no such condition for people that aren’t diabetic, he suggested that the problem was in my head. I don’t know if he was medically correct but I know what I feel and it has nothing to do with what I was thinking, at the time.

You could change the “o” to an “er”.