Type 1 diabetes comes with many ups and downs. One such is hyperglycemia. Hyperglycemia or high blood sugars. High blood sugars are blood sugars above the range given for a particular child. A high blood sugar usually is defined as 150 mg/dl. If your child is on an insulin pump that number is above 250 mg/dl. Hyperglycemia is an issue when blood sugars run high for a long period of time, typically months. A periodic or a few days of a higher blood sugar is not a sever issue as long as the blood sugar becomes under control.

The symptoms of hyperglycemia are very thirsty, frequent urination, increase in hunger, ketones in urine tested by a ketone strip,and fatigue. Extremely high blood sugars are demonstrated as vomiting, unconscious, fruity smell of the breath, and loss of appetite. Ketones in the urine are made when a person has high blood sugars. Correcting blood sugars with insulin and drinking plenty of fluids will correct ketones and high blood sugars.

Causes for hyperglycemia in children is from a mismatch of insulin and carbohydrates counts. But other reasons are attributed to high blood sugars often due to child’s need for more basal insulin and or the child is growing.

To determine why a child has higher blood sugar it takes persistence to correct and know blood sugars are correctablef.