Impaired Fasting blood sugar levels 110-126 mg/dl

My fasting blood sugar levels 110-126 mg/dl most of the time I measure them. Why?

This is a question frequently noted when visiting my patients. They are not diabetic but blood sugar fluctuated 111, 112, 113, 114, 115, 116, 117, 118, 119, 120, 121, 122, 123, 124, 125.

Getting your blood glucose between 110 to 126 mg/dl are frequently seen in persons with Insulin Resistance or pre-diabetics or otherwise known as Impaired fasting glucose.

Although they are above the normal range, they are not high enough to be considered as Diabetes

Why do I get fasting blood sugar 110-126 mg/dl?

To understand why impaired blood glucose (IBG) happens, we should go through the mechanism of insulin resistance and defects in secreting insulin. These defects would cause dysfunction of beta cells in pancreas.

Overall, insulin resistance involves:

-          Reduced sensitivity to insulin

-          Hyperinsulinemia in return to compensate what is lacking.

So more insulin is circulating, while less is functioning properly.

By passing of time, the pancreas beta cells will decrease the ability to secrete insulin, leading to low insulin levels.

So, gradually, impaired fasting glucose will turn into diabetes.

Another aspect to consider while having fasting blood sugar 110-126 mg/dl is Hypoglycemia (low blood glucose) the person might be experiencing during night. This can be confirmed by measuring BSL at midnight, record the results and pass to your doctor.

If nocturnal hypoglycemia will be confirmed, then, the body will react by increasing the release of glucagon. This will get the sugar out of the body deposits in order to increase blood sugar levels which are at lower range.

The effect of glucagon and other sugar releasing processes will be notable even in the morning while measuring fasting blood glucose. The result will be IBG.

What’s the Treatment?

The goal of treatment is to keep fasting glucose within normal range in order to prevent diabetes onset.

There are various treatment approaches including :

-          Therapeutic lifestyle changes

·         Losing weight

·         Good Dietary changes

·         Increased physical activity

-          Medications. Mostly used medications to regulate blood glucose and prevent onset of type 2 diabetes include Metformin or Acarbose.

All these changes will also help cut the risk for cardiovascular disease although the effect of medications is not well documented in the research.

Other modifications that can reduce the risk for cardiovascular diseases include treating:

-          Obesity

-          Hypertension

-          Dyslipidemia

correctly.