Does high altitude affect blood sugar?

[patliputra]

Ten thousand feet above mean sea level is high altitude and above 16000 feet it is extreme altitude.Do the diabetics have to take special precautions while going that high!

[patliputra]

I actually have gone as high as 14000+ feet in Switzerland . But I did not feel anything.

Many who have studied this subjects say that blood sugar as such is not affected by high altitude. If we do not over exert and give a couple of days for acclamatisation, there is no change in blood sugar.

If we over exert blood sugar rises due to stress , which causes release of cortisol which is responsible for high blood sugar.

[patliputra]

You are right, most of the glucometers start giving false reading at high altitude. It is said that as most of the glucometers use oxygen for the chemical process for estimating glucose . In the rarified atmosphere at high altitude where oxygen is low this process is disturbed leading to wrong reading.