Adjustments to a patient’s diabetes management plan by a physician can treat frequent or resistant high glucose (blood sugar). If behavioral changes fail to control hyperglycemia, a physician may alter the patient’s medication plan. Steps to lower blood glucose levels include:

• Exercising. Exercise can lower glucose levels and is often a crucial part of a diabetes treatment plan. However, exercise is not recommended for a patient with ketosis, a precursor to diabetic ketoacidosis.
  
  
• Changing eating habits. Eating too much food, too much of the wrong type of food or at the wrong time can lead to high glucose. A registered dietician can recommend dietary changes that help keep a glucose levels within a healthy range.
  
  
• Changing insulin and antidiabetic agents. When changes in exercise and diet are not effective in lowering glucose levels, a physician may alter a patient’s type of insulin or medication, the dosage or the schedule.
  
  
• Drinking enough water. Water aids the removal of excess glucose from the blood and can prevent dehydration. Some experts recommend drinking 8 to 12 eight–ounce glasses of water a day (1.9 to 2.8 liters). The Institute of Medicine suggests 125 ounces (3.7 liters) of water daily for men and 91 ounces (2.7 liters) for women.
  
  
• Addressing unstable diabetes. Some cases of diabetes involve severe swings in glucose and are difficult to control. Noncompliance by the patient is often but not always a factor. The physician may recommend options such as switching to a newer glucose meter that allows continuous glucose monitoring, using an insulin pump or inhaled insulin, increasing patient and family education with a certified diabetes educator, trying newer diabetes medications such as synthetic amylin, or seeking a pancreas transplant or islet cell transplant.

In cases of hyperglycemia not involving diabetes, a physician may make recommendations such as treating any underlying condition (e.g., prescribing weight loss and ovulation drugs for polycystic ovarian syndrome) or dropping a glucose-raising drug for another medication (e.g., lowering blood pressure with an ACE inhibitor instead of a beta blocker).