Conditions and symptoms
What Is Hyperglycemia? Why Medicine Labels Warn About It
Hyperglycemia · say it: HY-per-gly-SEE-mee-uhAlso written: high blood sugar, high blood glucose, hyperglycaemia
Short answer
Hyperglycemia means high blood sugar (glucose). It is a key feature of diabetes and can also be caused by illness or some medicines.
What it means
Hyperglycemia means there is too much sugar (glucose) in the blood. It happens when the body does not have enough insulin or cannot use it well, as in diabetes. Illness, stress and some medicines can also raise it. Symptoms may include thirst, passing a lot of urine, tiredness and blurred vision, though mild high sugar often causes none. Very high sugar with vomiting, deep fast breathing, drowsiness or confusion needs urgent medical help, as it can mean diabetic ketoacidosis or another emergency.
Medicine labels list hyperglycemia because some medicines can raise blood sugar or make diabetes harder to control, including corticosteroids, some atypical antipsychotics, thiazide diuretics, some HIV medicines and statins (a small effect). Labels may advise checking blood sugar more often, and report symptoms like increased thirst.
Hyperglycemia is the opposite of hypoglycemia, which is low blood sugar. The words sound alike; 'hyper' means high and 'hypo' means low.
Where you may see it
- 'Warnings' sections of corticosteroid and atypical antipsychotic labels
- Blood test reports (glucose, HbA1c)
- Diabetes clinic letters and discharge summaries
📄 How it looks on a report
Hyperglycemia, in some cases extreme and associated with ketoacidosis or hyperosmolar coma, has been reported in patients treated with atypical antipsychotics.
🙅 What it does not mean
- It is not the same as hypoglycemia (low blood sugar).
- One high reading does not mean you have diabetes.
- Feeling well does not mean blood sugar is fine; high sugar often has no symptoms.
🗒️ Questions to ask your doctor
💊 Medicines whose labels mention “Hyperglycemia”
Plain-English explanations of each medicine, from its official FDA label.
- Aripiprazole
an atypical antipsychotic medicine
- Carvedilol
A beta-blocker. The FDA lists it as both an alpha-adrenergic blocker and a beta-adrenergic blocker.
- Glimepiride
a sulfonylurea, a type of oral medicine used to lower blood sugar in adults with type 2 diabetes
- Insulin Glargine
an insulin analog, a long-acting man-made insulin used to treat diabetes
- Metformin
a diabetes medicine of the biguanide type
- Olanzapine
An atypical antipsychotic, a prescription medicine used for certain mental health conditions
- Phenytoin
An anti-epileptic (seizure) medicine. The label describes it as related to barbiturates in chemical structure, and it belongs to the hydantoin group of medicines.
- Prednisone
a corticosteroid, a type of steroid medicine that works like the adrenocortical (adrenal gland) steroids the body makes naturally
- Quetiapine
An atypical antipsychotic medicine
- Risperidone
an atypical antipsychotic medicine
🔗 Read more from trusted sources
- “Hyperglycemia” on MedlinePlus ↗
US National Library of Medicine
- NCI Dictionary definition ↗
US National Cancer Institute: “hyperglycemia”
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