I was recently in the hospital with a blood sugar level 1445 mg/dl [80.3 mmol/L]. How is it possible that I am still alive? What are the effects of it being that high?

A level of blood sugar that high is usually associated with someone who has type 2 diabetes and also has some degree of kidney impairment. If the kidney works, you should be able to dump enough of the sugar into the urine to keep it from going so high in the blood. It is only when you have the kidney not compensating for the high sugar that the sugar gets to be over 1000 mg/dl [55.6 mmol/L] in the blood. When the glucose gets that high, it acts to pull water out of cells. This can be especially bad on brain cells. It is known that some people with high sugars like you describe can have altered levels of mentation. They can have a range of presentations from a minor decrease in the level of alertness to frank coma. These episodes may also be brought on by intercurrent illness that pushes the blood sugars higher. The treatment is supportive with intravenous fluids, insulin, and supportive care. If there were an illness, such as an infection, this would also need to be treated at the same time.

JTL