Symptoms of High Blood Sugar

If you eat a large baked potato for lunch, the potato is going to be converted into glucose in your body. Glucose is a type of sugar that your body uses for energy. Before that can happen, your pancreas has to release insulin, so your cells can be open for their delivery of glucose from your bloodstream, which sugars use to travel to all the parts of your body. With diabetics, however, the process does not work as seamlessly. For some people, the pancreas is unable to make enough insulin, so much of the glucose is not used by your cells. For other people, the cells stop responding effectively to the insulin, so the glucose is unable to get in (this is known as insulin-resistance). In both cases, too much sugar remains in the bloodstream where it can cause damage to your body.

High blood sugar causes two very common symptoms: frequent urination and increased thirst. Of course, these are related symptoms -- one leads to the other ,which leads back around to the other indefinitely or until you bring your blood sugar levels down to normal. What's happening is the excess sugar in your blood is causing you to go to the bathroom more, so your kidneys can help get rid of some of the extra glucose. That makes your body feel dehydrated, because the urination is robbing it of fluids it needs. When you start feeling dehydrated, you start drinking more fluids, but that also increases your need to urinate and so on. Of course, frequent urination is also a sign of other problems, such as a bladder infection, so check with your doctor if you feel you are going to the bathroom too frequently.

While the symptoms above are the most commonly associated with high blood sugar and diabetes, there are others. Because the cells are unable to get the glucose they need, your body doesn't have enough energy, so you likely feel tired. Many diabetics report feeling hungry frequently, because the body continues to crave the glucose it's unable to process appropriately. Over time, people with high blood sugar may lose weight unexpectedly as the body begins to break down muscle to feed itself instead. You may also notice wounds not healing properly or as quickly because of the slowing of the circulation.

If you're feeling the symptoms of high blood sugar, check the numbers either on your own testing equipment or by making an appointment at your doctor's office. Reducing the amount of glucose your body takes in via diet changes and making your body work more efficiently through exercise are two natural ways to lower blood sugar. Medications and insulin injections are other possibilities for serious and chronic high blood sugar levels. If your blood sugar levels are high during the day after you've already been diagnosed as diabetic, take it easy for the day, drink plenty of water or noncaffeinated, sugar-free beverages and check your numbers frequently. If they don't go down after 24 hours, contact your physician.

Because diabetes is a chronic condition, many of the complications you have to worry about are progressive; they happen over time. For example, blindness occurs because the excess sugar damages parts of our eyes. Many diabetics go through limb amputations, because their wounds do not heal properly and end up getting infected or causing other complications. However, one serious complication that you do need to worry about short-term is called diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA). As the body resorts to breaking down fat for energy, chemicals known as ketones are released and increase the acidity of the bloodstream. If left untreated, DKA can led to coma and death. The best way to prevent diabetic ketoacidosis, however, is to keep your blood sugar levels under control.