High Blood Glucose Levels
High blood sugar is not good for you because the sugar actually sticks to the red blood cells (hemoglobin) causing them to become stiff. These “sticky cells” change the circulation of the blood allowing cholesterol to build up in the vessels. It is not noticeable right away, but the vessels in the kidneys, eyes and feet are usually the first to show signs.
If your blood sugar is higher than normal, but not high enough to be considered diabetes, it is known as pre-diabetes. Although, if you have make daily lifestyle changes by exercising and changing your diet, you can help lower your blood sugar therefore lessening your chances of Type 2 diabetes.
Symptoms of Diabetes
There are nearly 6 million Americans that are undiagnosed with diabetes. So, it is important to know and understand the symptoms, so that you can protect yourself against diabetes. The signs of diabetes are normally not noticeable in the beginning, and you could have diabetes for months or even years before seeing any consequences.
-Excessive Thirst with Increased Urination: if you have diabetes, you will have excess amounts of glucose in the urine because it has nowhere else to go, which causes your kidneys to overwork. As the glucose is drawn into the urine, you will have to urinate more frequently resulting in excessive thirst.
-Fatigue: because of excess urination, the body becomes dehydrated causing fatigue. Also, your body is not able to use the sugar for energy because it is being removed from the body.
-Weight Loss: this may seem strange, but as the body loses sugar through the urine, your body has less sugar to use leading to hunger and loss of calories. This is more visible in patients with Type 1 diabetes.
-Vision Distortion: when your body has increased blood glucose levels, it pulls fluids from the vessels including the eyes. It then becomes difficult to focus on objects. If this occurs, you need to see your doctor immediately because prolonging the situation could result in blindness.
-Tingling of Hands and Feet: high blood sugar can lead to nerve damage, sometimes a loss of sensation will occur in the hands and feet.
-Infections and Sores Take Longer to Heal: they are not sure why this happens yet, but there is a correlation between high blood sugar and infections.
-Swollen and Red Gums: with diabetes, your body cannot fight germs as quickly causing infection to the gums and bones that hold the teeth in place. If this happens, you could get sores, and your teeth may become loose.
Brandon Jones writes on the topic of diabetes and type 1 diabetes treatment.
