What Are High Blood Sugar Symptoms?

High blood sugar or hyperglycemia happens when there is too much glucose (sugar) in your bloodstream because your body is not making insulin or is not using insulin properly. Insulin is a hormone produced by your pancreas that moves glucose from your blood into your cells to provide them with energy. As a result of the lack of insulin, the glucose builds up in your blood.

Depending on whether you have Type 1 or Type 2 diabetes, the requirement for insulin will be different. Type 1 is considered an autoimmune disease. The immune system mistakes the body’s own healthy cells as foreign invaders. In response, the immune system attacks and destroys the insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreas. Once these cells are destroyed, the body is unable to produce insulin, and you need insulin shots to be able to use glucose from meals.

With Type 2 diabetes, the pancreas does not produce enough insulin. Furthermore, cells do not respond well to insulin and as a result take in less sugar. Some people with Type 2 diabetes need diabetes pills or insulin shots to help their bodies use glucose for energy.

Hyperglycemia can be serious. If left untreated, it can result in critical health complications, including eye, kidney, nerve, and heart problems, and result in life-threatening diabetic coma.

How does high blood sugar feel?

Having more sugar in your blood does not boost energy; in fact, it does just the opposite. Cells cannot access glucose for energy. If you have hyperglycemia, you may experience the following high blood sugar symptoms:

Frequent urination: Because of excess glucose levels, the kidneys cannot reabsorb all the glucose and return it to the bloodstream. As a result, excess glucose exits the body through frequent urination.

Increased thirst: Excessive thirst is among high blood sugar symptoms. Frequent urination can cause dehydration, which leads to thirst and the need to drink more fluids.

Fatigue: High blood glucose impairs your body’s ability to use glucose for energy so that fatigue is another of the high blood sugar symptoms. Glucose remains in your blood unused, which causes exhaustion. Dehydration can also cause fatigue.

Blurry vision: High blood sugar in the blood can cause swelling in the eye tissues that help focus. This can lead to temporary vision changes such as blurred or distorted vision, which should clear up as blood levels return to normal.[1]

A more serious vision complication is diabetic retinopathy, which occurs when high blood sugar damages blood vessels in the retina, which is the light-sensitive layer of cells in the back of the eye. The damaged blood vessels can swell and leak. The result is blurry vision or blood flow stops. New blood vessels may grow, but they are not normal and can cause further vision problems. The condition usually affects both eyes.

Unexplained weight loss: Having Type 2 diabetes means that your body does not use insulin properly. As a result of inefficient use of insulin, the glucose builds up in your blood. When your cells do not get needed insulin, you are more hungry than usual. As a way of compensating, your body creates energy by burning fat and muscle at a rapid pace, which results in unexplained weight loss.[2]  Unexplained weight loss is even more common with Type 1. This is because in the case of Type 1 diabetes, your body has stopped producing insulin altogether.

Numbness and tingling: Over time, high blood sugar levels, and elevated levels of fats in the blood from diabetes can damage nerves. When this happens, the nervous system’s signaling can no longer function correctly. Numbness, tingling and burning in hands, legs and feet result from this nerve damage or diabetic neuropathy.

Slow healing cuts and bruises: High glucose can impact circulation, which slows healing cuts, bruises, and other wounds.

Dry, itchy skin: Dry skin causes itchiness, and results from too much glucose in the bloodstream. When this happens, the body will try to get rid of the glucose by pulling it from the cells and releasing it in urine. That way it can produce enough urine to remove the excess sugar. This can make skin itchy and dry. [3] 

Prevent high blood sugar levels

Consider the following ways to manage blood sugar levels:

Plan your meals: Work with a nutritionist to develop a meal plan with foods that are lower in calories, saturated fat, sugar, and salt.

Choose complex carbohydrates: When it comes to carbohydrates, opt for whole grains, legumes, and vegetables. They have a lower impact on blood sugar than refined carbohydrates since they promote gradual and steady glucose release into the bloodstream.  This also means limiting sugary drinks, sweets, and other processed snacks.

Eat at regular times: Do not skip meals.

Control portion sizes: Watch meal portions to avoid taking in too many carbohydrates, which can impact blood sugar.

Exercise: Make regular exercise a part of your diabetes management regimen. Start slowly and build up if you are not used to exercising. Check your blood sugar levels before, during and after working out to avoid blood sugar spikes. Keep snacks non hand if your blood sugar drops while exercising.

Stay hydrated: Support proper hydration by drinking an adequate amount of water. Hydration helps stabilize blood sugar.

Minimize stress: Besides exercise, getting enough sleep and participating in stress-reducing activities such as yoga and meditation can help prevent high blood sugar levels.

Home testing for high blood sugar levels

Your medical provider will advise you if you need to test yourself for high blood sugar levels at home. It is not difficult to track your blood sugar. You can monitor your blood sugar with a glucose meter and finger stick. With this method, you produce a blood drop by pricking your fingertip with a small needle called a lancet. You then place the drop against the test strip in the glucose meter. Within a few seconds, the meter shows your blood sugar level. Since finger sticks only measure blood glucose at one moment in time, you may have to check your blood several times a day.

For people with diabetes, blood sugar readings should be: [4]

·         Before meals: 80 to 130 milligrams per deciliter (mg/dL)

• About 2 hours after a meal begins: less than 180 mg/dL.

You also may choose to use a continuous (real-time) glucose monitor (CGM) or an intermittently scanned glucose monitor, which measures blood sugar every few minutes.

Maintaining your blood sugar properly is critical to managing your diabetes and helping to ensure quality of life.