10 Signs Your Blood Sugar Level Is Probably High

The are millions of people suffering from high blood sugar all over the world. Abnormally high blood sugar, or hyperglycemia, is one of the signs of diabetes.

Diabetes is serious and can be fatal because of the health complications that could result from it.

Some of the possible health complications that may come from diabetes include: cardiovascular related diseases, kidney damage, skin diseases, nerve damage, eye damage, foot damage, and many more.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or CDC has estimated that in America alone, there are around 30.3 million people suffering from diabetes in 2017. These numbers include diagnosed and un-diagnosed individuals.

Luckily, there are many telltale signs that will tell you if you have extremely elevated sugar levels. You better watch out for these signals your body is sending you:

1. Chronic fatigue — While sugar or glucose in our body should be the ones responsible for giving us energy, this doesn’t happen when you have extremely high sugar levels.

When you have elevated blood sugar levels that aren’t normal, your body is unable to get the sugar to function — therefore, without an adequate energy source in your body, you feel tired most of the time.

2. Excessive urination — When your bodily sugar levels are quite high, your body works twice as hard to filter and flush out the additional amount of sugar in your body — and the kidneys try to flush out the excess sugar through your urine.

3. Unusual thirst — When water from your body is excreted through urination when you  have high blood sugar, naturally, you would feel abnormally thirsty — as in a lot more times than usual.

Your body will tell you that you need more water to replace the ones being used to flush the sugar out of your body.

4. Blurry vision — The lens of the eyes swell as a result of fluids getting in and out of it when you have increased sugar levels, according to Medical News Today. While the blurry vision might just be temporary, it could be a warning sign of diabetes.

5. Trouble concentrating — Having trouble concentrating goes hand in hand with feeling tired all the time. Glucose powers the mind just like it powers the body. And, when your body can’t make use of the excess sugar in your system to power your mind, you just can’t focus.

6. Slow healing of wounds — Having an elevated sugar level affects the blood vessels that transmit the blood and oxygen the body needs. In order for wounds to heal properly (and quickly), an adequate amount of blood, oxygen, as well as nutrients are needed to be sent by our body to the area of the wound.

Since blood vessels are affected by high blood sugar levels, they are unable to send the needed components for the wounds to heal in due time.

7. Skin problems that don’t go away — Since having a high blood sugar level affects the blood vessels, it affects the blood vessels connected to our skin, too, leading to various skin problems from dry, itchy skin to shin spots. Shin spots are round, patchy, brown or reddish spots found on the shin area.

8. Tingling or numbness in the hands and feet —  Extremely high sugar levels in the blood can cause nerve damage also known as diabetic neuropathy. The tingling or numbness that can be felt is an effect of diabetic neuropathy.

9. Abnormal hunger — The tiredness that comes with high blood sugar levels happens because of absence of energy source — because of this, your body would, as expected, tell you that you need more energy through your stomach.

10. Unexplained weight changes — High blood sugar levels can either make you lose weight or gain weight fast. You might lose weight fast because since your body isn’t making use of the huge amount of sugar in your system when it needs to burn fuel to give you energy, it turns to burning your fats to give you power instead.

On the other hand, you might gain weight, too. When your body has high blood sugar, your pancreas create more insulin to keep up with it and help your cells absorb the sugar.

However, the thing with insulin is that it urges your body to keep the extra sugar in your blood as fat, too; so the result is being overweight.

When you feel that something isn’t right with your health, most of the time, your body will send you signals. Don’t ignore them and have a physician give you a check up right away.

(Note: This article is for informational purposes only and not to be treated as an expert opinion. If you’re dealing with any of these signs & symptoms or know someone who does, it’s important to always consult with your doctor or a specialist.)

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