Effects of High Blood Sugar

High blood sugar, or hyperglycemia, is essentially an elevated amount of sugar in the blood. This is usually due to the way in which the body either produces insulin or uses insulin. When the body is unable to produce or use insulin properly, as seen in both type I and type II diabetes, the glucose from the food we eat isn't removed from the bloodstream as it should be. This is the way in which our body gets fuel. The inability to deliver this sugar from the blood to our cells will inevitably increase the level of sugar in our blood. If left untreated, it can have an effect our health in a number of different ways.

Vision Problems

• One of the ways in which high blood sugar has an effect on our bodies involves our sight. When blood sugar becomes elevated, it may actually cause the lens of the eye to swell. This expansion can be seen, quite literally, as a blurring to your vision. Bring your blood sugar down, and the sight problems should go away. But, this elevation in blood sugar, when left too long or let go too high, may actually cause permanent damage to capillaries of the eye.

Kidney Problems

• When your body is experiencing an elevation in blood sugar, your kidneys begin to work overtime, so to speak, to flush the blood of its excess sugar or glucose. This heightened processing to filter out this waste can begin to damage the blood vessels of this organ. This may then lead to kidney disease or kidney failure, which could increase your blood pressure, damage your central nervous system, decrease you immune system and induce other health related issues.

Heart Problems

• It should come as no surprise that as elevated blood sugar level can have an effect on the heart, especially in light of the fact that there is the potential that your blood pressure may become high. With this increase in blood pressure, a person could then suffer heart palpitations, heart failure and heart attack. It may also induce something called pericarditis, which is an inflammation of the surrounding membrane of the heart. This inflammation may then put pressure on the organ, hindering its intake of blood.

Foot Problems

• Leaving your blood sugar at a heightened level may also begin to damage the nerves located in your outer extremities, namely your feet. This has a lot to due with your blood circulation and the nourishment of the capillaries. As it becomes more and more difficult for your body to bring blood to your feet and the excess sugar begins to damage the blood vessels, the nerves themselves essentially become malnourished, for lack of a better term. This will inevitably damage those nerves, making your feet and sometimes legsgo numb. When these nerves become too damaged, infection may set in from a simple cut or even a blister. This, along with the nerve damage, may lead to amputation.

Osteoporosis

• Another way in which high blood sugar has an effect on your health is actually a decrease in bone density, which often comes as a surprise to most. This is mostly due to an almost deprivation of minerals to the bone. This can lead to easy breaks and fractures from events that wouldn't normally cause such an issue.