|  | Conditions Treatments | Diabetes

Dangerous Glucose Levels

Glucose is a type of simple sugar that serves as your body’s primary source of energy. But glucose can only be catabolized for energy if it’s permitted into your body’s cells. There are dangers associated with high levels of glucose accumulating in your blood.

  1. Features

    • Each of your body’s cells is enclosed within a membrane which will not permit the entry of glucose unless, in response to the hormone insulin, it’s directed to open up. Cells function best when there’s a constant level of glucose in the blood, but too much glucose in the fluid that surrounds your cells will hinder their function.

    Effects

    • If glucose is unable to leave your bloodstream by entering your body’s cells, it begins accumulating in the tissues of your body’s kidneys, heart, eyes, and nerve endings. Left unchecked, this will cause damage to these organs and create serious health complications.

    Symptoms

    • Some of the symptoms of dangerously high glucose levels are frequent urination, fatigue, extreme thirst, hunger, rapid weight loss, vomiting, decreased healing, and blurred vision.

    Testing

    • Blood glucose levels fluctuate in accordance with your food intake. Therefore the meaning of the result of a blood glucose test depends upon when the test is performed in relation to when your last meal was.

    Results

    • Glucose levels are considered high if you haven’t eaten in at least 8 hours and your levels come back 126 mg/dL (the number of glucose milligrams per every deciliter of blood) or higher. Anytime a test comes back 200 mg/dL or above, no matter when your last meal was, it’s considered dangerously high.

Diabetes - Related Articles