Blood Sugar Symptoms

Diabetes is a common cause of elevated blood sugar levels. Source: https://www.ehow.co.uk/facts_5791301_causes-elevated-blood-glucose-levels_.html

Undiagnosed patients with diabetes type 1 will show elevated plasma glucose concentrations due to:

  • glucose being unable to enter target cells in a regulated manner.
  • the liver which continues to make glucose via gluconeogenesis and glycogenolysis.

 Other observations that may be made from blood and urine samples are:

  1. Lipolysis causing elevated plasma glycerol and fatty acids
  2. Excess of ketone production in the liver > could result in ketoacidosis.

Diabetic ketoacidosis occurs as a result of glucose build up and can causes additional symptoms, including:

  • Vomiting
  • stomach pain
  • rapid breathing, known as Kussmaul breathing
  • breath that smells of ketones – (e.g. pear drops)

 - 85% of dibetes type 2 patients never develop metabolic abnormalities such as ketoacidosis, however overweight subjects pose a greater risk factor.
 

Type 1 Diabetes should always be suspected in patients displaying rapid vision changes. This symptom is normally caused by prolonged high blood glucose causing glucose absorption, which leads to changes in the shape of the lens, resulting in reversible vision changes such as blurriness.
 

f not diagnoses early on, long-term, poorly controlled high blood glucose can be very damaging to your health, posing an increased risk of heart disease, stroke, blindness, nerve damage and kidney failure. Take a look at the flow chart below to link the physiology together.


Events caused by severe untreated insulin deficiency in diabetes type 1 patients. Adapted from: Human Physiology, the mechanisms of body function, 7th edition, Vander et al.