Hyperglycemia

Hyperglycemia or High Blood Sugar is a condition in which an excessive amount of glucose circulates in the blood plasma. The term is from Greek: hyper-, prefix meaning "too much"; -glyc-, root meaning "sweet"; -emia, suffix meaning "of the blood".

Related Topics:
Glucose - Blood plasma

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Hyperglycemia is one of the classic symptoms of diabetes mellitus, the others being frequent and excessive thirst accompanied by frequent and excessive urination. But caution: A hyperglycemic condition without other classic symptoms is not dispositive of a diagnosis of diabetes mellitus, but hyperglycemia is also an independent medical condition with other causes.

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The most common cause of chronic non-diabetic hyperglycemia is obesity, the cure for which is proper diet and exercise to reduce the body's excess white fat reserves. The presence of excessive white fat reserves interferes with the body's ability to properly absorb and use insulin that is otherwise produced in sufficient quantity. Chronic non-diabetic hyperglycemia can produce some of the same complications as diabetic hyperglycemia; however, some of the complications of diabetes mellitus (especially juvenile-onset diabetes mellitus) can occur even if blood sugar levels are kept under control, because the disease operates beyond just the condition of hyperglycemia.

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Certain eating disorders can produce acute non-diabetic hyperglycemia, as in the binge phase of bulimia nervosa, when the subject consumes an incredible number of calories at once, frequently from foods that are high in both simple and complex carbohydrates - the body simply having a fierce craving for the energy that carbohydrates provide.

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By comparison to hyperglycemia as an independent non-diabetic condition, Diabetes mellitus, in its organic form, is an apparently auto-immune disease of unknown cause and unknown cure, in which the islets of Langerhans (a subordinate organ within the pancreas) fail to produce sufficient quantities of the hormone insulin or produce no insulin at all.

Related Topics:
Diabetes mellitus - Insulin

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Non-organic diabetes mellitus can be caused by accidental damage to the islets of Langerhans, or to the pancreas itself (the islets being subordinate, they cannot function without the pancreas); or by other diseases affecting the pancreas, such as pancreatic cancer and other causes of pancreatic failure (which, thus, causes the islets to fail); or by surgical removal of the pancreas (thus, of the islets), usually for one of the reasons noted above.

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Diabetes is Greek for "passing through" (i.e., frequent and excessive thirst and urination; and Mellitus is Latin for "honey-sweet." Historically, diabetes was a collective name for a number of diseases, each of which affected a different endocrine gland but all of which had in common the classic symptoms of frequent and excessive thirst accompanied by frequent and excessive urination. Except for diabetes mellitus and diabetes insipidus, the other diabetic diseases have been renamed.

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Normal thirst and urination amount to taking and passing about 2 quarts of liquid per day. People who drink a lot of caffeinated beverages may pass as much as 3 quarts per day and still be considered normal. People with untreated diabetes mellitus, however, might drink and pass 4 or 5 quarts of liquid per day, and can take and pass as much as 6 to 8 quarts. This is a natural response to the hyperglycemia caused by absence of the insulin hormone, as the body tries to flush out the excess glucose.

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Glucose levels are measured in either:

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1. Milligrams per deciliter (mg/dL), in the United States and other countries that do not yet use the International or "Metric" System of measurement; or,

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2. Millimoles per liter (mmol/L) in Canada and other nations that have been "Metrified."

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Comparatively:

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• 72 mg/dL = 4 mmol/L
• 90 mg/dL = 5 mmol/L
• 108 mg/dL = 6 mmol/L
• 126 mg/dL = 7 mmol/L

Glucose levels vary before and after meals, and at various times of day; and what is "normal" varies among medical professionals, and can vary between patients. (As in other facets of life, the "average patient" does not exist as a real person.) In general, the "home" normal range for most people is about 80 to 120 mg/dL or 4 to 7 mmol/L.

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A subject with a "home" range above 126 mg/dL or 7 mmol/L is generally held to have hyperglycemia, whereas a "home" range below 70 mg/dL or 4 mmol/L is considered hypoglycemic.

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Hyperglycemia: Common Symptoms of Diabetic Hyperglycemia ►