7 ways high blood sugar levels affect your body

If you’re trying to manage diabetes, it can help to understand how the disease works.

When you eat, food is broken down by the body. Some of it is turned into sugar, also known as glucose. Glucose enters your blood and is moved into cells where it can be used as energy. If too much glucose builds up in the blood and it has problems getting into cells, diabetes can occur.

Diabetes develops because the body has trouble with insulin. Insulin is a chemical made by the pancreas that helps carry sugar from the blood into the body’s cells. If you’re not producing enough insulin or your body isn’t using it correctly, the amount of glucose in your blood will increase. This can cause damage throughout your body. 

To get your blood sugar to healthy levels, you might be advised to make lifestyle changes. These may include:

• Eating a healthy diet rich in fruits, vegetables, lean protein, and whole grains and low in salt, added sugars, and saturated fat 
• Getting regular exercise as you are able  
• Managing your weight, since being overweight is a main cause of insulin resistance
• Taking medication or insulin

You will also begin to regularly track your blood sugar.

Tracking your blood sugar levels regularly is important if you are taking insulin, trying to manage your blood sugar, or have been diagnosed with gestational diabetes (high blood sugar levels during pregnancy). There are many over-the-counter test strip kits, meters, and devices available for testing your blood sugar at home.

Here’s how to check your levels using test strips:

• Wash your hands.
• Insert a test strip in your meter.
• Get a sample of blood using your lancing (finger prick) device.
• Hold your test strip into the sample of blood and wait.

Download Sharecare for iOS or Android and use the blood glucose tracker to record your results, so you don’t have to remember your levels from day to day. By monitoring your blood sugar levels, you’ll also have a record of your progress to discuss with your healthcare provider at each appointment.

Over time, poor or uncontrolled blood sugar can damage nerves and blood vessels, increasing the risk for a range of health problems. These include nerve damage (called diabetic neuropathy), especially in the feet and legs. A complication that may result from diabetes, symptoms include unsteadiness when you stand or walk, as well as numbness that can limit your ability to feel hot, cold, and pain.

Along with reduced sensation when you walk, numbness can lead to a foot injury that may go unnoticed, such as a blister or cut. These injuries could become infected if they remain untreated.

Instead of loss of sensation, some people with diabetic neuropathy may feel tingly sensations, or experience shooting pain.

People with type 2 diabetes are more susceptible to bacterial infections. These include boils (a bump under the skin filled with pus), styes (a painful red bump on the eyelid), and infections of the hair follicles and skin around the nails. Skin problems can be an early indication of type 2 diabetes. If caught early enough, however, these issues can be treated and even prevented.

Diabetes can cause excessively dry skin that feels itchy. To avoid or control the itchiness, use gentle soap and shampoo, don’t bathe with overly hot water or for extended periods of time, and apply cream to soothe your skin. It’s also important to avoid scratching the itch. Scratching may cut the skin and increase the risk for infection.

Type 2 diabetes can lead to a narrowing and hardening of blood vessels in the feet and legs, causing poor blood flow. If your feet are cold, wear socks. Don’t use hot water or a heating pad to warm your feet if they’re numb because doing so may lead to burns. Poor circulation can also cause your skin to itch in the lower parts of your legs.

Damaged nerves can affect the sex organs and sexual response. Erectile dysfunction (difficulty having erections) may result when blood flow to the penis is disrupted and/or the nerves are damaged. High blood pressure, high cholesterol, and obesity may also contribute to sexual issues. 

Nerve damage may also lead to vaginal dryness, making sex painful. It can cause a loss of sensation in the vaginal area, as well, which can interfere with the ability to achieve orgasm.

People with type 2 diabetes are susceptible to fungal infections caused by Candida albicans, a common type of yeast. Symptoms typically include red rashes that occur in moist skin folds, which are often surrounded by blisters and scales. The armpits, groin, between fingers and toes, and corners of the mouth are common areas for this infection.

The vagus nerve is responsible for moving food through the digestive tract. When this nerve is damaged or not working, it can cause food to stay in the stomach, slowing or stopping it from moving into the intestines for further digestion. This is a condition called gastroparesis. It can lead blood sugar levels to become unstable, making diabetes more difficult to manage.