Top 10 Signs of High Blood Sugar & Diabetes!

This is Dr. Tom Biernacki And today I'm going over the top ten signs. Your blood sugar is critical. We're starting now. The crazy thing about high blood sugar and diabetes is it's estimated 80% of people don't even know that they're diabetics. Diabetes is shooting sky high in the air. It's going up exponentially. We have more high fructose corn sirup in our diets. We have more added sugars, more grains, more flour, more high glycemic index foods. So it's critical to know and look at some of these signs we've gone over guides the skin signs of diabetes. And now it's the signs of critical high diabetes, blood sugar. We're going to go over understanding the warning signs of dangerously high blood sugar levels. And this is crucial for managing your diabetes. And it's very important. If you have any of these signs, consider getting checked out for diabetes. The single best thing I can do with this video is get you to go get evaluated. A simple blood test and evaluation could tell you. So here's our countdown, starting from ten to number one. Number ten, nausea and vomiting. I had a patient who was actually in a jail and a prisoner, and his blood sugar was sky high about ten, 20 times higher than you would normally want it. And he had nausea, vomiting. And when we checked his blood sugar in the E.R., his blood sugar was extremely high. This happens because the body tries to get rid of the excess blood sugar and glucose in the urine, which can lead to dehydration, the dehydration and imbalance of electrolytes can then trigger nausea and vomiting. Additionally, high blood sugar can cause something called ketoacidosis, especially in type one diabetes, where the body starts breaking down fat, releasing ketones into the blood. The accumulation of these ketones can cause nausea, vomiting and even more serious symptoms if not treated promptly. Number nine Dry mouth and dry skin. This is extremely common and it doesn't even have to be extremely high. But if your mouth is always dry and your skin is flaky and itchy, this is much more common in people with diabetes and high blood sugar, high blood sugar is lead to frequent urination. This dehydrates you in turn. This results in dry mouth and dry skin. This can affect the sweat glands leading to dry skin as well as a diabetic, It's important to stay well hydrated and use moisturizers for your skin until you can get your blood sugars down. Number eight, Fruity smelling breath. This is a unique one to diabetes, but fruity smelling breath in diabetes is actually a sign of ketoacidosis. This is a more serious complication in type one diabetes, but also in more severe types of type two diabetes. This occurs when the body starts to break down fats for energy due to lack of insulin, and this leads to the production of ketones, high levels of ketones in the blood. You can actually smell it in the breath. So sometimes on ambulances, find someone who they think is drunk. It's really a ketoacidosis episode. This can lead to diabetic ketoacidosis and this is a medical emergency that requires emergency help. Number seven ketones in the urine. Ketones in the urine signal ineffective blood sugar management, particularly in diabetics, high ketone levels in the urine, is a serious condition. It's important to stay well-hydrated so that you prevent this ketone buildup in your blood. Number six, shortness of breath. Shortness of breath can indicate dangerously high blood sugar levels, high ketone levels from insufficient insulin, lead to an acid base imbalance causing respiratory symptoms. Monitoring your blood sugar levels can prevent being out of breath, and it's important to get that hypoglycemia down for proper breathing. So if you're out of breath, consider high blood sugar levels. Number five, confusion and difficulty concentrating. Do you feel like your brain's slowing down? If you have difficulty concentrating, this can be an indicator of high blood sugar levels. Hypoglycemia can also make your brain essentially undernourished, leading to cognitive challenges and memory issues. But overly high blood sugar can do the same thing. Number four Blurred vision. Blurred vision can be a distressing sign of high blood sugar, and this eventually can become permanent in conditions like diabetic retinopathy. So that means you're not getting enough blood flow to your retina because the blood sugar is just too thick and your blood is almost like molasses. It's not exactly like that, but that's how I think about it and explain it to people. So it's very important before these changes become permanent. Number three, drowsiness and severe fatigue. If you're always tired, if you're always drowsy, this could be because high blood sugar affects energy metabolism. It's almost a paradox. Higher blood sugar actually makes you more tired. The myth out there is that when you feed kids sugar, that they have more energy. But this isn't actually true In the real world. That kind of stuff is a myth. Kids are just energetic in general. Number two, excessive thirst and frequent urination, especially at nighttime. Are you always getting up to go pee? Are you always thirsty for water? And no matter how much you drink, you're still dehydrated. You still have a dry mouth, dry skin. When blood sugar builds up, your body tries to get rid of it, and you're peeing it out. So that's something to become concerned about. And number one, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum. This is actually counter intuitive as well, but rapid weight loss. A lot of my patients who are type one diabetics are actually extremely thin. Rapid weight loss does occur with very high blood sugar because your body cannot access that energy and starts eventually cannibalizing itself. This can indicate critically high blood sugar levels. It's counterintuitive because 90% of people have type two diabetes and they're usually larger. That's why they are overworking their body. If you can get that weight down as a type two diabetic, 90% of the time, that can get you in great shape. But this is more for type one diabetic or a severe blood sugar episode where you start losing a lot of weight. That's why it's counterintuitive. And the biggest thing for me, I see patients all the time when they have very high blood sugar, they have terrible blood flow, they have kidney damage. Eventually, as you keep these high blood sugar levels going, you damage your eyes, you damage your kidneys, you damage your feet, you damage your vascular system permanently. So it's very important you diagnose your diabetes. It's estimated that potentially 80% of the prediabetes and diabetes around the world are not even diagnosed. If this list helped, check out my guide to the 25 skin conditions and symptoms that might indicate your diabetic or the nighttime symptoms. Check those out below.