Diabetes

People without diabetes have normal blood glucose levels

If you don’t have diabetes, your food is digested in your stomach and changed into glucose (a kind of sugar). The glucose travels in your bloodstream to your body cells. Insulin produced by your pancreas allows the glucose to enter your body cells and gives them energy.

People with diabetes have blood glucose levels that are too high

Your pancreas is not making enough insulin, or the insulin it makes does not work well. Either way, without insulin your cells can’t get the glucose they need. Instead, the glucose builds up in your bloodstream, so the cells 'starve' while the glucose level in the blood rises.

When your blood glucose level gets very high, your body gets rid of the glucose and calories through your urine. As a result, you may have one or more of the following signs:

Thirst


Urinating more than usual


Feeling very hungry


Losing weight without trying


Feeling more tired than usual


Sores that heal slowly


Dry, itchy skin


Losing feeling in your feet, tingling in hands and feet


Sexual dysfunction


Blurry eyesight