High Glucose in Urine: Glycosuria

High blood sugar means that your are on your way to diabetes or may already have it. However, the condition can be reversed. The earlier you take action the greater the chance to get back to healthy blood sugar levels.

Read about reversing high blood sugar safely   >>>

The condition when sugar levels in the urine are higher than normal is called Glycosuria. The sugars include not just glucose but also fructose, lactose or galactose.

Your blood is in constant circulation and is constantly being cleaned by kidneys, the organs that remove waste and toxines from the blood stream and so clear the blood. That waste dissolved in water is then collected in the bladder as urine and then disposed. In the process, the sugar found in your blood is filtered by kidneys but then is reabsorbed to the blood stream. However, a small amount of sugar always 'sneaks' into urine in the process and that amount is different in different people, depending on their genes and health condition.

Does glycosuria mean that I have hyperglycemia?

In many cases, it does. In case of elevated blood glucose kindeys try to rid off excess sugar with urine because the consequences of hyperglycaemia include nerve and organ damage, lack of energy and poor life qualuty. However, sometimes it points to impaired kidney function when kidneys aren't able to filter the blood properly and/or reabsorb sugar.

Nomally, a small amount of sugar is present in the urine. However, high urine glucose may be a sign of serious health conditions:

  • Hyperglycaemia, the most common cause.

  • Kindey damage, disorders or malfunctions, often referred to with a generalized term fanconi syndrome. The syndrom includes kidney impairment caused by heavy metal exposure, lack of vitamin D, use of drug or kibney transplantation, dent disease, cystinosis, wilson disease, lowe syndrome.

  • Some inherited genetic conditions, like renal glycosuria. The said gene modification affects kidneys' proximal tubule preventing glucose reabsorbtion. A a result, kindeys wash the sugar out of the body even with normal sugar levels. People with this condition only find out that they have glycosuria after doing an urine test, while their blood tests are normal and no other syptoms are present. This condition does not require any treatment and it's a relatively rate cause of elevated urine sugar.

  • Gestational diabetes during pregnancy

Both pre-diabets (or diabetes) and renal glycosuria may reveal themselves as alimentary glycosuria. This is the condition when urine sugar raises in response to meals rich in carbohydrates. It may be a temporary state in healthy people that goes away as blood sugar normalizes after the meal. If it does not, extra tests are required to confirm or eliminate diabetes or renal glycosuria.

What is High Urine Sugar Level?

Urine sugar levels are considered elevated if random urine sugar test shows more than 0.25mg/ml,

Glycosuria Symptoms

This condition may cause no symptoms for years. In the end, the symptoms depend on the underlying condition causing glycosuria. However, most common symptoms developed over time are:

  • frequent urination
  • thirst or dehydration
  • fatigue
  • slow healing wounds
  • impaired vision
  • weight loss

How is Glycosuria Treated

The treatement depends of the cause of the condition. In most cases, except for renal glycosuria, it is the cause that is treated, due to which urine sugar then normalizes.

High blood sugar means that your are on your way to diabetes or may already have it. However, the condition can be reversed. The earlier you take action the greater the chance to get back to healthy blood sugar levels.

Read about reversing high blood sugar safely   >>>