What is glycosuria?
Glycosuria is a condition interlinked with diabetes. It happens when you have glucose or sugar in your urine. Typically, the body eliminates sugar in the urine when the levels of blood glucose are too high. However, when glycosuria occurs, the kidneys are unable to take enough glucose out from the urine before it releases from the body.
How is glycosuria diagnosed? While having a small amount of glucose in the urine is considered normal, glycosuria is indicated when a urine sample shows 0.25 mg/ml or more of glucose. It is a result of hyperglycemia (high blood sugar levels), where the kidney filters malfunction and lead to glycosuria.
What are the symptoms of glycosuria?
Like other diabetes-related diseases, symptoms of glycosuria do not necessarily appear, thus, making people asymptomatic. This factor explains why testing and diagnosis play a vital role in identifying the existing condition. The following glycosuria symptoms include:
- Dehydration
- Extreme thirst
- Increased hunger
- Frequent urination
- Accidental urination
- Random weight loss
- Fatigue or tiredness
- Vision problems
- Slow-healing wounds or injuries
- Darkening of the skin
What causes glycosuria?
Diabetes is the leading cause of glycosuria. Since the condition is linked with blood sugar malfunction, diabetes has been deemed the culprit as to why glycosuria continues to exist in many people with varying blood glucose levels. Here’s why:
In people with type 2 diabetes, their body is unable to produce and use insulin properly. Specifically, the hormone insulin, produced in the pancreas, is incapable of performing its function of transporting blood sugar into the body cells properly. This is called insulin resistance. This leads to blood sugar remaining in the blood, which ultimately gets filtered by the kidneys, and causes blood sugar to get directly released from the body through urine instead of entering the cells for energy storage.
On the other hand, in people with type 1 diabetes, who have a diminished ability to produce insulin naturally, insulin is insufficient to balance the amount of blood sugar that the body takes. When there is excess blood glucose, it passes out through urine.
How to diagnose it?
There are a lot of ways to diagnose it; however, the most common and effective is urinalysis. Consider the process below:
- First, your attending doctor will ask you to urinate in a cup.
- Second, once the urine sample is available, a test strip will be used to dip into the urine.
- Third, a laboratory technician will test and determine if the presence of sugar in your urine suggests glycosuria.
If a positive result comes out, that means you have glycosuria. If it’s negative, you will not be diagnosed with the condition. However, your attending doctor will most likely advise you to take preventive measures like proper diabetes management to inhibit glycosuria from happening in the future.
Aside from testing for glycosuria, you may also be ordered for a blood sugar check. You will be tested to see if your blood sugar is at normal levels or if it’s varying, which may lead to diabetes complications. Consider the following ranges of blood sugar levels:
- Normal fasting blood sugar levels are less than 100 mg/dL
- Fasting prediabetes levels lie from 100 to 125 mg/dL
- Fasting with diabetes levels are more than 126 mg/dL
How is glycosuria treated?
If diabetes causes glycosuria, proper blood sugar management is necessary to treat the existing condition. The following list of actions will help you prevent and treat glycosuria:
- Have regular physical exercise. 30-minutes to 1-hour of exercise will help you keep your blood sugar levels normal.
- Observe a healthy meal plan. This involves having eating food rich in nutrients that help control and stabilize blood sugar levels. You also need to eat more vegetables, protein, whole grains, and fruits.
- Always take your medication. For people with type 1 diabetes, you need to administer your insulin shots regularly. For people with type 2 diabetes, you need to take your daily oral medications like Metformin (Glumetza).
- Keep track of your blood sugar levels daily.
