About Your Diagnosis: Understanding Your Condition

Diabetes is a condition where your body can’t use food as it should. Normally, your body breaks down food into sugar (glucose) and moves it into your blood stream. Insulin, a hormone your pancreas produces, helps get the glucose from the blood into the cells to be used for energy. In people with diabetes, the pancreas doesn’t make insulin, or it makes an insufficient amount of insulin. Without sufficient insulin, blood glucose goes up.

Diabetes is defined as:

• A fasting glucose of 126 mg/dL or more.

• Symptoms of hyperglycemia (increased thirst, increased urination and unexplained weight loss) and a blood glucose level of greater than (or equal to) 200 mg/dL at any time of the day.

• Blood glucose of greater than (or equal to) 200 mg/dL after an oral glucose tolerance test.

Note: Diabetes must be diagnosed by a health care provider.

In the short term, high blood sugar can cause excessive urination and thirst, changes in vision, and increased likelihood of bacterial or fungal infections. High blood sugars over long periods can cause damage to important body parts such as your eyes, kidneys, heart, skin, and nerves.