The word hyperglycemia is made up of the following word roots: Hyper- meaning "too much", " glycos " meaning "sugar", and "emia" meaning "in the blood". So hyperglycemia means too much sugar in the blood. This usually means that this person with hyperglycemia has diabetes or will soon be diabetic. The human body converts all sugars to another sugar called glucose.

          Since the hormone insulin reduces blood sugar, with hyperglycemia, there is either not enough insulin or the person with hyperglycemia's insulin does not work. The body will try to get rid of the excess glucose by throwing it out in the hyperglycemia patient's urine. Ancient physicians used to taste a patient's urine to see if it was sweet when they suspected that their patient had diabetes. The word diabetes comes from the Greek "dia-" meaning "though or across" and "bainein" meaning "to go or pass through". So a patient with hyperglycemia and diabetes has sugar passing through his urine.

          If a patient has chronic hyperglycemia, the glucose in the blood will cause lots of severe damage over time. This includes: decreased vision or even blindness, nerve and sensation damage in the arms and legs, poor circulation, kidney damage, and more.     

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