Glycosuria happens when you pass blood sugar (blood glucose) into your urine.

Normally, your kidneys absorb blood sugar back into your blood vessels from any liquid that passes through them. With glycosuria, your kidneys may not take enough blood sugar out of your urine before it passes out of your body.

This often happens because you have an abnormally high level of glucose in your blood (hyperglycemia). Sometimes, glycosuria can develop even if you have normal or low blood sugar levels. In these situations, it’s known as renal glycosuria.

Read on to find out how to recognize glycosuria, how it’s diagnosed, and more.

Glycosuria is typically caused by an underlying condition that affects your blood sugar level, such as diabetes. Type 2 diabetes is the most common cause of glycosuria.

Glycosuria and diabetes mellitus

If you havetype 2 diabetes, your body’s insulin doesn’t work properly. In some cases, insulin can’t transport blood sugar into your body’s cells effectively. This can cause blood sugar to be passed out in your urine instead.

In type 1 diabetes, your body doesn’t make enough insulin to balance your blood sugar levels. Any excess blood sugar is passed out through your urine.

Glycosuria in pregnancy

Glycosuria can also happen if you developgestational diabetesduring pregnancy. This type of diabetes happens when there is inadequate insulin production and background insulin resistance. It can cause your blood sugar to become abnormally high.

Renal glycosuria

Renal glycosuria is a much rarer form of glycosuria. This happens when your kidney’s renal tubules — the parts of the kidneys that act as filters in your urinary system — don’t filter blood sugar out of your urine properly. This condition is often caused by a mutation in a specific gene.

Unlike glycosuria that happens because of type 2 diabetes, renal glycosuria isn’t necessarily caused by your overall health or lifestyle choices.

Fanconi syndrome

Fanconi syndromerefers to a condition where a person’s kidneys cannot absorb electrolytes and other substances due to a defect in the filtering units (called nephrons) of the organ. This condition can be both acquired or genetic.

Glycosuria can be caused by Fanconi syndrome, due to glucose and amino acids not being able to be absorbed properly as a result of the defected filtering units. This leads to unbalanced levels of glucose in the body, causing glycosuria.

没有任何明显的症状lycosuria. In fact, many people experience glycosuria for years and never notice symptoms.

But if left untreated, glycosuria can cause you to:

  • feel extremely thirsty or dehydrated
  • feel extremely hungry
  • urinate more than usual
  • urinate accidentally

If your glycosuria is a sign of type 2 diabetes, you may also experience:

  • unexplained weight loss
  • fatigue
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  • slow-healing cuts, sores, or other injuries
  • skin darkening in the folds of your neck, armpits, or other areas

Glycosuria resulting fromgestational diabetestypically doesn’t cause additional symptoms.

If you begin experiencing unusual symptoms, see your doctor.

Glycosuria can be diagnosed in a number of ways, buturinalysisis the most common approach.

For this test, your doctor will ask you to urinate in a cup. In a lab or at a clinic, a test strip will be dipped into the urine. The lab technician will be able to determine whether your urine glucose levels suggest glycosuria.

Your doctor may also order blood tests to check your blood sugar. Normal fasting blood sugar levels is < 100 milligrams per deciliter (mg/dL). Fasting prediabetes levels are typically between 100-125 mg/dL. Fasting with diabetes levels are usually > 126 mg/dL. Within 2 hours after food, blood sugar can be any level.

If your blood sugar levels are high and diabetes hasn’t been diagnosed previously, your doctor will likely perform aglycated hemoglobin (A1C) test. This blood test provides information about your blood sugar levels for the past few months.

Glycosuria isn’t a cause for concern on its own. No treatment is needed if there isn’t an underlying condition causing you to pass high amounts of glucose in your urine.

If a condition like diabetes is causing your glycosuria, your doctor will work with you to develop a treatment plan.

Possible treatment and management options include:

  • Getting at least 30 minutes of physical activity every day.
  • Developing a diet planthat provides you with enough nutrients while also decreasing sugar or fat intake. This may mean eating more whole grains, vegetables, and fruits.
  • Taking medications to help your body use insulin more effectively. These can includemetformin(Glumetza), which allows your body to respond better to insulin, or sulfonylureas (Glyburid), which helps your body make more insulin.
  • Keeping track of your blood sugar levels so that you can better understand how your body reacts to certain foods, activities, or therapies.

Although type 2 diabetes is a lifelong condition, gestational diabetes typically resolves after childbirth. But developing it raises your risk of type 2 diabetes later in life.

The outlook for glycosuria without an associated condition is good. If you have renal glycosuria, you may develop diabetes if you don’t follow a treatment plan to help manage your kidneys’ inability to properly filter glucose.

If your glycosuria is caused by diabetes, your outlook improves if you maintain a consistent treatment or management plan.Eating well, exercising every day, and taking any medications that your doctor prescribes can keep you from experiencing additional complications.

You can’t prevent genetic conditions like renal glycosuria. But you can prevent glycosuria — and conditions like diabetes — through certain lifestyle choices.