Page "Hyperglycemia" Paragraph 41

In diabetes mellitus, hyperglycemia is usually caused by low insulin levels ( Diabetes mellitus type 1 ) and / or by resistance to insulin at the cellular level ( Diabetes mellitus type 2 ), depending on the type and state of the disease.

Low insulin levels and / or insulin resistance prevent the body from converting glucose into glycogen ( a starch-like source of energy stored mostly in the liver ), which in turn makes it difficult or impossible to remove excess glucose from the blood.

With normal glucose levels, the total amount of glucose in the blood at any given moment is only enough to provide energy to the body for 20-30 minutes, and so glucose levels must be precisely maintained by the body's internal control mechanisms.

When the mechanisms fail in a way that allows glucose to rise to abnormal levels, hyperglycemia is the result.