What's glycogen storage illness? Glycogen storage diseases (GSDs) are a bunch of rare conditions by which your body can’t use or store glycogen properly. They’re forms of inherited (passed from mother or father to baby) metabolic disorders. Advertising on our site helps support our mission. We don't endorse non-Cleveland Clinic products or services. Glycogen is the saved form of glucose (sugar). Glucose is your body’s foremost supply of vitality. It comes from carbohydrates (a macronutrient) in sure foods and fluids you eat. When your body doesn’t instantly need glucose for vitality, it shops glucose primarily in your skeletal muscles and liver as glycogen for later use. Your body creates glycogen from glucose via a process known as glycogenesis. When your body needs further fuel, it breaks down glycogen to be used by a process referred to as glycogenolysis. Several enzymes are responsible for these two processes. Glycogen storage diseases occur when you don’t have one or more of these enzymes. Your body can’t use stored glycogen for healthy flow blood support power or maintain steady Healthy Flow Blood glucose levels. This can cause several issues, together with frequent symptomatic low Healthy Flow Blood sugar (hypoglycemia), liver harm and muscle weakness. Researchers know extra about some types than others. GSD largely impacts your liver or muscles. Some types trigger issues in different areas of your body, as properly. For each kind of GSD, there’s a lack (deficiency) of a certain enzyme concerned in glycogen storage or breakdown. Healthcare suppliers could refer to every sort based mostly on the specific enzyme that’s missing or the scientist who discovered that type of GSD. Glycogen storage illness is rare. GSD type I (von Gierke disease), the most typical type, occurs in approximately 1 in 100,000 births.