Diabetes Symptoms
Diabetes often goes undiagnosed because many diabetes symptoms seem so
harmless. Recent studies indicate that the early detection of diabetes
symptoms and diabetes treatment can decrease the chance of developing the
complications of diabetes.
Symptoms of Diabetes
According to the American Diabetes Association, the United States is home to over 20 million children and adults with diabetes. They estimate that about a third of them are unaware that they even have the disease. That's over 6 million undiagnosed cases of diabetes.
The symptoms of type 1 and type 2 diabetes vary in some ways and are similar in others. Gestational diabetes and pre-diabetes may differ from Type 1 and Type 2. Diagnosis is not always straightforward. What are the right tests that your primary care physician should be doing? What should you be looking for?
The trouble with diagnosing diabetes is that the symptoms often begin gradually. People with type 2 diabetes average four to seven years before they are diagnosed. Sometimes a doctor can make a diagnosis based on complications from diabetes rather than the diabetes symptoms themselves. For example, vision changes, sores that won’t heal, heart disease and numbness in the feet and legs often prompt a doctor to suspect diabetes.
Diabetes is a condition where insulin is not produced (or insulin is not recognized by the cells) and the body is unable to break down the glucose in the blood properly. The body’s response to excess glucose in the blood is to get rid of it through urination. Frequent urination with large volumes of urine is one of the classic symptoms of diabetes along with excessive thirst, hunger and weight loss. Despite an increased intake of water, dehydration can also occur.
When excess glucose builds up in the blood, the cells can become starved for energy because instead of the glucose traveling to the cells, they remain in the blood. Starving cells translates into a fatigued body as well as a hungry body.
Despite an increased appetite, weight loss occurs because the cells are not receiving the nutrition they require and the glucose, along with its calories, is being washed away with the urine rather than being absorbed by the body.
Other signs of diabetes can include blurry vision, dry mouth, dry or itchy skin, male impotence, vaginal yeast infections, unexplained aches and pains, urinary tract infections, sores that don’t heal very well, excessive infections and genital itching.
Over time, eyes, kidneys, nerves and the heart can become damaged due to high glucose levels in the blood.
Type 1 diabetes tends to come on rapidly with the classic symptoms of frequent urination, excessive thirst and fatigue while type 2 diabetes comes on more slowly, often over a course of years. This has prompted the medical community to recommend routine testing for people over 45 years old.
Risk assessments for diabetes can be found online to determine the risk for getting diabetes. Factors that are considered are age, weight, family members with diabetes and the birth size of babies born to women.
Whether symptoms are present or not, it doesn't hurt to pay a yearly visit to the doctor.
Type 1 Diabetes Symptoms
- Frequent urination
- Unusual thirst
- Extreme hunger
- Unusual weight loss
- Extreme fatigue and Irritability
Type 2 Diabetes Symptoms
- Any of the type 1 diabetes symptoms
- Frequent infections
- Blurred vision
- Cuts/bruises that are slow to heal
- Tingling/numbness in the hands/feet
- Recurring skin, gum, or bladder infections
Often people with type 2 diabetes have no diabetes symptoms
If you have one or more of these diabetes symptoms, see your doctor right away.
Type 1 Diabetes Causes
Causes
of diabetes are unknown at this point. Researchers can only speculate
as to what might contribute to the onslaught of diabetes. Type 1
diabetes is an autoimmune disease. The body’s immune system actually
begins attacking the pancreatic insulin cell produced. It is possible
that there is a genetic component to type 1 diabetes, although it is
more obvious in type 2 diabetes. Environmental factors such as
unavoidable viral infections may also contribute. Type 1 diabetes is
most common in people of Northern European descent, followed by African
Americans and then Hispanic Americans. It is relatively rare in those
of Asian descent.
Type 2 Diabetes Causes
Type 2 diabetes is where there is a strong link to genetics. If type 2 diabetes runs in your family, you stand a good chance of inheriting it, and so do your children, and so on. Researchers have discovered several genes associated with type 2 diabetes. There are also some clear risk factors for type 2 diabetes, such as obesity (or being overweight), high fat levels in the blood or a high-fat diet, high blood pressure, high alcohol intake, sedentary lifestyle, aging (after the age of 45) and ethnicity. Certain groups, such as African Americans, Hispanic Americans, Japanese Americans, and Native American have a greater risk of developing type 2 diabetes than non-Hispanic whites.
Type 1 Diabetes Symptoms
Diabetes symptoms of type 1 diabetes are usually identified in childhood or early adolescence. Symptoms are rather dramatic and can manifest themselves very suddenly. They might be identified via another infection (such as a urinary tract infection) or an injury. Any excess stress has the potential to cause diabetic ketoacidosis, which is a complication of type 1 diabetes. If diabetic ketoacidosis occurs, nausea, vomiting, dehydration and serious disturbances in the levels of potassium in the blood will follow suit. Ketoacidosis can lead to coma and death if not diagnosed and treated immediately.
Type 2 Diabetes Symptoms
Symptoms of type 2 diabetes are often more subtle and harder to diagnose. Often times these symptoms are associated with aging or obesity specifically. If you have type 2 diabetes, you may have it for many years before it is ever diagnosed. One of the side effects of type 2 diabetes is hyperglycemic hyperosmolar nonketotic syndrome (HHNS). If HHNS occurs, your blood sugar levels rise, an excess of sugar is passed into your urine, you become dehydrated, and it can lead to seizures, a coma, and eventual death. Other symptoms can include blindness, kidney failure, nerve damage and heart disease. Type 2 diabetes is often precipitated by stress and steroids.
Diabetes Symptoms
Fatigue is one of the primary symptoms of diabetes. The body stops being able to use glucose for fuel, and so it begins to use fat as a fuel source, which takes much more energy, thereby leaving the sufferer exhausted. Weight loss is another symptom, as diabetics cannot process many of the calories in the foods they eat. Dehydration is also a common symptom. Excessive thirst results from the body sending a signal to dilute blood from having too much sugar in it. Because there is excessive thirst, it leads to excessive urination (another way the body tries to get rid of the surplus of sugar.) There will also often be different infections, vision problems, and altered mental states.
Diabetes Risk Factors
Diabetes risk factors are the same risk factors for just about any other disease. Increasing age, obesity, and physical inactivity are all considered to be risk factors for diabetes. There are, however, other rarer causes of diabetes that have been documented , such as reactions to certain medicines, pregnancy (during which gestational diabetes can occur) or any illness or disease wherein the pancreas is damaged and its ability to create insulin is compromised in any way. As important as it is to understand risk factors with diabetes, it is just as important to understand what doesn't cause diabetes. For instance, eating sugary foods or even the "wrong" kinds of foods does not cause diabetes, however obesity is a factor. Stress itself is not a cause of diabetes, although it can be a trigger to the body turning on itself and it can make already existent symptoms worse.
Symptoms of Type 2 Diabetes
Type 2 diabetes can cause serious health complications. That's why is very important to know how to spot type 2 diabetes symptoms. Even pre-diabetes can increase the chance of heart disease just like type 1 or type 2 diabetes. Talk to your doctor about preventive measures you can take now to reduce the chance of type 2 diabetes and heart disease.
Contact your health care provider if you have any type 2 diabetes symptoms or if you have further questions about type 2 diabetes. It’s important to get diabetes testing and start a treatment plan early to prevent serious diabetes complications.
Type
2 diabetes is usually not diagnosed until health complications have
occurred. Most often, there are no diabetes symptoms or a very gradual
development of the above symptoms of type 2 diabetes. In fact, about a
third of all people who have type 2 diabetes don't know they have it.
Other symptoms of type 2 diabetes may include:
- Slow-healing sores or cuts
- Itching of the skin (usually around the vaginal or groin area)
- Frequent yeast infections
- Recent weight gain
- Velvety dark skin changes of the neck, armpit and groin, called acanthosis nigricans
- Numbness and tingling of the hands and feet
- Decreased vision
- Impotency
The symptoms of type 2 diabetes due to high blood sugar may include:
More Diabetes Symptoms
Look For These Signs and Symptoms of Diabetes:
Many of the signs of Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes are similar. In both, there is too much glucose in the blood and not enough in the cells of your body. High glucose levels in Type I are due to a lack of insulin because the insulin producing cells have been destroyed. Type 2 diabetes occurs when the body's cells become resistant to insulin that is being produced. Either way, your cells aren't getting the glucose that they need, and your body lets you know by giving you these signs and symptoms.
What is Type 1 Diabetes?
What is Type 2 Diabetes?
Risk Factors for Gestational Diabetes
Frequent trips to the bathroom:
Are you visiting the bathroom much more lately? Does it seem like you urinate all day long? Urination becomes more frequent when there is too much glucose in the blood. If insulin is nonexistent or ineffective, the kidneys can't filter glucose back to the blood. They become overwhelmed and try to draw extra water out of the blood to dilute the glucose. This keeps your bladder full and it keeps you running to the bathroom.
Unquenchable Thirst:
If it feels like you can't get enough water and you're drinking much more than usual, it could be a sign of diabetes, especially if it seems to go hand in hand with frequent urination. If your body is pulling extra water out of your blood and you're running to the bathroom more, you will become dehydrated and feel the need to drink more to replace the water that you are losing.
Losing Weight Without Trying:
This symptom is more noticeable with Type 1 diabetes. In Type 1, the pancreas stops making insulin, possibly due to a viral attack on pancreas cells or because an autoimmune response makes the body attack the insulin producing cells. The body desperately looks for an energy source because the cells aren't getting glucose. It starts to break down muscle tissue and fat for energy. Type 2 happens gradually with increasing insulin resistance so weight loss is not as noticeable.
Weakness and Fatigue:
It's that bad boy glucose again. Glucose from the food we eat travels into the bloodstream where insulin is supposed to help it transition into the cells of our body. The cells use it to produce the energy we need to live. When the insulin isn't there or if the cells don't react to it anymore, then the glucose stays outside the cells in the bloodstream. The cells become energy starved and you feel tired and run down.
Tingling or Numbness in Your Hands, Legs or Feet:
This symptom is called neuropathy. It occurs gradually over time as consistently high glucose in the blood damages the nervous system, particularly in the extremities. Type 2 diabetes is a gradual onset, and people are often not aware that they have it. Therefore, blood sugar might have been high for more than a few years before a diagnosis is made. Nerve damage can creep up without our knowledge. Neuropathy can very often improve when tighter blood glucose control is achieved.
Other Diabetes Signs and Diabetes Symptoms That Can Occur:
Blurred vision, skin that is dry or itchy, frequent infections or cuts and bruises that take a long time to heal are also signs that something is amiss. Again, when these signs are associated with diabetes, they are the result of high glucose levels in the body. If you notice any of the above signs, schedule an appointment with your doctor. He or she will be able to tell you if you have reason to be concerned about a diagnosis of diabetes.
Call Your Doctor About Diabetes If:
You feel nauseated, weak, and excessively thirsty; are urinating very frequently; have abdominal pain; or are breathing more deeply and rapidly than normal — perhaps with sweet breath that smells like nail polish remover. You may need immediate medical attention for ketoacidosis — a potentially deadly complication of type 1 diabetes.
You are having weakness or fainting spells; are experiencing a rapid heartbeat, trembling, and excessive sweating; and feel irritable, hungry, or suddenly drowsy. You could be developing hypoglycemia — low blood sugar that can occur with diabetes treatment. You may need to eat or drink a carbohydrate snack quickly to avoid more serious complications.
