More than 34 million Americans have diabetes, and approximately 90-95% of them have type 2 diabetes. Type 2 diabetes means a person has high blood sugar levels. If you have this condition and don’t know it, you could be risking severe complications.
Recognizing the warning signs of diabetes is important so that you can get the treatment you need. Here are 7 early signs of diabetes:
1. Frequent Urination
A person with diabetes will have high blood sugar. Because of this, the kidneys will try to remove excess sugar out of your blood. When the kidneys work to filter out the sugar, you may need to urinate more frequently.
In particular, you may have to urinate more at night.
2. Constant Hunger
A diabetic person has a hard time getting enough energy from the food they consume. Normally, the digestive system breaks down the food eaten into glucose, a simple sugar that the body uses for energy. A person with diabetes won’t produce enough glucose.
Not enough of the glucose gets moved into the bloodstream. As an effect of this, a person with type 2 diabetes constantly feels hungry. It doesn’t matter how much or how long ago they ate.
3. Fatigue
Energy levels are impacted by type 2 diabetes causing a person who has it to feel tired very often. The little amount of glucose that moves into the body’s cells makes a diabetic tired.
4. Blurry Vision
Another one of the early symptoms of diabetes is blurry vision. If there is excess sugar in the bloodstream, damage could be done to the blood vessels in the eyes.
Blurred vision may happen in one or both eyes. It can also come and go at random. The damage to the blood vessels in the eyes can become so severe that permanent vision loss is possible if diabetes goes on without treatment.
5. Tingling, Numbness, or Pain
If you are experiencing tingling, numbness, or pain in your hands or feet, you could have type 2 diabetes. Diabetes symptoms can come and go. If you experience a tingling sensation that goes away, it still could be cause for concern.
High blood sugar levels will affect your blood circulation causing damage to your body’s nerves. This often leads to pain or a tingling sensation in the hands and feet. This condition is called neuropathy.
Neuropathy can get worse as time goes on, leading to more severe complications. This is why is it important to get treated for diabetes right away.
6. Yeast Infections
The excess sugar in the blood and urine is food for yeast. This can cause a yeast infection on the body. Normally, you will find these infections on warm and moist spots of the skin.
The most common places to have a yeast infection are the mouth, armpits, and genital areas. Itching is most likely to occur from this type of infection, but you also may experience redness, soreness, and burning.
7. Dark Skin Patches
Dark skin patches can form on the neck, groin, or armpit. This can signify you are at a higher risk of diabetes. The patches may feel soft to the touch.
The skin condition that includes dark skin patches is called acanthosis nigricans. Having this condition makes you more likely to have diabetes.
Early Diagnosis Importance
It is important to recognize diabetes signs as soon as possible. The sooner you get treatment, the easier it is to start managing diabetes.
Appropriate treatment, lifestyle changes, and managing blood sugar levels can reduce the risk of any complications that come with having diabetes. These things can also improve the quality of life.
If treatment is not done, high blood sugar can lead to worse complications. Some complications may even be life-threatening. These complications include:
- Heart disease
- Stroke
- Nerve damage
- Foot problems
- Kidney disease
- Eye disease
- Permanent vision loss
- Sexual problems
If blood sugar levels remain high, the risk of having worse health problems increase. Controlling blood sugar levels through treatment can stop these complications from occurring.
Type 1 vs Type 2 Diabetes
Type 1 and 2 diabetes are both chronic diseases that affect blood sugar and glucose regulating. Glucose can only enter your body with insulin.
Having type 1 diabetes means you don’t produce insulin. Type 2 diabetics don’t respond to insulin as they should. Later in life, they may not make enough insulin.
The signs of diabetes are similar between the two types but they have some differences. Commonly, a person with type 1 diabetes may experience mood changes and irritability.
Although most of the diabetes symptoms are similar, they come in different ways. Type 2 diabetics may not have symptoms for years because they develop slowly over time. A type 2 diabetic may have no symptoms and only know they have this condition when complications develop.
In contrast, type 1 diabetes symptoms occur quickly. It usually only takes several weeks and develops more in childhood or adolescence. This does not make it impossible to get type 1 diabetes later in life.
Type 1 diabetes is caused by the immune system mistaking the body’s healthy cells for foreign invaders. This makes the immune system attack insulin-producing cells.
It is unknown why people with type 2 diabetes produce insulin, but cannot use it effectively. It is possibly due to the lifestyle of the individuals.
Get Treatment Right Away
If you have any of the symptoms and believe you may have diabetes, see your primary care doctor as soon as possible. It’s important to get diagnosed so that you can get treatment right away. Diabetes treatment could prevent severe health problems or even death.
If you like what you’ve read, keep coming back for more articles like this!
