However, the majority
of individuals with diabetes are not aware they have the condition due to the
fact that the symptoms, on their own, seem more like annoyances then signs of a
dangerous condition.
Your best hope is early diagnoses if you want to avoid
serious diabetes complications—such as kidney disease, vision problems, and
thyroid issues. Here are the common early warning signs of type 2 diabetes…
If you have Type I or Type II diabetes, you’re
well aware that care and management of your chronic disease is a daily
task.
1. Increased Urination
Typically,
diabetes sufferers claim they had an overwhelming urge to urinate, and when
they do urinate the amount is quite significant. This increased urination is
what often spurs a doctor’s visit and a type II diabetes diagnoses. This
increased urination will often result in severe dehydration. So it’s vital to
keep your fluid levels high. If the body becomes dehydrated, immune function
decreases, leaving you susceptible to all sorts of illnesses and even damaged
kidney function.
Polyuria is how doctors refer to increased
urination. It characterizes a condition that causes the output of urine to
increase more than usual and passes abnormally large amounts of urine
(typically more than 3 litres per day compared to the average 1 to 2 litres per
day) each time you go to the bathroom. Polyuria is a common symptoms of type II
diabetes (and also type I diabetes).
2. Numbness
Numbness that starts
as a tingling in the hands, fingers, legs, and feet is often an early warning
sign of diabetes. This occurs due to an increase in blood sugar levels, causing
blood vessel restriction to the extremities, and eventually damage to nerve
fibers. For many, this numbness is often the first sign of any health issues.
Diabetes numbness
presents in a prickly, tingling, or pain in the hands and feet that starts out
minor at first, but as the nerve damage progresses over times, and sometimes
years, mild tingling can become chronic and quite painful, involving motor
function, sensory, autonomic and involuntary nervous system response with
a sudden and painful and numbness in the fingers, toes, feet, hands, legs, and
arms, sometimes accompanied by muscle wasting of the hands and feet.
3. Weight Loss
Rapid and
unexplained weight loss is common to unmediated type 2 diabetes because the
body can’t absorb glucose (sugars) properly. This occurs with unmanaged type I
diabetes in particular. However, patients undiagnosed with type II diabetes who
are getting insufficient insulin, which transports glucose from the blood into
the body’s cells to use as energy, can also experience considerable and sudden
weight loss with no obvious cause (no exercise or dietary changes).
When the body is unable to get adequate
insulin, it will begin to burn off fat and muscle as a source of energy.
Obviously, this will considerable eat into and reduce overall body weight. If
you have suddenly and unintentionally shed between 5 and 10-pounds of body
weight in less than 6-months, talk to your doctor immediately. Your doctor can
conduct a blood test to determined undiagnosed diabetes and begin treatment
immediately to manage insulin levels.
4. Increase in
Appetite
With sudden weight
loss often comes an increase in appetite, which might make you feel fortunate
at first because you feel like you can eat anything you want without
consequences. However, your body is in a diabetic state, robbing your cells of
essential energy, which explains the increased hunger that often isn’t satiated
for long after eating a meal.
Increased appetite,
when you consume more calories than your body requires for energy expenditure
may lead to weight gain. Although, it’s normal to have an increased appetite
after physical exertion, but this is generally alleviated after eating.
However, a significantly increased appetite over a prolonged period could be a
symptom of a serious illness, such as diabetes or hyperthyroidism. If you are
experiencing excessive hunger that is ongoing, make an appointment to see your
doctor.
5. Blurry Vision
You may already
know that diabetes can lead to vision issues and even blindness if left
untreated. It’s true; blurred vision is a common cue of type 2 diabetes. This
occurs as glucose levels spike, damaging blood vessels and restricting fluid to
the eyes. If a diabetes diagnoses isn’t made, the patient could suffer complete
vision loss. According to the American Diabetes Association, diabetes patients a
higher risk of minor eye disorders and blindness vs. those without the disease.
This is why regular optometrist exams are important.
Diabetes patients are also have a 40-percent
higher risk of developing glaucoma (a condition that causes pressure in the eye
and retina nerve damage) compared to non-diabetic individuals. Statistics from
the American Diabetes Association claim that the longer a patient has diabetes,
the higher the glaucoma risk. Likewise, cataracts (the clouding over of
the eye’s lens) risk is 60-percent higher in patients with diabetes.
6. Unexplained Fatigue
Fatigue is one
of the most prevalent and frustrating diabetes symptoms. Sudden fatigue
can disrupt every aspect of your life–socially, career-wise, your family life,
and even bobbies that you were once passionate about may suddenly be ignored
because you just don’t have adequate energy. Diabetes related exhaustion occurs
due to insufficient insulin levels. We’ve already established that insulin
resistance leads to an inability to absorb essential energy (sugars). When this
occurs, energy levels suffer, causing extreme mental and physical fatigue.
When blood glucose is high, as it is with
type II diabetes, your blood can become thick and “sludgy,” resulting in
decreased circulation that prevents nutrient and oxygen transportation to
cells. This can also occur when blood sugars are low and fuel is adequate to
energize the body. Many people with type II diabetes also suffer from extreme
exhaustion due to inflammation of the blood vessels.
7. Itchy, Dry Skin
Type II diabetes
can affect every part of the body, including the skin. When diabetes affects
blood circulation, our sweat glands will often become dysfunctional, resulting
in dehydrated, flaky, itchy, and irritated skin. This is why skin issues are
often the first sign of a problem and the first indication of diabetes.
Luckily, management of diabetes means that most skin conditions can be
prevented and cleared up once caught early.
Undiagnosed diabetes patients are more prone
to several skin ailments, including diabetic dermopathy, fungal infections,
diabetic blisters, bacterial infections, dry and itchy skin due to poor
circulation around the lower parts of the legs, necrobiosis lipoidica
diabeticorum, boils, carbuncles, eruptive xanthomatosis, infections around the
nails.
8. Unquenchable Thirst
We’ve already
established the type II diabetes can cause increased urination, both in
frequency and amount of urine purged from the body with each bathroom break.
Increased urge to urinate will leave the body in a state of rapid dehydration.
The body will demand that lost liquid be replenished, and an unquenchable thirst
will often result as a direct effect of lost body fluids.
However, diabetics can
also become extremely thirsty for other reasons. For instance, high blood sugar
levels can cause dry mouth, low hydration, and increased thirst in those
with undiagnosed diabetes. Once blood sugar becomes managed, thirst will
generally return to normal. A condition known as diabetes insipid us, which
impacts the kidneys via hormones, can also cause a increased urination, large
quantities of urine, dehydration, and increased thirst.
9. Slow Healing Cuts
or Bruises
You might notice that
if you suffer a cut or bruise, healing time will take much longer than it
normally does. Wounds, burns, abrasions, or sores that take more than a few
weeks to heal, are prone to infection and often require medical treatment can
indicate an underlying health issue, such as undiagnosed diabetes. This
slow healing is due to high glucose levels weakening the immune system and
slowing the rate of healing.
This is due to high
blood glucose levels circulating in the bloodstream and gradually damaging the
nerves. Neuropathy can lead to poor blood circulation over time, impeding the
transport of fresh blood for skin healing. In the case of burns, sores, and
wounds that go unhealed for long durations, fungal, bacterial, and gangrene
infections can develop.
10. Irritated Gums
Oftentimes, type 2
diabetes sufferers notice that their gums become red, swollen, and irritated.
They might also literally see the gums receding from the teeth and experience
gum infections, and eventually, gum disease as result. According to researchers
at Marquette University, periodontal disease (gym disease) and diabetes can
actually feed off one another, causing more severe forms of each condition.
This means that gum disease contributes to diabetes and vice versa.
Research from the
American Academy of Periodontology (AAP), unmanaged diabetes patients are
particularly at risk for periodontal disease. The reasoning is that both gum
disease and diabetes encourage inflammation throughout the entire body, and if
you consider inflammation of essential body functions, like blood vessels,
inflammation can result in all sorts of issues, including stroke, kidney
disease, heart disease, and more.
Source: http://www.activebeat.com/
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