If neither you nor a loved one have already been diagnosed with the symptoms of diabetes then you are very lucky. Most of us only get here once we have already been diagnosed and think "Wow, I had that one, and that one........".
Hindsight is wonderful but foreknowledge can save so many problems.
Mind you, from personal experience, the ostrich tendency - bury your head in the sand and ignore what is happening - is alive and well in most of us.
Even when we know there is a family history of diabetes, when the scale starts to go around the dial again and we need a fire hose to get enough water to keep our thirst at bay we still ignore the obvious until something tips us over the edge and we land up at the doctor's, or in hospital really ill.
So please,
if you have any of the following diabetic symptoms, take them seriously.
They are the warning signs of diabetes and you need to ask your doctor to test for it.
The tests are not complicated. Frequently all that is needed is a simple urine test that can be done then and there in the surgery. If that is inconclusive then they may take a blood sample and send it to the lab for testing.
Being diagnosed as diabetic may seem scary, but believe me, the consequences of living with untreated diabetes are much, much worse!
Catching the condition early may mean much less aggressive treatment, delay or negation of diabetic complications :-
( Neuropathy -nerve damage, Nephropathy - kidney damage, Retinopathy- eye damage and heart problems)
and the possibility of halting the progression of the disease.
Besides, if you are diabetic and get treatment all those irritating symptoms that crept up on you and were making life hardly worth living will go away and you will be amazed at how fit and well you feel.
There are various types of diabetes which I have dealt with in depth on another page, (Types of Diabetes).
Briefly, Type 1 is an autoimmune disease that usually manifests in childhood while Type 2 tends to come on in adulthood, though it is now showing up in younger people as well. It is not an autoimmune disease but the result of insulin resistance.
The symptoms are very similar but Type 2 has a few extra, as you will see below.
Remember, you do not have to have ALL the symptoms to be diabetic, even a couple can be enough.
Type 1
- Increased thirst.
- Frequent urination.
- Fatigue. Feeling tired and weak all the time.
- Increased hunger, even after eating a good meal.
- Unexplained weight loss, despite eating well and still feeling hungry.
- Dry mouth.
- Blurred vision.
- Headaches.
- Loss of consciousness - rare but very serious.
Type 2
The same symptoms as above PLUS
- Slow healing cuts and sores.
- Frequent yeast infections - thrush.
- Itchy skin, especially around the vagina and groin area, that is not cured by thrush medication.
- Weight gain.
- Decreased vision.
- Impotency.
- Acanthosis nigricans - light-brown-to-black, velvety, rough areas or increased skin markings on the back and sides of the neck, armpits and in the groin.
Having read the symptoms and finding that some do apply to you there is a tendency in some people, of which I was one, to put them down to other factors.
For instance I was on anti-histamines for an allergy, so I put my increased thirst down to them.
And naturally as I was drinking more I was urinating more. Besides my parents always said that I was stinted on bladder size - they swore I knew the position of every toilet within a 300 mile radius of our home!
I was tired all the time, but I had changed jobs and was working permanent nights so what would you expect?
I had itchy skin but I had had eczema all my life, this was just it flaring up.
I needed stronger glasses, but then I was getting older and that again was natural.
See what I mean? All the signs were there but I ignored them. Don't do this!!
If the test comes back negative, what have you lost but a little time, urine or blood, and you will have gained immense peace of mind.
If the test does come back positive you at least know where you are and can take steps to minimise the advance of any diabetic complications that you may be developing!
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