Symptoms
Some of the early symptoms include:
- Frequent urination: Do you need to go to the bathroom a lot more frequently, like waking up in the middle of the night several times? This is one of the most obvious symptoms, as your kidneys attempt to get rid of the excess of glucose in your blood.
- Extreme thirst: Linked to the previous one is an unexplainable need to drink. The body needs to replace the water you're using to get rid of the glucose.
- Increased fatigue: The lack of insulin will prevent your cells from using the glucose in your blood properly. That will make you feel unusually tired at all times, a bit like having flu.
- Unvoluntary weight loss: This is usually related to the diabetes type 1, which produces a sudden lack of insulin. As your cells won't be able to process glucose the right way, they'll attempt to obtain energy from your fat, or ultimately, from the muscle tissue.
Symptoms that might appear in a later stage include:
- Blurred vision: The presence of glucose in your eyes will hamper your ability to focus your vision properly. In some cases, untreated diabetes can lead to blindness.
- Slow-healing cuts or sores: The excess of glucose will negatively affect your immune system, slowing the healing process and increasing the probability of infections.
- Tingling, or numbness, in hands and feet: This is a symptom of nerve damage (neuropathy), caused by a consistently high level of sugar in blood. Usually, it improves after the level of glucose is back to normal.
If you've one or more of these symptoms, schedule an appointment with your doctor. Even if they don't seem to be a big deal at first, it is important to diagnose diabetes as soon as possible, as early control of it will increse the life quality of the affected.
