Symtoms
of adult diabetes include:
- Excessive Thirst and Urination.
- Loss of Fluids.
- Severe Hunger
- Weight Loss
- Fatigue
- Changes in Vision
- Infections
- Nerve Pain.
Excessive
Thirst and Urination.
Excessive thirst (polydipsia) and frequent urination (polyuria) are the classical symptoms of diabetes. High levels of blood sugar make your blood thick and sticky and the body stimulates thirst to add fluids to dilute sugar in the blood.
When you
drink plenty of water to quench thirst, the kidneys drain out excess water in
the form of urine and protect the system of your body from being overloaded
with fluid. But frequent urination leads to water loss in the body, which in
diabetes causes sugar to concentrate again in the blood.
This
process repeats the abnormal cycle of thirst and urination. These symptoms are
more prominent in type 1 than type 2 diabetes and may often be absent in people
with type 2 diabetes.
Loss of
Fluids.
Excessive urination results in severe loss of fluids, a condition that leads to dehydration or water loss in the body.
The dehydration can cause various medical conditions, including general weakness and the more serious condition in which the blood acids become very high (ketoacidosis), especially in people with type 1 diabetes. Severe loss of water can lead to coma and even death.
Severe
Hunger.
When your blood sugar is high, some sugar along with other nutrients passes in your urine. These nutrients as well as sugar are a source of energy to your body and their excretion through frequent urination causes a heavy loss of energy.
To
regain energy, your body stimulates hunger. Also, when sugar accumulates in the
blood and does not reach the innumerable cells and muscles that require it for
energy, the cells begin to starve and you feel hungry. (Excessive hunger,
however, can also be a symptom of low blood sugar, a dangerous medical
condition. To be sure, test your blood sugar.)
Weight
Loss.
In diabetes, you may be eating a lot and yet be losing your weight.
Reason: When sugar is high in the
blood, you may spill over some sugar in the urine (noted before). Because sugar
is energy (4 calories per gram), you lose a large number of calories when you
excrete large amounts of sugar in the urine.
Loss of
calories results in loss of weight. Rapid weight loss is a marked feature in
people with type 1 diabetes; this symptom as noted earlier, may be absent in
people with type 2 diabetes.
Changes
in Vision.
Frequent changes in blood sugar levels make your vision blurred or clear. When blood sugar remains high, the eye lens swells and distorts the vision; when blood sugar returns to the normal level, the eye lens recovers from swelling and the vision becomes clear.
Blurred
vision caused by raised blood sugar levels is a self-correcting condition,
which people with diabetes may frequently experience. This condition sharply
differs from the serious eye disease called retinopathy in which high levels of
blood sugar damage the retina, and may lead to blindness in extreme conditions.
Fatigue.
When insulin in your body is not enough or it cannot work efficiently, sugar is not properly delivered to the cells of the body where it is required for energy. When your body does not get proper nourishment, it lacks energy and you feel fatigued.
The
feeling of fatigue is common when sugar in the blood is high such as when you
have eaten a heavy meal loaded with carbohydrates (because carbohydrates cause
maximum rise of blood sugar). However, keep in mind that fatigue can also be a
sign of low blood sugar. To be sure, test your blood sugar.
Infections.
Diabetes tends to impair your body’s infection-fighting system, resulting in an increased risk for developing infections. These infections are slow to heal and tend to resist treatment. The infections most commonly associated with diabetes include gum, urinary tract, foot, and skin infections, and various kinds of wounds and ulcers that heal very slowly.
A common infection in diabetes is a yeast infection caused by the yeast fungus called Candida. Both men and women with diabetes may develop yeast infection but the women are at increased risk.
Yeast infection causes vaginal yeast in women, a condition characterized by itching and irritation in the vagina, inflammation of the vulva, and a white coating on the vaginal walls. In men having yeast infection, the end of the penis may become red, swollen, painful, and filled with sores covered with a cheese-like white coating.
Nerve
Pain.
Several years after having diabetes, people tend to develop nerve pain or numbness in their legs, feet, arms, and hands. These conditions are common symptoms of nerve damage (neuropathy) caused by diabetes.
Raised
blood sugar levels tend to damage all blood vessels in your body, including the
tiny vessels that supply the blood to the nerves . When your
nerves do not get enough blood, they become weak and you feel nerve pain.
Nerve
pain may diminish or disappear with improved control of blood sugar; however,
it may come to stay when nerve damage has become chronic and irreversible.
Other
Symptoms.
These may include: itching, gum disease, darkening of the skin around eyes, and bad smell in breath.
No comments: