Causes of Diabetes - 12 Early Symptoms of Diabetes.
Diabetes is often called the silent killer. This is because the early symptoms of this disease are really easy-to-miss. Diabetes is a disease in which glucose or sugar levels in your blood remain high.
Causes of Diabetes.
Most of the food is converted into glucose and released into the bloodstream then our pancreas makes insulin helps glucose get into the cells.
However, in some people the insulin production is inadequate or it is not used well hence glucose stays and builds up in the blood increasing the blood glucose level and thus causing diabetes.
There are two main types of diabetes. Type 1 and type 2, they're different conditions but they're both serious. There are some other rarer types of diabetes too.
Diabetes occurs due to the inability of the pancreas to produce enough insulin to fight high glucose levels (Type 1). The cells fail to respond normally to insulin, which is called insulin resistance (Type 2).
All types of diabetes have in common is that they cause people to have too much glucose in their blood. When your bodies break down the carbohydrates that you eat or drink and that glucose is released into your blood.
You also need a hormone called insulin it's made by your pancreas. It's insulin that allows the glucose in your blood to enter your cells and fuel your bodies. If you don't have diabetes your pancreas senses when glucose has entered your bloodstream and releases the right amount of insulin, the glucose can get into your cells. If you have diabetes this system doesn't work.
When you've got type 1 diabetes you can't make any insulin at all. If you got type 2 diabetes it's a bit different the insulin you make either can't work effectively or you can't produce enough of it. In both types of diabetes because glucose can't get into your cells it begins to build up in your blood, and too much glucose in your blood causes a lot of different problems.
Begin with it leads to diabetes symptoms like having to wear lots being incredibly thirsty and feeling very tired. You may also lose weight get infections like thrush or suffer from slow healing wounds. Over a long period of time, high glucose levels in your blood can seriously damage your heart, your eyes, your feet, and your kidneys.
These are known as complications of diabetes. But with the right treatment of care people can live a healthily. There's much less risk that someone will experience these complications.
12 early symptoms of diabetes.
1. Frequent Urination.
These are the most common symptoms of diabetes. If you are constantly thirsty and if you do not satisfy it with water it means that you have diabetes. Because of frequent urination, your body will become dehydrated, and you will feel thirsty constantly.
When you have this disease your kidneys can't absorb all the excess sugar in your body. It instead ends up in your urine taking along with it fluids from other tissues. This makes you pee more and leaves you feeling dehydrated, to quench the thirst you drink more which leads to even more.
Healthy person urinates 6 to 7 times a day or up to 10 times in some individuals.
2. Constant Hunger.
Along with increased thirst and urination, constantly feeling hungry is the third most common sign of diabetes.
If your body doesn't produce enough or any insulin or if it's not responding to it in the normal way, it can't convert food into the glucose your cells use for energy, and that causes increased hunger that doesn't go away even after eating. If you urinate an abnormal amount of urine, especially during the night, you should consider it as a sign. Frequent urination and it's just a vicious cycle.
In fact eating only makes the blood sugar even higher which makes the whole situation worse. The reason is that your body won't be able to regulate glucose which is used as energy by your cells.
3.Increased Fatigue.
Fatigue is very common symptoms of diabetes and it can interfere and disrupt different aspects of your everyday life. Because of high blood glucose levels, your body is not able to give a proper response to the insulin and the cells won't be able to absorb the blood glucose. As a result, you will feel fatigue and weakness.
Your cells aren't getting enough glucose to use for energy. Dehydration caused by frequent urination also contributes to this exhaustion. Plus having to wake up throughout the night to use the bathroom doesn't exactly let you get healthy restorative sleep. As a result of all this, your body is just drained of energy.
Chronic fatigue also makes you easily irritable because while who would feel chipper under these circumstances. Fatigue can be a symptom of many other conditions some not even medical. A carb-heavy diet, too much caffeine, ageing but when combined with the other symptoms from this list it could be a sign of diabetes.
4. Blurred Vision.
High blood sugar levels can also cause blurry vision due to the changes of fluid levels in the body. This can make the eye lenses swell and affect your ability to focus.
When blurred vision isn't due to some serious eye problem it can be an early sign of diabetes. It happens because of the shifting of fluids which makes the lens of your eye swell and change shape. This affects the eye's ability to focus and think starting to look blurry or fuzzy.
These changes are usually reversible and your site should go back to normal once your blood sugar levels stabilize with treatment.
If diabetes is left untreated these changes can progress and lead to blindness. The scariest thing is that if worse comes to worst there's no going back from it. That's a big price to pay for ignoring a health problem. Once you regulate your blood sugar levels, your vision should return to normal.
5. Weight Loss
Obesity can be a sign of diabetes, but shedding pounds even if you do not try can also mean have the disease. In these cases, weight loss can happen for 2 reasons.
Excess water loss in your body because of frequent urination or your body is not able to absorb all calories from the sugar in your blood. It's unexplained, you can probably guess that this weight loss doesn't come with the help of diet and exercise. Diabetes can easily drop 10 to 20 pounds in just two or three months.
Since the body can't use glucose as a source of energy it starts burning fat and muscle for energy instead. Which causes weight to melt off. Your kidneys can get damaged too since they have to work harder to take out the excess sugar.
The hydration also contributes to sudden weight loss since your body uses all available fluids in a desperate attempt to produce urine. Unexpected weight loss is a common early sign of type 1 diabetes, but it can occur in people suffering from type 2 diabetes as well.
6. Itchy Skin.
Diabetes causes poor circulation in the body, so the sweat glands may become dysfunctional and make your skin itchy and dry. The same problem will make your skin more susceptible to fungal and yeast infections, and the disease may also cause dark patches on your skin, especially around the neck, groin and armpits.
Earlier excess sugar in the body ends up in the urine and takes fluids from your other tissues along with it. Among these other tissues is your skin your body's largest organ. Skin that's been drained of fluids becomes dry and itchy. If you have diabetes, you need to take special care to keep your skin moisturized and healthy.
7. Yeast Infections.
Diabetes weakens your immune system and makes you more prone to infections. Yeast and other fungi feed on glucose and thrive in an environment so rich in sugar. Yeast and fungal infections are a pretty common sign of diabetes. Women should be especially careful about vaginal yeast infections.
8. Problems With Concentration.
High blood sugar prevents the glucose to enter the cells of the brain so the brain has difficulty in obtaining energy this adversely affects the speed of thinking and making decisions.
9. Wounds that Heal Slowly.
This especially concerns feet and it's not uncommon for patients with diabetes to develop foot sores that can lead to even more serious problems.
High blood sugar is going to harden the arteries and the blood vessels will become narrower than before. This is going to cause less blood flow and oxygen to the wounded area and that is why it will take more time to heal.
10. Decreased Libido.
High blood sugar negatively affects the nerves flow or blood and proper hormonal balance which result in decreased libido and potency.
11. Dark Patches of Skin.
High blood sugar not only increases inflammation in cuts and sores but also leads to poor circulation. Making it hard for blood to reach and repair damaged areas of the skin. Acanthosis nigricans is a condition that presents itself in dark patches of skin with a velvety texture.
These patches usually appear in areas where the skin creases or folds. Like on the neck in the armpits in the groin inside the elbows behind the knees and on the knuckles.
12. Numb Or tingling hands and feet.
Having high blood sugar levels can restrict proper blood flow to your extremities and in the end, it can damage the nerves. This can become a very severe problem and interrupt the nerve fibres.
Numbness, tingling, or pain in the hands, feet, fingers, or toes is another common sign of diabetes. High blood sugar leads to poor circulation. You might not know is that poor blood circulation can actually damage your nerves. The hands and feet are the first to suffer since they're the farthest from the heart.
As with many other symptoms on this list keeping your blood sugar in check will help you tremendously. Your circulation should improve with treatment.
Diabetes is a chronic disease that can lead to many serious complications if left untreated. The earlier it's diagnosed the easier it will be to manage and the longer your life could be.
Also Read: Gluten Sensitivity - Symptoms and Side Effects
Also Read: Gluten Sensitivity - Symptoms and Side Effects
