What Are The Symptoms of Diabetes
Most people do not wake up one morning and suddenly show any signs or diabetes symptoms. In most cases, diabetes is a disease that progresses slowly. The main signs of diabetes are lack of energy or fatigue, frequent urination, unquenchable thirst, and fainting.
You may mistake these signs as nothing important or threatening. However, if these signs of diabetes are not taken seriously, complications can be avoided. Diabetes can lead to other complications like heart disease, high blood pressure, and kidney disease.
With diabetes, you may find yourself making frequent bathroom breaks. The kidneys are the main organs that filter glucose or sugar. When the body does not produce enough insulin to aid in the process, your kidneys will begin pulling water from the blood to try and dilute the sugar.
Your body then passes this additional water containing the glucose into your urine, which must be expelled. This is what causes your frequent need to urinate. This process can also cause you to be much thirstier.
Since your body is using more water, it will cause you to crave more liquids in your diet. The way to differentiate between normal frequent bathroom breaks and those caused by high blood sugar is simple.
If the amount of liquids you consume is much less than those passed, there may be reason for concern. However if you consume a lot of liquids, frequent bathroom breaks will be normal.
One of the other diabetes symptoms is unexplained weight loss. If you are suffering from type one diabetes, a drastic drop in weight can be one of the signs of diabetes. As your body quits producing insulin, the cells will stop receiving glucose or sugar to process for energy.
When this occurs, your body will begin breaking down your muscle and fat reserves to use them for energy. While this occurrence can happen with type two as well, it is not as prevalent. As one of the symptoms of diabetes, this occurrence should not be confused with weight loss due to change in diet or an increase in exercise.
If you are experiencing weight loss because of diabetes, you can have no change in your habits and over ten to twenty pounds can be lost in a matter of weeks. Excessive hunger or polyphagia is a symptom that you may have diabetes. This does not mean you are really hungry.
If you have eaten with in a few hours and still feel like you are near starvation, you may need to be tested for diabetes. In type two diabetes, this symptom will most likely cause weight gain. However, if you have type one diabetes, you could actually lose weight.
In most cases, this symptom will mean your blood sugar has dropped too low. While that may seem confusing since diabetes is commonly thought to be high blood sugar, this is possible. When you are diabetic, your blood sugar level can drastically swing from low to high as your body tries to fight the condition.
If you have recently felt dizzy or had a fainting spell, this could be a sign of diabetes. Fainting itself is not a condition or disorder; it is always a sign of an underlying condition. If your fainting is a sign of diabetes, it could be caused by high or low blood pressure.
It could also be a sign that diabetes has led to a more severe issues, such as a heart condition or nerve damage. If you have not been diagnosed, you should immediately contact your physician. There are many tests that can help determine if your fainting spell is a result of diabetes or something else. If you have already been diagnosed with diabetes, fainting is probably one of the diabetes symptoms and signs that you need to check your blood sugar and take steps to get it back to a normal level.
Related topics about Diabetes Symptoms
Hyperglycemia
Unfortunately, the signs and symptoms of hyperglycemia are very common when compared to other conditions. Most often, if you have high blood sugar you will experience a frequent need to urinate, excessive thirst, unexplained weight loss, or outrageous hunger, even after you have just eaten. A frequent need to urinate and excessive thirst are often a result of your blood sugar being too high for a very long time.
Hypoglycemia
When your body is functioning correctly and producing its own insulin, it knows how to regulate the amount released. However, if you have diabetes and are on insulin therapy, you will receive whatever dose you take, whether it is needed or not. If you do not correctly calculate how much insulin to take, you can end up with too much in your blood stream.
Diabetic Diet
The rate your plate method is recommended in conjunction with a more detailed diabetes diet plan. With this diabetic diet plan, you don't have to eat specific diet foods or diabetic recipes. You simply divide your plate into three specific categories.