Diabetes -formerly known as diabetes mellitus- is a severe medical condition that attacks your glucose level, causing such glucose level -or blood sugar- to increase beyond the necessary level. The two main types of diabetes include type 1 and type 2 diabetes. On the one hand, type 1 diabetes is a grave autoimmune condition that occurs during one’s childhood or adolescence. On the other hand, type 2 diabetes is the more common form of this sickness that occurs later in life, usually in people older than 40. Type 2 diabetes occurs due to your body’s inability to respond to insulin -the hormone produced in the pancreas. This hormone is typically responsible for aiding your body’s cells to take in sugar from the blood.
To be sure whether you have diabetes, you must undertake either the plasma glucose test or the A1C test. However, before you may get tested, there are some warning signs that you may notice. In this article, we shall highlight some of the warning signs of diabetes which you should beware of.
Symptoms of Early Diabetes
It should be noted at this juncture that the symptoms of diabetes that one may experience depend on the type of diabetes affecting such a person. For context, there are several types of diabetes: Prediabetes, gestational diabetes, type 1, and type 2 diabetes. People with type 1 diabetes may experience symptoms quicker than those suffering from other types of diabetes. Therefore, these symptoms include:
- Frequent urination;
- Losing weight without any efforts of the patient;
- The presence of ketones in the patient’s urine;
- Often feeling tired and weak;
- Blurry vision;
- Sores and wounds that are slow to heal;
- Often feeling thirsty and;
- Contracting a lot of infections.
Other Signs of Type 1 Disease
For type 1 disease, there are telltale signs that must not be left untreated. As mentioned earlier, this type of diabetes is common in children aged 4-6 and 10-14. This type develops faster than the rest, manifesting within a few weeks or months. In addition to the symptoms we’ve discussed, other additional signs include:
- Sudden and unintentional weight loss in the child or adolescent.
- Suddenly wetting the bed at night, especially after a history of being dry at night.
- For a prepubescent girl, she may experience yeast infection;
- The child or adolescent may have breath that smells like fruit and;
- Flu-like symptoms: these are typically caused by the build-up of ketones in the bloodstream, especially after diabetes has been left untreated. This requires urgent care and immediate medical attention.
Conclusion
In cases where you have type 1 diabetes, you must manage your sugar level through a strict diet, insulin, and physical activities. With type 2 diabetes, you may be able to manage your blood sugar with diet and workout alone. However, where your lifestyle doesn’t cause any change to your body, your doctor may then decide to add certain medications.
