Type 2 diabetes is a common disorder in which your body loses its capacity to use blood glucose, also called blood sugar. Many symptoms can accompany type 2 diabetes, and many of these symptoms begin to appear early.
The earliest indicators of type 2 diabetes include frequent urination, severe thirst and persistent hunger. But other symptoms may warn you to this condition. A diagnosis may feel life changes, but if diagnosed early, type 2 diabetes is extremely controllable.
Learn how to start treatment as quickly as possible about other symptoms that can be a sign of type 2 diabetes.
Urination on a frequent basis
Also referred to as polyuria, frequent and/or excessive urination is a symptom that your blood sugar levels have risen to a point where they “spill” into your urine. When your kidneys are unable to maintain a constant level of glucose, they allow some of it to pass into your urine. This results in frequent urination, including at night.
Excessive thirst
Another typical early sign of diabetes is extreme thirst. It is linked with high levels of blood sugar and is compounded by frequent urination. Drinking is often not going to satisfy thirst. The frequent urine required to eliminate excess sugar from the blood might lead to the loss of more water for the body. Over time, this might dehydrate and cause a person to feel thirstier than usual.
Always in a state of hunger
Intense starvation or polyphagia is also a warning symptom of diabetes early. Your body needs glucose to nourish your cells in your blood. If this mechanism is damaged, glucose cannot be absorbed by your cells. As a consequence, your body always seeks additional food and causes chronic hunger.
Food is broken down by the digestive system into a simple sugar called glucose, which the body utilises as fuel. In diabetics, not enough glucose is transported from the circulation to the body’s cells. As a result, individuals with type 2 diabetes frequently experience continuous hunger, regardless of how recently they ate.
Pain or Numbness in the nerves
You may be tingling or burning in your hands, fingers, foot and toes if you have Type 2 diabetes. This is an indication of damage to nerves or diabetic neuropathy. Typically, this disease develops slowly. After years of dealing with diabetes, you probably encounter this, but it may be a first symptom for some.
Wounds that heal slowly
If you have diabetes, there are numerous reasons why wounds will heal more slowly. With time, excessive levels of blood sugar reduce your blood vessels, decrease blood flow and reduce the nutrients and oxygen you need from injuries. Prolonged high blood sugar also damages your immune system, which makes it harder for your body to fight infection. High blood sugar levels can cause damage to the body’s neurons and blood vessels, impairing blood circulation. Due to this, even minor cuts and wounds can take weeks or even months to heal completely. Additionally, sluggish wound healing raises the danger of infection.
Perplexed vision
In uncontrolled diabetes, blurred vision generally appears early. It can arise from abrupt high blood sugar levels that damage the small blood arteries in the eyes, which causes fluid to penetrate the eye’s lenses. Usually, the blurry will resolve. Visit your eye specialist at once, though. With extended levels of high blood sugar, you are at risk for more serious diseases, such as diabetic retinopathy, which can lead to blindness.
If a diabetic person is not treated, damage to the blood vessels might be more severe, which may finally lead to irreversible eyesight loss.
Patches of Dark Skin
Dark, velvety darkening in your skin folds is termed nigric acanthosis. This is another symptom of Type 2 diabetes early warning. In the axilla, neck and groyne areas, it is most frequent. The skin is also thickened in the afflicted area. Excess insulin in the blood causes this. Patches of black skin developing in the neck, under your shoulders, or groyne creases may also indicate an increased risk of diabetes. These patches may have a velvety texture. This is prevalent in patients with type 2 diabetes, as the primary antecedent of type 2 diabetes is insulin resistance.
Infections occur often
Excess blood sugar and urine supplies yeast food that can lead to infection. Yeast infections tend to take place on warm, damp skin regions like as the mouth, the genitals and the axes. The afflicted regions are generally itchy, although burning, redness and pain may occur as well.
Anyone can become infected by bacteria, fungus, or yeast, but persons with diabetes type 2 tend to get infected more often. If your blood sugar is too high to filter properly for your kidneys, sugar finishes in your urine. This can lead to infections of the urinary tract and yeast. Infections of the gum and skin are also frequent.
People who are suffering from diabetes often can get the below infections. They are
- Bacterial Infections and
- Fungal infections
Let us discuss briefly about the above infections.
Bacterial Infections
Often, they may be treated at home, but you may require an antibiotic recommended by a doctor. Styes (around or near the eyelids), boils on the skin’s surface or carbuncles deeper in, infections of the hair follicles, and infections around the nails are the most often seen bacterial infections in persons who are suffering from diabetes.
Fungal Infections
Candida albicans most commonly cause fungal infection in people with diabetes. This is a yeastlike mushroom which creates painful red rashs with little blisters and scales.
Fungal infections may harm everyone, and can occur in many areas of the body. Just a few instances include a jock with athlete’s foot, a newborn with a thrush, and a lady with a vaginal yeast infection. Fungi are micro-organisms that are characterised by a material called chitin in their cell walls. Some fungi are edible, like several species of mushrooms. Other kinds of fungus, such as aspergillus, may be highly harmful and cause illnesses to life.
Various fungal kinds can cause fungal infections. In rare circumstances, fungi that are usually not present within or on your body might proliferate and produce an illness. In other situations, fungi which usually occur within or on your body may go out of control and lead to an infection. Infections of the fungus can be infectious. You can spread from person to person. In rare situations you may also catch diseased animals or polluted soil or surfaces with disease-causing fungus.
Make a call with your doctor if you acquire signs or symptoms of a fungal infection.
Skin that is Itchy
Diabetes frequently causes itchy skin and is sometimes one of the first signs. It can be caused by a number of diabetic problems, including yeast and fungal diseases, dry skin, and impaired circulation in the lower legs.
Dry mouth
According to the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, dry mouth is one of the most prevalent mouth symptoms of diabetes (NIDDKD). Doctors are unsure why dry mouth, or xerostomia, develops in people with diabetes. They believe it is connected to hyperglycemia, or elevated blood sugar, which is associated with diabetes.
Dry mouth symptoms include persistently dry mouth, difficulty eating, unable to speak, dry cracked lips, ulcers or infections in the mouth, and a rough dry tongue.
Fatigue
Extreme tiredness is one of the most distinctive symptoms of diabetes. It is sometimes known as tiredness syndrome for diabetes. Researchers don’t know precisely why this happens. Many research on fatigue and diabetes have been carried out, however none have identified the underlying relationship.
The most frequent theory is that the weariness of diabetes is produced by variable levels of blood glucose that do not provide the body with adequate energy for usage. Researchers also recognise that the link between diabetes and tiredness is difficult to examine.
Many co-occurring diseases might induce tiredness and variables such as
- Not sleeping properly
- Not hitting gym or doing workouts
- unbale to maintain a proper diet
- Obesity
Unintended Loss of Weight
If you lose weight without intending to do so, this might be a warning sign of diabetes. It can also be an indication of other problems, so be careful to check and be tested with your doctor. If you have type 2 diabetes, your body has so much more glucose that it enters your urine. This might lead you to lose weight as you eat to satisfy your appetite more and more.
Researchers showed that patients with unexpected weight loss before diabetes diagnosis are more likely to have complications of diabetes later on, including diabetic retinopathy (eye illness) and diabetic nephropathy (kidney disease).
Irritability
Signs of Type 2 diabetes may be irritability or mood swings. Many additional medical problems can induce mood changes. Do not thus presume that you have diabetes if you suddenly feel a bit cunning.
Mood changes linked with type 2 diabetes generally occur, not by themselves, alongside other symptoms of diabetes. An increasing amount of research shows that your mood and your blood sugar fluctuations that define diabetes are correlated.
Prediabetes
Before type 2 diabetes, people nearly invariably acquire prediabetes. Your prediabetes blood sugar levels are high but not high enough to be diagnosed with diabetes. With prediabetes, you may or may not develop certain signs of diabetes.
The Bottom Line
If you believe that you may have any of the early indications of type 2 diabetes, go to your doctor immediately. The diabetes test is generally a simple blood test and you will know the findings rather soon. You may not really experience diabetes—many of the early signs of diabetes are similar to those of other diseases.
Changes in lifestyle factors such as food and exercise can make a significant difference in controlling diabetes. You may not require medicine, but if you do, it is preferable to begin as soon as possible.
References
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5266063/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6064586/
Sirisha B