What symptoms of diabetes should alert me to go to a doctor?

Answer 1

You are at a higher risk of diabetes, if you are above the age of 45 years or you have a family history of diabetes, or both. Now a days where work is taking over most of the time of your day, living a sedentary lifestyle puts you at a further risk. Below are few symptoms which are alarming enough to see a doctor soon.

1. Frequent urination and thirst - Since the glucose level in the blood increases due to lack of insulin, the body uses fluids to put out all the extra glucose through urine. So, one tends to urinate a lot. Since, the body fluids are frequently lost, the thirst also increases. This also leads to dry mouth in most of the cases. The skin also seems to change in its look and feel due to dehydration.

2. Day long fatigue - Insulin is necessary for the cells to utilize glucose and convert it into energy required by the body for doing tasks. But, since insulin is deficit, the cell cannot utilize Glucose and thus might not provide required energy, which results in tiredness all over the day.

3. Unplanned weight loss - If one is not under any strict work out regime or diet to lose weight, yet see a drastic downfall in numbers, it is the time to see your doctor.

4. Delay in wound healing and numbness of legs and hands- Excess glucose affects the nerves leading to drastic decrease in the pace at which wounds heal. It also causes numbness, pain, tingling in hands and feet

5. Decreased Immunity - The ability of the body to fight diseases deceases, thus the micro-organisms tend to take over the opportunity easily. Yeast infections are rather evident prominently in women, which is visible under the breasts, in vagina, between toes and fingers etc. This is further visible in the coloured or clear - unusual discharge from vagina, pain during intercourse, etc.

6. Blurriness of vision - Since excess glucose affects the nerves, the nerves of eyes are impacted greatly, causing blurriness and inability to focus.

Answer 2

Diabetes is a disease where your blood sugar levels increase because of insulin resistance. The body is unable to absorb the glucose in the blood sugar and this leads to a spike. However, one problem here is that the symptoms of diabetes may actually not be that easy to recognise initially.
For most individuals it starts off with problems like fatigue, feeling of being unwell, urinating too often, feeling very thirsty in the night, etc. Actually this is a chain reaction. Since our body is producing excessing sugar, it is also trying to get rid of the same naturally. And urination is one of the best first symptoms of the same. Because of this loss of fluids the body starts feeling a need for more water and thus the thirsty symptoms.

Along with this, there are a lot of other physical changes that the body undergoes too and these include loss of vision, blurriness in vision, common injuries taking a much longer time to heal, etc. In women, one of the most common symptoms of diabetes includes genital itching.

The best way to confirm the same would be undergoing a medical test or blood test to confirm this. However, doctors do watch out for other symptoms here that includes numbness in the legs along with feet, there are sores in the body too and these take a longer time to heal as compared to individuals who don’t. Watch out for signs of sudden weight loss or gain along with these because you will get a more precise idea of your symptoms through the same.

Ideally, those with a family history of diabetes have a higher risk of getting the same. These are symptoms that increase with time and they may take a little time to become more visible.