Are there specific symptoms associated with diabetes?

One of the most common diseases today, diabetes is a disease in which the blood sugar levels or glucose levels shoot up abnormally. A hormone called insulin is responsible for breaking down the glucose that you get from the food you eat, for absorption by human cells. Diabetes hampers the insulin production of the body.

The lack of insulin in turn results into the excess glucose staying underutilized in blood. This results into type 1 diabetes. If left untreated, type 1 diabetes is known to devolve into type 2 diabetes. The risks associated with type 2 diabetes are many and can also be fatal.

Having too much glucose in blood can lead to several problems. Substantial damage is caused to kidneys, eyes and nerves. As severity increases, you can suffer from heart disease, get prone to strokes, and in certain cases diabetes can lead to severing of a limb.

 Potentially reversible diabetes conditions are called pre-diabetes. This is when your blood sugar levels are higher than normal, but not high enough to be classified as diabetes.

Blood tests can conclusively determine if you have diabetes or not. A1C, a type of test, goes further to determine how you are managing your diabetes. Exercise, healthy diet, weight control and crucial changes in lifestyle are of paramount importance to control diabetes. Timely consumption of prescribed medicines and checks on blood glucose levels as well as monitoring insulin in your body, are some other important things.

How then, will you know when the right time to get a test done for diabetes? There are several symptoms that should set off alarm bells in your head. These symptoms exist for both types 1 and type 2 diabetes. By watching out for, and identifying the symptoms you can catch the disease earlier, thus bringing about the necessary changes in your life.

 With type 2 diabetes however, the warning signs are mild and often go unnoticed. Type 1 diabetes offers severe, long term and noticeable symptoms that are hard to miss. Some of the symptoms of diabetes are as follows.

1) Hunger and Fatigue 

Both types of diabetes have some very specific tell-tale signs.  Insulin is responsible for transferring the glucose received from the food consumed to the cells. This is what gives one energy. Since diabetes hampers insulin secretion, the glucose accumulates in the blood and remains unused by the cells. This in turn keeps you devoid of energy. This can also make you hungry. The lack of energy can make you tired and fatigued.

2) Frequent urination and abnormal thirst

An average person pees about 4 to 7 times in a day. If you however, are suffering from diabetes, chances are you will want to go a lot more often. Under normal circumstances, your body seeps back the glucose from the kidneys. However, during diabetes the blood sugar or in other words, the glucose level in blood is already high. This results into the blood not easily being absorbed back into body. Thus, the kidney produced more fluid to flush out the excess glucose. This makes you want to urinate more often. Needless to say the excessive urination dehydrates you and makes you thirstier than usual.

3) Dry Mouth and Itchy Skin

 you experience an unusually dry mouth apart from the other symptoms, you must go get your blood sugar checked as soon as possible. A concomitant of frequent urination, dehydration causes your mouth to dry out. It also saps your body of moisture, thus making your skin rough and scaly. Such skin can become itchy due to the dryness caused by lack of hydration.

4) Blurred vision

As the fluid levels in your body experience an upheaval and an abrupt change, the lenses in your eyes can swell up. The change of the shape of lenses can cause them to lose the ability to focus effectively. This can result into blurred, unclear vision.

Some symptoms of a progressed type 2 diabetes are-

1) Yeast Infection

Though more common in women, yeast infection can be observed in men suffering from diabetes too. Yeast or fungus feeds on glucose. Increased glucose level therefore makes it thrive and spread. Apart from genitals, yeast infections can also grow on moist and warm spaces on your body, as well as folds of skin, like the gap between fingers, or under breasts.

2) Sores and cuts that don't heal fast

If you notice blood clotting problems, or if your sores and cuts take a very long time to heal, you are probably suffering from diabetes. High glucose levels can damage nerves. Damages nerves can impair the wear and tear of your body, causing it to expend a long time on healing cuts.

3) Pain and numbness in joints

Nerve damage can also cause unbearable pain in your legs and feet.

4) Nausea and vomiting

If you begin to feel increasingly nauseated without provocation and vomit more frequently, you might want to visit your doctor. Your body produces 'ketones' to burn fat. Excessive accumulation of ketones can lead to diabetic ketoacidosis. This can make you feel sick to your stomach. This is a dangerous symptom and needs immediate attention as it can be potentially life threatening if neglected.

No known cure exists for type 1 diabetes and it lasts a lifetime. Patients with type 1 are treated with regular insulin injections, as well as a special diet and exercise. 
Patients with Type 2 diabetes are usually treated with tablets, exercise and a special diet, but sometimes insulin injections are also required. 
If diabetes is not adequately controlled the patient has a significantly higher risk of developing complications. It is therefore important to quit bad habits like smoking, limit alcohol consumption to a great extent, eat a healthy, balanced diet, with a lot of fresh fruits and vegetables, avoid junk food and most important of all, exercise regularly and diligently. Making important lifestyle based changes have evinced impressive results and has been recommended by doctors across the globe as an effective supplement to medication.