What are 10 warning signs of diabetes ?

10 signs that may indicate you are at risk for diabetes

Over 9% of Americans, according to the CDC, have diabetes. With 1.5 million Americans receiving a diabetes diagnosis each year, this disease is growing more and more widespread.

High blood sugar can cause some very dangerous side effects, including heart failure and stroke. To help you have a regular, healthy life, diabetes can be controlled with prescription medicine, food, and exercise.

What is diabetes ?

Diabetes is a disease that manifests as excessive blood sugar (blood glucose), which can be brought on by either insulin resistance (type 2 diabetes) or an inability to produce enough insulin (type 1 diabetes).

Typically, type 1 diabetes is discovered in children. Type 2 diabetes, on the other hand, can manifest at any age but is more prevalent in elderly people.

When your blood sugar levels are higher than normal but not high enough to qualify as type 2 diabetes, you are said to have prediabetes. Changes can be taken to reduce the chance of the condition developing into type 2 diabetes.

Diabetes’s early warning signs and symptoms

1. Frequent urination

You urinate more frequently when your blood sugar is high because your kidneys expunge the extra blood sugar. Frequent urine that is so urgent that it wakes you up during sleep is one of the early warning signs of diabetes.

2. Increased thirst

Valuable fluids will be drained from your tissues when your kidneys work overtime and you urinate more frequently. You’ll have persistent thirst if you frequently urinate.

3. Fatigue

When your blood sugar is elevated, your body exerts significant effort to eliminate the excess sugar. This process not only wears down your body, but it also changes how your body uses glucose as fuel. Hyperglycemia, or abnormally high blood sugar, causes fatigue in addition to other symptoms. In addition, one prevalent factor among weariness in diabetics is the dehydration that comes along with more frequent urination.

4. Blurred vision

High blood sugar levels can harm the eye’s tiny blood vessels, resulting in a bulging lens that can impair vision. Your vision may improve or deteriorate as blood sugar levels rise and fall, accordingly.

5. Increased hunger

When your blood sugar level is high, your body works hard to eliminate it. You may feel more hungry as a result of your body using up so much of the glucose from your diet.

6. Unexplained weight loss

You lose your main source of energy when you release more glucose, and when your body can no longer use glucose as an energy source, it starts to burn fat and muscle, which leads to weight loss. Unexpected weight loss of 10 pounds or 5% of body weight is regarded as noteworthy.

7. Slow healing cuts and wounds

Damaged blood vessels decrease blood circulation, just like how damaged eye tissue results in blurry vision. Because of this, minor cuts or wounds may take weeks or months to heal because it is more difficult for blood to reach the affected area. Unhealed cuts and wounds become more prone to infection as a result of this sluggish healing, raising the possibility of amputation.

8. Tingling or numbness in the hands or feet

Nerves can be significantly impacted by high blood sugar. The effects of this injury might gradually progress from tingling or numbness to pain or neuropathy.

9. Skin discoloration

Acanthosis nigricans, or black patches of skin that are often located in the folds of the neck, underarms, or groin, can be brought on by insulin resistance. The raised, velvety texture of this darkened skin may be noticeable.

10. Yeast infections

The extra sugar in your blood and urine provides yeast with the perfect conditions to grow. Yeast can feed off the excess sugar in the lips, armpits, and genital areas. Keeping blood sugar levels stable will lessen your risk of developing yeast infections.