Can Diabetes Symptoms Develop Suddenly?
I haven't experienced any symptoms of diabetes in the past, but just in the last week or so, I have seen a dramatic increase in my urination frequency: I have to go about once an hour. And I seem to be constantly thirsty. Is it possible that symptoms of diabetes could materialize virtually overnight? Continue reading >>
Type 2 Diabetes - What Happens
When you have type 2 diabetes, your body still makes insulin. But as time goes on, your pancreas may make less and less insulin, which will make it harder to keep your blood sugar in your target range. If your blood sugar gets too high and stays too high for too long, your risk for other health problems increases. Over time, high blood sugar can damage many parts of your body . High blood sugar levels may cause temporary blurred vision. Blurry vision, floaters, or flashes of light may be a sign of diabetic retinopathy, which can cause severe vision loss. To learn more, see the topic Diabetic Retinopathy. You may have less feeling in your feet, which means that you can injure your feet and not know it. Blisters, ingrown toenails, small cuts, or other problems that may seem minor can quickly become more serious. If you develop serious infections or bone and joint deformities, you may need surgery (even amputation) to treat those problems. Common infections can quickly become more serious when you have diabetes. High blood sugar damages the lining of blood vessels. This can lead to stroke, heart attack, or peripheral arterial disease. Erection problems can be an early warning sign of blood vessel disease and may mean a higher risk of heart disease. High blood sugar levels can damage nerves throughout your body. This damage is called diabetic neuropathy. There are three kinds of diabetic neuropathy: Diabetic peripheral neuropathyDiabetic peripheral neuropathy. This is damage to the nerves that sense pain, touch, hot, and cold. This type of nerve damage can lead to a deformity called Charcot foot . It can also lead to other problems that may require amputation. Autonomic neuropathyAutonomic neuropathy. This is damage to nerves that control things like your heartbeat, blood p Continue reading >>
Symptoms
Print Overview Diabetes mellitus refers to a group of diseases that affect how your body uses blood sugar (glucose). Glucose is vital to your health because it's an important source of energy for the cells that make up your muscles and tissues. It's also your brain's main source of fuel. If you have diabetes, no matter what type, it means you have too much glucose in your blood, although the causes may differ. Too much glucose can lead to serious health problems. Chronic diabetes conditions include type 1 diabetes and type 2 diabetes. Potentially reversible diabetes conditions include prediabetes — when your blood sugar levels are higher than normal, but not high enough to be classified as diabetes — and gestational diabetes, which occurs during pregnancy but may resolve after the baby is delivered. Diabetes symptoms vary depending on how much your blood sugar is elevated. Some people, especially those with prediabetes or type 2 diabetes, may not experience symptoms initially. In type 1 diabetes, symptoms tend to come on quickly and be more severe. Some of the signs and symptoms of type 1 and type 2 diabetes are: Increased thirst Frequent urination Extreme hunger Unexplained weight loss Presence of ketones in the urine (ketones are a byproduct of the breakdown of muscle and fat that happens when there's not enough available insulin) Fatigue Irritability Blurred vision Slow-healing sores Frequent infections, such as gums or skin infections and vaginal infections Although type 1 diabetes can develop at any age, it typically appears during childhood or adolescence. Type 2 diabetes, the more common type, can develop at any age, though it's more common in people older than 40. When to see a doctor If you suspect you or your child may have diabetes. If you notice any poss Continue reading >>
How Does Diabetes Affect The Body?
Tweet Knowing how diabetes affects your body can help you look after your body and prevent diabetic complications from developing. Many of the effects of diabetes stem from the same guilty parties; namely high blood pressure, high cholesterol levels and a lack of blood glucose control. Signs of diabetes When undiagnosed or uncontrolled, the effects of diabetes on the body can be noticed by the classic symptoms of diabetes, namely: Increased thirst Frequent need to urinate Fatigue Blurred vision and Tingling or pain in the hands, feet and/or legs Long term effects of diabetes on the body In addition to the symptoms, diabetes can cause long term damage to our body. The long term damage is commonly referred to as diabetic complications. Diabetes affects our blood vessels and nerves and therefore can affect any part of the body. However, certain parts of our body are affected more than other parts. Diabetic complications will usually take a number of years of poorly controlled diabetes to develop. Complications are not a certainty and can be kept at bay and prevented by maintaining a strong level of control on your diabetes, your blood pressure and cholesterol. These can all be helped by keeping to a healthy diet, avoiding cigarettes and alcohol, and incorporating regular activity into your daily regime in order to keep blood sugar levels within recommended blood glucose level guidelines. The effect of diabetes on the heart Diabetes and coronary heart disease are closely related. Diabetes contributes to high blood pressure and is linked with high cholesterol which significantly increases the risk of heart attacks and cardiovascular disease. Diabetes and strokes Similar to how diabetes affects the heart, high blood pressure and cholesterol raises the risk of strokes. How dia Continue reading >>
Early Symptoms Of Diabetes
What are the symptoms of diabetes? Although the signs of diabetes can begin to show early, sometimes it takes a person a while to recognize the symptoms. This often makes it seem like signs and symptoms of diabetes appear suddenly. That’s why it’s important to pay attention to your body, rather than simply brushing them off. To that end, here are some type 1 and type 2 diabetes symptoms that you may want to watch out for: If you’re experiencing frequent urination your body might be telling you that your kidneys are trying to expel excess sugar in your blood. The resulting dehydration may then cause extreme thirst. Along the same lines, the lack of available fluids may also give you dry mouth and itchy skin. If you experience increased hunger or unexpected weight loss it could be because your body isn’t able to get adequate energy from the food you eat. High blood sugar levels can affect blood flow and cause nerve damage, which makes healing difficult. So having slow-healing cuts/sores is also a potential sign of diabetes. Yeast infections may occur in men and women who have diabetes as a result of yeast feeding on glucose. Other signs of diabetes Pay attention if you find yourself feeling drowsy or lethargic; pain or numbness in your extremities; vision changes; fruity or sweet-smelling breath which is one of the symptoms of high ketones; and experiencing nausea or vomiting—as these are additional signs that something is not right. If there’s any question, see your doctor immediately to ensure that your blood sugar levels are safe and rule out diabetes. So what are the low blood sugar symptoms you should look out for? It’s important to realize that the signs of… Polyuria occurs when your body urinates more frequently—and often in larger amounts—than Continue reading >>
Diabetes And Kidney Disease (stages 1-4)
What is diabetes? Diabetes happens when your body does not make enough insulin or cannot use insulin properly. Insulin is a hormone. It controls how much sugar is in your blood. A high level of sugar in your blood can cause problems in many parts of your body, including your heart, kidneys, eyes, and brain. Over time, this can lead to kidney disease and kidney failure. There are two main types of diabetes. Type 1 diabetes generally begins when people are young. In this case, the body does not make enough insulin. Type 2 diabetes is usually found in adults over 40, but is becoming more common in younger people. It is usually associated with being overweight and tends to run in families. In type 2 diabetes, the body makes insulin, but cannot use it well. What is chronic kidney disease (CKD)? Your kidneys are important because they keep the rest of your body in balance. They: Remove waste products from the body Balance the body’s fluids Help keep blood pressure under control Keep bones healthy Help make red blood cells. When you have kidney disease, it means that the kidneys have been damaged. Kidneys can get damaged from a disease like diabetes. Once your kidneys are damaged, they cannot filter your blood nor do other jobs as well as they should. When diabetes is not well controlled, the sugar level in your blood goes up. This is called hyperglycemia. Hyperglycemia (high blood sugar) can cause damage to many parts of your body, especially the kidneys, heart, blood vessels, eyes, feet, nerves. Diabetes can harm the kidneys by causing damage to: Blood vessels inside your kidneys. The filtering units of the kidney are filled with tiny blood vessels. Over time, high sugar levels in the blood can cause these vessels to become narrow and clogged. Without enough blood, the kid Continue reading >>
Type 1 Diabetes
happens when your immune system destroys cells in your pancreas called beta cells. They’re the ones that make insulin. Some people get a condition called secondary diabetes. It’s similar to type 1, except the immune system doesn’t destroy your beta cells. They’re wiped out by something else, like a disease or an injury to your pancreas. Insulin is a hormone that helps move sugar, or glucose, into your body's tissues. Cells use it as fuel. Damage to beta cells from type 1 diabetes throws the process off. Glucose doesn’t move into your cells because insulin isn’t there to do it. Instead it builds up in your blood and your cells starve. This causes high blood sugar, which can lead to: Dehydration. When there’s extra sugar in your blood, you pee more. That’s your body’s way of getting rid of it. A large amount of water goes out with that urine, causing your body to dry out. Weight loss. The glucose that goes out when you pee takes calories with it. That’s why many people with high blood sugar lose weight. Dehydration also plays a part. Diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA). If your body can't get enough glucose for fuel, it breaks down fat cells instead. This creates chemicals called ketones. Your liver releases the sugar it stores to help out. But your body can’t use it without insulin, so it builds up in your blood, along with the acidic ketones. This combination of extra glucose, dehydration, and acid buildup is known as "ketoacidosis" and can be life-threatening if not treated right away. Damage to your body. Over time, high glucose levels in your blood can harm the nerves and small blood vessels in your eyes, kidneys, and heart. They can also make you more likely to get hardening of the arteries, or atherosclerosis, which can lead to heart attacks and strok Continue reading >>
When Does Diabetes Really Start?
For most of my professional life, a diagnosis of diabetes was made when the fasting blood glucose exceeded 140 mg/dL. In 1998, a consensus committee, based on an extensive review of data, changed that to 126 mg/dL. A normal fasting blood glucose was now 100 mg/dL. A glucose between those values is now impaired fasting glucose. Similarly, glucose 2 hours after a meal or glucose load should be 140 mg/dL. A postprandial value becomes diabetes when it exceeds 200 mg/dL. Between 140 and 199 is impaired glucose tolerance. A more convenient way to look at it is the HbA1c test, a reflection of the mean blood glucose over 90 days. It took many years, but now norms have been established and the A1c may be used for screening and diagnosis. Normal is less than 5.7%, prediabetes is between 5.7% and 6.5%, and clinical diabetes is over 6.5%. It gets confusing when the numbers are at the edge of diagnosis. For example, if someone has a fasting glucose of 127, they are considered diabetic, but at 125 they are prediabetic. That's why I believe it is best to look at all of this as a single disease starting at birth or even in utero. What we are really interested in is RISK, especially risk for complications. At the different points on the line of progression, when does risk begin and when do we intervene? This is salient for the following reason. Studies have shown that risk for complications begins to progress slightly at different levels of glucose. Therefore, a blood glucose of 90 has more risk than a blood glucose of 70. With this limited tutorial in mind, we now face what is truly a major problem. Prediabetes is associated with increased risk for cardiovascular disease. Over a period of time, this is progressive while the blood glucose finally reaches criteria for diagnosing diabetes Continue reading >>
Type 1 Diabetes
Overview Diabetes is a lifelong condition that causes a person's blood sugar (glucose) level to become too high. The hormone insulin, produced by the pancreas, is responsible for controlling the amount of glucose in the blood. There are two main types of diabetes: type 1 – where the pancreas doesn't produce any insulin type 2 – where the pancreas doesn't produce enough insulin or the body's cells don't react to insulin These pages are about type 1 diabetes. Other types of diabetes are covered separately (read about type 2 diabetes, and gestational diabetes, which affects some women during pregnancy). Symptoms of diabetes Typical symptoms of type 1 diabetes are: feeling very thirsty passing urine more often than usual, particularly at night feeling very tired weight loss and loss of muscle bulk The symptoms of type 1 diabetes usually develop very quickly in young people (over a few days or weeks). In adults, the symptoms often take longer to develop (a few months). Read more about the symptoms of type 1 diabetes. These symptoms occur because the lack of insulin means that glucose stays in the blood and isn’t used as fuel for energy. Your body tries to reduce blood glucose levels by getting rid of the excess glucose in your urine. It's very important for diabetes to be diagnosed as soon as possible, because it will get progressively worse if left untreated. Find your local GP service Read about how type 1 diabetes is diagnosed. Causes of type 1 diabetes Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune condition, which means your immune system attacks healthy body tissue by mistake. In this case, it attacks the cells in your pancreas. Your damaged pancreas is then unable to produce insulin. So, glucose cannot be moved out of your bloodstream and into your cells. Type 1 diabetes is o Continue reading >>
Gestational Diabetes (diabetes In Pregnancy)
Gestational diabetes is a type of diabetes that you may develop when you’re pregnant and your blood glucose (sugar) level is too high. It’s also known as GDM, which stands for gestational diabetes mellitus. This condition can lead to problems for both you and your baby if you don’t control it. There are lots of treatments, as well as changes you can make to your lifestyle, that can help to reduce its impact on your pregnancy. Worried about diabetes? Get a picture of your current health and potential future health risks with one of our health assessments. Find out more today. About our health information At Bupa we produce a wealth of free health information for you and your family. We believe that trustworthy information is essential in helping you make better decisions about your health and care. Here are just a few of the ways in which our core editorial principles have been recognised. Legal disclaimer This information was published by Bupa's Health Content Team and is based on reputable sources of medical evidence. It has been reviewed by appropriate medical or clinical professionals. Photos are only for illustrative purposes and do not reflect every presentation of a condition. The information contained on this page and in any third party websites referred to on this page is not intended nor implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice nor is it intended to be for medical diagnosis or treatment. Third party websites are not owned or controlled by Bupa and any individual may be able to access and post messages on them. Bupa is not responsible for the content or availability of these third party websites. We do not accept advertising on this page. For more details on how we produce our content and its sources, visit the 'About our health informati Continue reading >>
Menopause And Diabetes: Does Menopause Cause Diabetes?
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the United States has the highest rate of diabetes cases in the developing world and it is still increasing in an alarm rate. In 2016, it is estimated that 1 in 10 US individuals have type 2 diabetes (the increase rate of type 1 diabetes is much smaller). By 2050, it is estimated that 1 in 3 individuals will suffer from type 2 diabetes. From the statistics, overweight individuals who are age 40 or older are in the highest risk percentile. How does this information important for women? In the United States, diabetes is ranked as the number 6 most common cause of death for females between 45 to 54 years old and the number 4 common cause of death for females who are between 55 to 64 years old. It seems that as women grow older and reach their menopause stage, they become much more susceptible to develop diabetes. The question is whether menopause can drastically increase the risk of developing diabetes? This article will answer this question along with covering various topics that concerns menopause and its effect on diabetes: Can Menopause Can Trigger Diabetes? We would like to give you a straightforward answer for this question. However, sadly, health research scientists are still struggling to find the answer because it is difficult to separate the correlation and effects of menopause from the correlation and effects of age and weight. In 2011, a scientific correlation study suggests that after taking the age factor out from the correlation study, there is “no association between natural menopause or bilateral oophorectomy and diabetes risk” (Kim, 2011). Yet there have been studies suggesting that progesterone is correlated with the development diabetes. Although we cannot give you a straight yes or Continue reading >>
Early Detection: Gestational Diabetes & Preeclampsia
Diabetes and preeclampsia are among two of the reasons why regular prenatal visits are so important. Gestational Diabetes: The Basics Chances are you'll sail through pregnancy without trouble. But even if you're feeling great, you should still seek regular prenatal care because some health problems that could hurt your baby are symptomless. These include gestational diabetes, which raises blood sugar levels during pregnancy, and preeclampsia, a form of high blood pressure. But with early detection and treatment, you can manage these problems and still have a healthy baby. What Is It? Gestational diabetes occurs when pregnancy hormones interfere with the body's ability to use insulin, the hormone that turns blood sugar into energy, resulting in high blood sugar levels. Each year, up to 4 percent of women develop this serious illness in pregnancy. While most women with gestational diabetes have no symptoms, a small number may experience extreme hunger, thirst, or fatigue. How Do I Know If I Have It? Your doctor will probably screen you for gestational diabetes between your 24th and 28th weeks of pregnancy. If you have certain risk factors (see "Who's at Risk?" below), your doctor may opt to screen you sooner. During your screening, you'll drink a sugary liquid, then take a blood test. If your blood sugar levels appear high, you'll need to take a longer test, during which you'll drink more liquid and your blood sugar will be tested several times to determine whether you have gestational diabetes. What Are the Risks Associated with It? Women who fail to seek treatment for gestational diabetes run the risk of giving birth to big babies (9 pounds or more), since much of the extra sugar in the mother's blood ends up going to the fetus. Larger babies are more likely to suffer b Continue reading >>
- Identification of novel biomarkers to monitor β-cell function and enable early detection of type 2 diabetes risk
- Girls with early first periods become women with greater risk of gestational diabetes
- Women in India with Gestational Diabetes Mellitus Strategy (WINGS): Methodology and development of model of care for gestational diabetes mellitus (WINGS 4)
History Of Diabetes
Origin of the term ‘diabetes’ The term diabetes is the shortened version of the full name diabetes mellitus. Diabetes mellitus is derived from the Greek word diabetes meaning siphon - to pass through and the Latin word mellitus meaning honeyed or sweet. This is because in diabetes excess sugar is found in blood as well as the urine. It was known in the 17th century as the “pissing evil”. The term diabetes was probably coined by Apollonius of Memphis around 250 BC. Diabetes is first recorded in English, in the form diabete, in a medical text written around 1425. It was in 1675 that Thomas Willis added the word “'mellitus'” to the word diabetes. This was because of the sweet taste of the urine. This sweet taste had been noticed in urine by the ancient Greeks, Chinese, Egyptians, Indians, and Persians as is evident from their literature. History of the treatment of diabetes Sushruta, Arataeus, and Thomas Willis were the early pioneers of the treatment of diabetes. Greek physicians prescribed exercise - preferably on horseback to alleviate excess urination. Some other forms of therapy applied to diabetes include wine, overfeeding to compensate for loss of fluid weight, starvation diet, etc. In 1776, Matthew Dobson confirmed that the sweet taste of urine of diabetics was due to excess of a kind of sugar in the urine and blood of people with diabetes. In ancient times and medieval ages diabetes was usually a death sentence. Aretaeus did attempt to treat it but could not give a good outcome. Sushruta (6th century BCE) an Indian healer identified diabetes and classified it as “Madhumeha”. Here the word “madhu” means honey and combined the term means sweet urine. The ancient Indians tested for diabetes by looking at whether ants were attracted to a person's u Continue reading >>
How Exactly Does Type 2 Diabetes Develop?
Insulin resistance is the cause of both prediabetes and type 2 diabetes. Ok, so what is the cause of insulin resistance? Insulin resistance is now accepted to be closely associated with the accumulation of fat within our muscle cells. This fat toxicity inside of our muscles is a major factor in the cause of insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes, as it interferes with the action of insulin. I’ve explored how fat makes our muscles insulin resistant (see What Causes Insulin Resistance?), how that fat can come from the fat we eat or the fat we wear (see The Spillover Effect Links Obesity to Diabetes), and how not all fats are the same (see Lipotoxicity: How Saturated Fat Raises Blood Sugar). It’s the type of fat found predominantly in animal fats, relative to plant fats, that appears to be especially deleterious with respect to fat-induced insulin insensitivity. But this insulin resistance in our muscles starts years before diabetes is diagnosed. In my video, Diabetes as a Disease of Fat Toxicity, you can see that insulin resistance starts over a decade before diabetes is actually diagnosed, as blood sugar levels slowly start creeping up. And then, all of the sudden, the pancreas conks out, and blood sugars skyrocket. What could underlie this relatively rapid failure of insulin secretion? At first, the pancreas pumps out more and more insulin, trying to overcome the fat-induced insulin resistance in the muscles, and high insulin levels can lead to the accumulation of fat in the liver, called fatty liver disease. Before diagnosis of type 2 diabetes, there is a long silent scream from the liver. As fat builds up in our liver, it also becomes resistant to insulin. Normally, the liver is constantly producing blood sugar to keep our brain alive between meals. As soon as we Continue reading >>
Type 1 Diabetes
Type 1 diabetes is an auto-immune condition in which the immune system is activated to destroy the cells in the pancreas which produce insulin. We do not know what causes this auto-immune reaction. Type 1 diabetes is not linked to modifiable lifestyle factors. There is no cure and it cannot be prevented. Type 1 diabetes: Occurs when the pancreas does not produce insulin Represents around 10% of all cases of diabetes and is one of the most common chronic childhood conditions Onset is usually abrupt and the symptoms obvious Symptoms can include excessive thirst and urination, unexplained weight loss, weakness and fatigue and blurred vision Is managed with insulin injections several times a day or the use of an insulin pump. What happens to the pancreas? In type 1 diabetes, the pancreas, a large gland behind the stomach, stops making insulin because the cells that make the insulin have been destroyed by the body’s immune system. Without insulin, the body’s cells cannot turn glucose (sugar), into energy. People with type 1 diabetes depend on insulin every day of their lives to replace the insulin the body cannot produce. They must test their blood glucose levels several times throughout the day. The onset of type 1 diabetes occurs most frequently in people under 30 years, however new research suggests almost half of all people who develop the condition are diagnosed over the age of 30. About 10-15% of all cases of diabetes are type 1. What happens if people with type 1 diabetes don’t receive insulin? Without insulin the body burns its own fats as a substitute which releases chemical substances in the blood. Without ongoing injections of insulin, the dangerous chemical substances will accumulate and can be life threatening if it is not treated. This is a condition call Continue reading >>
