By: Josh Riverside
Diabetes is a disorder of the body’s sugar-regulation abilities. Most of the time it goes undiagnosed because the symptoms are not very clear. There are many symptoms, but they don’t appear in all cases. The symptoms include frequent urination (polyuria), which occurs because of the high blood sugar levels. High blood sugar levels result in an overflow of glucose from the kidneys, carrying the fluid along with it. Because there is a constant loss of body fluid through urination there is a constant thirsty feeling (polydipsia).
Diabetes is usually accompanied by sudden weight loss, due to the body not being able to utilize the available glucose to generate energy. This can result in the individual being hungry throughout the day (polyphagia), which leads to weakness and fatigue. In diabetes the high sugar levels do not allow some of the body tissues and cells to work normally; hence, it can result in poor or blurred vision. This also results from the shrinking of the lens of the eye due to excess glucose. A diabetic person is prone to yeast and fungal infections, as these organisms can survive well in tissues, which cannot utilize sugar themselves, and therefore have a large amount of extra food for the yeast and fungi to grow.
There is also a tingling feeling or numbness in the hands and feet, which heightens at night. The skin of a diabetic person becomes very dry and flaky due to excessive loss of water, leading to dehydration. This situation may also lead to the person going into a coma. As the basic body fuel, glucose, cannot be converted into energy, the person seems very tired and lethargic most of the time. Also it takes a long time for any sores, cuts or wounds to heal in a person suffering from diabetes. They are also very susceptible to infections, since the immune system is very weak.
Some patients also experience pain in the legs while walking (claudication). There is also a constant itchy feeling (pruritis) in some diabetics.
Though the symptoms are many, it is very difficult to say for sure that you are a diabetic only on the basis of these symptoms, as these symptoms are not exclusive to diabetics. Therefore, to find out if you are diabetic, it is advisable to approach a medical doctor if any of these symptoms are seen, so that he can guide you in the proper direction.
