Diabetes Symptoms

There are two types of diabetes (type I and type II), differing in causes, onset, risk factors, and treaments.  The two types of diabetes, however, share a lot of more general body symptoms.  It is important to understand and identify these, and also know when to seek medical treatment and help relating to diabetes.

Fatigue and tiredness - the body uses glucose at the primary source of energy, especially the important organs of the heart and the brain.  With diabetes, the body has problems regulating blood levels of glucose, and the results is ineffiencies in process food and energy and transporting it to all the body cells.  The result is a general sense of fatigue and tiredness.

Unexplained and unrelated weight loss - diabetes impedes the body's ability to process food or energy so eaten food ingested results in less available energy for the body.  This often results in weight loss.

Blurred vision - anytime there is an alteration and big changes in blood sugar and blood protein levels, in these cases of body having problems producing or regulating insulin and blood glucose, the result is often blurry vision.

Infections with more regularity and wound healing of wounds - high blood glucose levels inhibit the effectiveness of white blood cells, which leads to a body's inability to fight off infections and heal wounds.  Blood circulation (which is often impeded in diabetes) also is important in these processes so that also leads to more vulnerability to infections and blocks wound healing.

Altered mental state and status - anytime blood protein and sugar levels are greatly altered and hard to control, a symptom at risk is an altered mental state or delirium.  These can be medical emergencies.  Diabetes also often results in diabetic ketoacidosis where the blood becomes excessively acidice and can affect mental state greatly and bring lethargy or confusion.

Excessive urges and frequency for urination - when blood sugar and protein levels are being hard to regulate for the body, the body will also have problems regulating water levels and urine.  The result is that the body often will often try to get rid of the excessive sugar in the blood through increasing the sugar excretion in urine and thus increasing urine volumes and frequency.  This puts the body at risk for dehydration.

Excessive eating and thirst - when blood sugar levels remain elevated consistently, the body will secrete more and more insulin.  One of the other important effects of insulin is to induce hunger.  Thus when the body's cells are becoming immune to insulin, the large amounts of insulin secretions in attempts to regulate blood sugar leads to more and more eating.  Also, the body's extra urine production and excretion to excrete blood sugars leads to dehydration and more thirst.

It is important to seek medical attention immmediately if you have been diagnosed with diabetes when your blood sugar levels are not responding to treatment, when you have very high or very low level of blood sugar, when you have an injury to your leg or foot or see a blister, or when you feel nausea or have the urge to vomit.  When there is an emergency event, it is very important to notify the EMT or doctor/physician that you are a diabetic and also know what treatments and prescription medicine you are taking.  Many diabetic sufferers choose to wear a medical identification bracelet with regards to diabetes.

When even you are slightly unsure, you should notify the hospital and a physician immediately if you suspect any sort of a diabetic emergency.