Signs And Symptoms Of Diabetes Mellitus

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 vomitingas these are additional signs that something is not right. If theres any question, see your doctor immediately to ensure that your blood sugar levels are safe and rule out diabetes.

Can You Be Born With Diabetes Is It Genetic

You arent born with diabetes, but Type 1 diabetes usually appears in childhood. Prediabetes and diabetes develop slowly over time years. Gestational diabetes occurs during pregnancy.Scientists do believe that genetics may play a role or contribute to the development of Type 1 diabetes. Something in the environment or a virus may trigger its development. If you have a family history of Type 1 diabetes, you are at higher risk of developing Type 1 diabetes. If you have a family history of prediabetes, Type 2 diabetes or gestational diabetes, youre at increased risk of developing prediabetes, Type 2 diabetes or gestational diabetes.

Combination With Other Antidiabetic Drugs

A combination therapy of insulin and other appears to be most beneficial in people who are diabetic, who still have residual insulin secretory capacity. A combination of insulin therapy and is more effective than insulin alone in treating people with type 2 diabetes after secondary failure to oral drugs, leading to better glucose profiles and/or decreased insulin needs.

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Healthy Eating For Type 2 Diabetes

A dietitian or your doctor will be able to advise you on what to eat to meet your nutritional needs and control your blood sugar. Your doctor should be able to refer you to a registered dietitian for personalised advice.

Eating healthy foods with a low glycaemic index can help to optimise your blood sugar levels. This includes wholegrain breads, minimally processed breakfast cereals like rolled or steel cut oats, legumes, fruit, pasta and dairy products.

Avoid high-carbohydrate, low-nutrient foods such as cakes, lollies and soft drinks, and eat a diet low in saturated fat.

You should eat at regular times of the day and may also need snacks. Try to match the amount of food you eat with the amount of activity you do, so that you dont put on weight.

If you are overweight or obese, losing even 5-10 per cent of your body weight can significantly improve blood sugar control.

What Is Diabetic Ketoacidosis

Diabetic ketoacidosis is a life-threatening condition. It happens when your liver breaks down fat to use as energy because theres not enough insulin and therefore glucose isnt being used as an energy source. Fat is broken down by the liver into a fuel called ketones. The formation and use of ketones is a normal process if it has been a long time since your last meal and your body needs fuel. Ketones are a problem when your fat is broken down too fast for your body to process and they build up in your blood. This makes your blood acidic, which is a condition called ketoacidosis. Diabetic ketoacidosis can be the result of uncontrolled Type 1 diabetes and less commonly, Type 2 diabetes.Diabetic ketoacidosis is diagnosed by the presence of ketones in your urine or blood and a basic metabolic panel. The condition develops over several hours and can cause coma and possibly even death.

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Buying A Blood Glucose Meter For Peace Of Mind

More than 3 million people in the UK have been diagnosed with either type 1 or type 2 diabetes, while up to half a million more are believed to have undiagnosed diabetes.

With prevalence of diabetes on the rise, more and more people are purchasing blood glucose meters simply for peace of mind.

A blood glucose meter gives users an accurate idea of their blood glucose levels, allowing them to check that they are within the recommended target ranges.

For people without diabetes, blood sugar readings should ideally be between:

• 4 and 6 mmol/L before meals
• Under 8 mmol/L two hours after meals

Can Diabetes Cause Hearing Loss

Scientists dont have firm answers yet but there appears to be a correlation between hearing loss and diabetes. According to the American Diabetes Association, a recent study found that hearing loss was twice as common in people with diabetes versus those who didnt have diabetes. Also, the rate of hearing loss in people with prediabetes was 30% higher compared with those who had normal blood glucose levels. Scientists think diabetes damages the blood vessels in the inner ear, but more research is needed.

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Early Signs Of Diabetes

Both types of diabetes have some of the same telltale warning signs.

• Hunger and fatigue. Your body converts the food you eat into glucose that your cells use for energy. But your cells need insulin to take in glucose. If your body doesn’t make enough or any insulin, or if your cells resist the insulin your body makes, the glucose can’t get into them and you have no energy. This can make you hungrier and more tired than usual.
• Peeing more often and being thirstier. The average person usually has to pee between four and seven times in 24 hours, but people with diabetes may go a lot more. Why? Normally, your body reabsorbs glucose as it passes through your kidneys. But when diabetes pushes your blood sugar up, your kidneys may not be able to bring it all back in. This causes the body to make more urine, and that takes fluids. The result: You’ll have to go more often. You might pee out more, too. Because you’re peeing so much, you can get very thirsty. When you drink more, you’ll also pee more.
• Dry mouth and itchy skin. Because your body is using fluids to make pee, there’s less moisture for other things. You could get dehydrated, and your mouth may feel dry. Dry skin can make you itchy.
• Blurred vision. Changing fluid levels in your body could make the lenses in your eyes swell up. They change shape and canââ¬â¢t focus.

What Are The Symptoms Seen In The Later Stages Of Both Types Of Diabetes

There are some typical symptoms, which can be seen in the latter stages of both types of diabetes.

• Nausea and vomiting
• Diabetic ketoacidosis is a condition in which the ketone levels in the body increases to a dangerous level.

Symptoms which appear in the later stage of type 2 diabetes include:

• Yeast infections between fingers and toes, under breasts, and around reproductive organs.
• Delayed wound healing
• Pain or numbness in feet and legs

In diabetes, blood sugar level may drop abnormally due to antidiabetic medications, or mismatch of food or exercise, which is known as hypoglycemia. The symptoms of hypoglycemia include:

• Giddiness
• Numbness or tingling in lips, tongue or cheeks
• Fast heartbeat

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Monitoring Blood Glucose Levels

Blood glucose levels can be measured easily at home or anywhere.

A fingerstick glucose test is most often used to monitor blood glucose. Most blood glucose monitoring devices use a drop of blood obtained by pricking the tip of the finger with a small lancet. The lancet holds a tiny needle that can be jabbed into the finger or placed in a spring-loaded device that easily and quickly pierces the skin. Most people find that the pricking causes only minimal discomfort. Then, a drop of blood is placed on a reagent strip. The strip contains chemicals that undergo changes depending on the glucose level. The glucose meter reads the changes in the test strip and reports the result on a digital display. Some devices allow the blood sample to be obtained from other sites, such as the palm, forearm, upper arm, thigh, or calf. Home glucose meters are smaller than a deck of cards.

Continuous glucose monitoring systems use a small glucose sensor placed under the skin. The sensor measures blood glucose levels every few minutes. There are two types of CGMs, with different purposes:

• Professional

• Personal

Professional CGMs collect continuous blood glucose information over a period of time . Health care providers use this information to make treatment recommendations. Professional CGMs do not provide data to the person with diabetes.

Maybe It’s A Different Type

If you or someone you know is diagnosed with type 2 diabetes but isnt responding well to the typical treatments for type 2 diabetes, it may be worth a visit to an endocrinologist to determine what type of diabetes is happening. Generally, this requires antibody tests and possibly the measurement of a C-peptide level.

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Yellowish Scaly Patches On And Around Your Eyelids

These develop when you have high fat levels in your blood. It can also be a sign that your diabetes is poorly controlled.The medical name for this condition is xanthelasma.

Take action

• Tell your doctor about the yellowish scaly patches around your eyes.
• Talk with your doctor about how to better control your diabetes. Controlling diabetes can clear the scaly patches.

Itching And Yeast Infections

Excess sugar in the blood and urine provides food for yeast, which can lead to infection. Yeast infections tend to occur on warm, moist areas of the skin, such as the mouth, genital areas, and armpits.

The affected areas are usually itchy, but a person may also experience burning, redness, and soreness.

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Why Is Blood Sugar Checked At Home

Home blood sugar testing is an important part of controlling blood sugar. One important goal of diabetes treatment is to keep the blood glucose levels near the normal range of 70 to 120 mg/dl before meals and under 140 mg/dl at two hours after eating. Blood glucose levels are usually tested before and after meals, and at bedtime. The blood sugar level is typically determined by pricking a fingertip with a lancing device and applying the blood to a glucose meter, which reads the value. There are many meters on the market, for example, Accu-Check Advantage, One Touch Ultra, Sure Step and Freestyle. Each meter has its own advantages and disadvantages . The test results are then used to help patients make adjustments in medications, diets, and physical activities.

Hemoglobin A1c

While there are no guidelines to use A1c as a screening tool, it gives a physician a good idea that someone is diabetic if the value is elevated. Right now, it is used as a standard tool to determine blood sugar control in patients known to have diabetes.

The American Diabetes Association currently recommends an A1c goal of less than 7.0% with A1C goal for selected individuals of as close to normal as possible without significant hypoglycemia. Other Groups such as the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists feel that an A1c of < 6.5% should be the goal.

Accuracy Of Diabetes Test Results

Depending on the test used, the level of blood glucose can be affected by many factors including:

• eating or drinking
• taking medications that are known to raise blood glucose levels, such as oral contraceptives, some diuretics and corticosteroids
• physical illness or surgery that may temporarily alter blood glucose.

If you think any of the above may have influenced your result, then it is important to discuss this further with your doctor.

If you don’t have diabetes, but your glucose levels are higher than normal, this is called pre-diabetes and it includes one or both of:

• impaired fasting glucose IFG
• impaired glucose tolerance IGT .

Diabetes can be delayed or prevented in some people with pre-diabetes by:

• increasing physical activity
• following a healthy eating plan developed by a dietitian
• losing 510 per cent of their body weight, if they are overweight.

Talk to your doctor about how you can reduce your risk of developing diabetes.

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How Is Type 2 Diabetes Diagnosed

If your doctor suspects you have diabetes, you will probably need to have a blood test to assess your glucose level. It is important for diabetes to be diagnosed early, whether its type 1 or type 2 diabetes. That way, it can be better controlled and complications can be avoided or minimised.

During a test, blood is taken from a vein and sent to a pathology lab. The tests that can be done include:

• a fasting blood glucose test fasting is required for at least 8 hours, which may mean not eating or drinking overnight
• an oral glucose tolerance test after fasting for 8 hours, you have a blood glucose test, then you drink a sugary drink and then have another blood test done 1 and then 2 hours later
• HbA1c this blood test shows your average blood glucose levels over a period of time it does not involve fasting beforehand

Watch the first video below to learn why its important to detect undiagnosed type 2 diabetes. The second video tells you all about the HbA1c test.

Video provided by Lab Tests Online

Who Gets Diabetes What Are The Risk Factors

Factors that increase your risk differ depending on the type of diabetes you ultimately develop.

Risk factors for Type 1 diabetes include:

• Having a family history of Type 1 diabetes.
• Injury to the pancreas .
• Presence of autoantibodies .
• Physical stress .
• Exposure to illnesses caused by viruses.

Risk factors for prediabetes and Type 2 diabetes include:

• Family history of prediabetes or Type 2 diabetes.
• Being African-American, Hispanic, Native American, Asian-American race or Pacific Islander.
• Being overweight.

Risk factors for gestational diabetes include:

• Family history of prediabetes or Type 2 diabetes.
• Being African-American, Hispanic, Native American or Asian-American.
• Being overweight before your pregnancy.
• Being over 25 years of age.

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What Are The Warning Signs Of Type 1 Diabetes

The onset of type 1 diabetes, previously known as juvenile diabetes, happens very quickly. The following symptoms may appear suddenly and are too severe to overlook:

Increased thirstIncreased urination Rapid and unexplained weight lossExtreme hungerNausea, vomiting and abdominal painUnpleasant breath odor

Significance Of Identifying Prediabetes

Even prediabetic stages such as IFG and IGT carry high risk for vascular complications such as cardiovascular diseases. The recent estimates by the International Diabetes Federation indicate that globally there are more than 316 million people with IGT. Among them, more than 70 per cent live in LMIC.

It is also important to note that currently one third of those who have IGT are in the productive age between 20-39 yr and, therefore, are likely to spend many years at high risk of developing diabetes and/or complications of diabetes. Some persons with prediabetes experience reactive hypoglycaemia 2-3 hours after a meal. This is a sign of impaired insulin metabolism indicative of impending occurrence of diabetes. Therefore, periodic medical check-up in people with such signs or risk factors for diabetes would reduce the hazards involved in having undiagnosed diabetes. It would help improve the health status of a large number of people who otherwise would be silent sufferers from the metabolic aberrations associated with diabetes.

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Risk Factors For Type 1 Diabetes

• Family history: if you or a close relative has type 1 diabetes, your child has an increased chance of developing it as well
• Environmental factors: there are certain viruses that have been linked to the development of type 1 diabetes such as the Coxsackie virus, Epstein-Barr virus, and cytomegalovirus

Importance Of Early Diagnosis

An early diagnosis may help prevent complications.

Recognizing the early signs of type 2 diabetes can allow a person to get a diagnosis and treatment sooner. Getting appropriate treatment, making lifestyle changes, and controlling blood sugar levels can greatly improve a persons health and quality of life and reduce the risk of complications.

Without treatment, persistently high blood sugar levels can lead to severe and sometimes life-threatening complications, including:

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When To See A Doctor

Visit your GP as soon as possible if you experience the main symptoms of diabetes, which include:

• weight loss and loss of muscle bulk
• itching around the penis or vagina, or frequent episodes of thrush
• cuts or wounds that heal slowly
• blurred vision

Type 1 diabetes can develop quickly over weeks or even days.

Many people have type 2 diabetes for years without realising because the early symptoms tend to be general.

Yellow Reddish Or Brown Patches On Your Skin

Necrobiosis Lipoidica

This skin condition often begins as small raised solid bumps that look like pimples. As it progresses, these bumps turn into patches of swollen and hard skin. The patches can be yellow, reddish, or brown.

You may also notice:

• The surrounding skin has a shiny porcelain-like appearance
• You can see blood vessels
• The skin is itchy and painful
• The skin disease goes through cycles where it is active, inactive, and then active again

necrobiosis lipodica.

Take action

• Get tested for diabetes, if you have not been diagnosed.
• Work with your doctor to better control your diabetes.
• See a dermatologist about your skin. Necorbiosis lipodica is harmless, but it can lead to complications.

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Screening Test For Diabetes

A person of Asian origin aged 35 yr or more with two or more of the above risk factors, should undergo a screening test for diabetes. An oral glucose tolerance test is commonly used as the screening test. Fasting and 2 h post glucose tests can identify impaired fasting glucose , impaired glucose tolerance and presence of diabetes . If a random blood glucose value is > 150 mg/dl, further confirmation by an OGTT is warranted. Recently, glycosylated haemoglobin has been recommended as the test for diagnosis of diabetes . Presence of pre-diabetes is indicated by HbA1c values between 5.7 – 6.4 per cent.

Screening for undiagnosed T2DM is recommended at the first prenatal visit in women with above risk factors, using standard diagnostic method criteria. Screening for gestational diabetes at 24-28 wk of gestation is recommended in women who do not have previous history of diabetes, as GDM remains asymptomatic. A history of GDM carries a high risk for developing diabetes.