
Discover the symptoms that warn you of diabetes
What if those small changes you’ve noticed in your body were a diabetes alert? Learn everything about the disease: what types are there, what are its causes and symptoms.
Of these, only 3 million are diagnosed, leaving an alarming 2.3 million to be identified. In other words, almost half of Spaniards who have diabetes do not know that they suffer from it, with the serious risks that this entails.
BUT… WHAT IS DIABETES?
Diabetes is a disease that occurs when the level of sugar (glucose) in the blood rises above what is considered normal, that is, above 126 mg/dL (measured fasting).
This glucose is what the body uses for energy, but for the cells to use this energy, the intervention of insulin, a substance secreted by the pancreas, is needed. But sometimes the body either doesn’t make enough insulin or doesn’t use it efficiently, and sugar stays in the blood.
WHAT ARE THE SYMPTOMS OF DIABETES
- Fruity breath odor. One of the symptoms of diabetes is that breath that smells bad, like “fruity”, can be a symptom of diabetes
- Tiredness that has no specific cause. If doing the same activity as always makes you feel more tired, be suspicious. Not being able to transform blood sugar into energy, the person with diabetes is often more tired and any extra effort can leave them breathless. In any case, don’t be scared, it can also be spring asthenia and in this case you can recover your energy more easily.
- Uncontrolled hunger. Is there nothing that calms your hunger? Do you never feel satiated? As insulin does not play its role, the cells do not take advantage of the glucose and the brain interprets that they need more energy and therefore sends hunger signals so that this energy reaches them.
- Pee all the time. It is another warning that something is wrong and you could have diabetes. The urge to urinate frequently is due to the kidney working more than necessary trying to eliminate excess blood sugar through urination.
- Stomach problems. When blood sugar is too high, it can end up slowing down the nerve that controls the movement of food through the stomach. This can lead to digestive problems such as
- Lose weight for no reason. If you eat as usual and exercise as usual and lose weight, it could also be due to undiagnosed diabetes. It can happen because the body, trying to eliminate excess sugar, ends up getting rid of more than is necessary.
- Being very thirsty and drinking frequently.Because excess sugar in the blood makes the kidneys work harder to remove glucose through the urine, the body becomes dehydrated and needs frequent fluid replacement.
- Nails that break or peel off. Nails say a lot about our health.Another symptom of diabetes is that if they break at the edges or even come off, alert. They are due to fungal infections, to which people with diabetes are more prone.
- Suffer repeated candidiasis. Repeated yeastinfection can lead to suspicion of diabetes, since people with yeast infection tend to have more yeast infections, and yeast infection is caused by a fungus, Candida albicans.
- See blurred. It is another sign to take into account since when the blood sugar level remains high for a prolonged period of time it can cause vision problems. The lens, the elastic tissue whose function is to focus, fills with water due to the high level of glucose. In fact, uncontrolled or poorly controlled diabetes can lead to blindness.
- Dizziness when getting up. Among the many reasons why you may experience dizziness when you get up,one of them is diabetes. Diabetes is closely related to problems regulating blood pressure, so when you get up, you can experience a drop in pressure and make yourself dizzy. Or on the contrary, at other times, the rise in pressure is what gives rise to dizziness. If you have pressure problems, there are natural ways to control it.
- The skin dries out. Due to diabetes, the body eliminates more fluids than usual, causing the skin to become dehydrated. In addition, it also causes the skin to lose sensitivity, so people who suffer from it can burn more easily by not perceiving the hot or cold, for example. To take care of it, in addition to controlling the disease, do not forget these tips.
- Feet or hands fall asleep. Uncontrolled diabetes can damage nerves, leading to tingling and numbness in the feet or hands, and therefore may be one of the causes of numbness in the hand or foot.
THE DANGEROUS CONSEQUENCES OF HAVING DIABETES
Diabetes affects essential organs such as the kidneys, heart , nervous system or eyesight, so if the disease is not diagnosed and not treated properly, it can lead to kidney failure, cardiovascular problems, memory disorders …. and seriously affect the quality of life of those who suffer from it.
- To give just one example, diabetes is behind more than 80% of cases of retinopathy, the most common cause of blindness in the Western world.
WHAT ARE THE TYPES OF DIABETES
- Type 2 diabetes, which can be avoided. It is also known as diabetes mellitus. This type of diabetes is due to following an inadequate diet for years and doing little physical exercise. This makes insulin less and less effective at doing its job, leading to what’s known as “insulin resistance.” It is more frequent in obese people and of a certain age.
- Type 1 diabetes, the inevitable. In this case, diabetes cannot be prevented because it is an autoimmune disease. The body “attacks” the cells in the pancreas that make insulin. It is not common, since it does not represent 5% of all cases of diabetes that occur and is more frequent in children and young people.
- Diabetes in pregnancy.Between 5 and 7 pregnant women out of 100 suffer from this type of diabetes and it usually disappears after childbirth. During pregnancy, the placenta produces fetus-placental hormone, intended to ensure the baby’s nutrition, but which has the consequence of raising blood sugar levels, which predisposes to suffering from the disease. In any case, the main cause is gaining more kilos than desirable during these nine months.
That is why one of the routine tests during pregnancy is the so-called O’Sullivan test, which measures the glucose level in the second trimester, which is when gestational diabetes usually manifests –it rarely does in the first–. The usual thing is that if the disease appears, it can be controlled through diet and exercise and only in some cases may it require taking medication or injecting insulin.
But it is important to control it if it is declared, since gestational diabetes can make the baby very large and complicate the work of the report. In addition, the baby may experience hypoglycemia early in life and be at increased risk of diabetes later in life. The mother should also take precautions because having gestational diabetes increases the risk of developing type 2 diabetes later on.
The baby may suffer from hypoglycemia early in life and have a higher risk of being diabetic later in life. The mother should also take precautions because having gestational diabetes increases the risk of developing type 2 diabetes later on. the baby may suffer from hypoglycemia early in life and have a higher risk of becoming diabetic later in life. The mother should also take precautions because having gestational diabetes increases the risk of developing type 2 diabetes later on.