Diabetes keeps your body from using energy properly by storing sugar (glucose, your body’s favorite energy source) in your blood rather than letting it get to your cells where it is needed. Because of this, one of the most common diabetes symptoms is chronic fatigue.
You feel like you never have any energy. Even after pounding coffee and getting lots of rest, you feel exhausted after performing very little or no physical activity. Here are a few of the other more common diabetes symptoms.
• Overweight and obesity
• You have to urinate often.
• You are constantly very thirsty, which is a stronger thirst than usual.
• You feel hungry even though you are eating or immediately after eating.
• Your vision may blur, or you may notice changes in vision ability.
• It is very slow to heal when you get a bruise or a cut.
• You become sick or infected more often than normal.
• With Type 2 diabetes, tingling or numbness in the hands and feet is a sign of diabetes or prediabetes.
• With Type 1 diabetes, you may experience unexplained weight loss, even if you attempt to eat more and more to keep this from happening.
• With Type 1 diabetes, vomiting, nausea, and stomach pains may occur at the condition’s onset.
If you display a symptom or two from time to time, there may not be a serious issue. When you experience two or more of these classic diabetes symptoms regularly, it is highly recommended to let your doctor know. Early diagnosis and treatment produce the best results with any type of diabetes.
While these symptoms may not mean you have full-fledged diabetes, they could indicate prediabetes. This is where blood glucose levels are slightly elevated above what would be considered normal. Prediabetes can come and go and is a predictor of the eventual development of Type 2 diabetes if certain steps are not taken. Prediabetes (and diabetes, for that matter) can only be uncovered during a checkup with your doctor. With blood sugar meters more widely available online, you can test your blood sugar levels with a basic test and monitor yourself. Don’t self-diagnose, but use any self-testing data to show your doctor.
Look at the list of diabetes symptoms we discussed earlier. An infrequent appearance of some of those symptoms could be an indicator of prediabetes.
This means if you have avoided regular checkups, you could be prediabetic or diabetic and not even know it! If you are prediabetic and do not change certain habits and activities in your life, you stand a very good chance of developing Type 2 diabetes.
Fortunately, the prediabetic person can employ a 3-pronged treatment plan that can keep Type 2 diabetes from developing and dramatically lower the risk of developing cancer, heart disease, obesity, diabetes, and several other major health problems.
Let’s peek at three simple but extremely important practices for successfully preventing and treating diabetes. Your food choices will have a significant impact on your blood sugar levels. Eat lots of sugary processed foods? Consider making some dietary shifts. How about activity levels? Do you spend your day sitting in a chair? Consider moving around more, using an activity tracker to help monitor, and possibly joining a gym. Does stress get you down? Practice mindfulness, meditation, or other activities and methods to reduce your stress levels.
