Diabetes – Signs and Symptoms

The signs and symptoms of Diabetes Mellitus are –

• Blurred vision
• Excessive thirst
• Passing urine frequently
• Excessive hunger
• Tiredness
• Feeling out of sorts
• Weight loss

What made my eyes blurry?

As the sugar rises in the blood, water is pulled out of the cells to dilute the sugar and move it through the blood faster. This means that the lens that sits on the front of your eyeball, (which is basically a bag of water), was being pulled in and pushed out as the blood tried to “water down” the sugar inside the blood stream. This would be like wearing eyeglasses that constantly moved on your face.

Why was I thirsty and off to the bathroom so often?

When sugar levels rise in the blood, water is drawn into the blood to help dilute the sugar. This makes you crave more water and other liquids. The more you drink, the greater the urge to pass urine. (Like a siphon, your kidney is trying to move out the extra fluid.) If your drink contains sugar (ie regular soda pop, juice, milk), the blood sugar rises even more, and the thirst-bathroom pattern gets worse. The urine you are passing contains large amounts of sugar, in fact, its “honeysweet”! Your kidneys are trying to help you by flushing out the extra sugar.

Why was I so hungry?

Even though your blood is carrying sugar, and lots of it, the cells think there is no food, because they can’t get at the sugar because there is little or no insulin. The cells send a message to your brain to eat more, and the blood sugar rises even higher.

Even though I was very hungry and ate a lot, I lost weight. Why?

Everything we eat becomes a form of fuel or energy for the body. The body saves all of its unused energy for future use. In other words, what we don’t use right away, we store for the future. That’s why, when we eat more food (fuel) than our body needs every day, we tend to gain weight. When we are still growing as children and teens, our body needs and uses lots of extra fuel. Anyone who has ever lived with a teenager knows just how much extra fuel that can be! When we stop growing, or become less active in our adult life, the body needs less fuel. Throughout all of these stages of life, we need enough insulin to use, our food (fuel) for energy now and also to store those “extra” sugars and starches. If we don’t have enough insulin to use or store our sugars and starches (fuel), we lose weight.

Why was I tired and grouchy?

Your cells were starving for energy, and couldn’t do everything they needed to do. They told your brain you needed to rest because they couldn’t use the sugar for energy. Being tired all the time makes everyone a little more irritable, even grouchy.

Everyone is different. Sometimes a person will have all of the signs, a few of the signs, or none at all. You may be wondering …how does the doctor decide that diabetes has developed? Diabetes should always be diagnosed by a laboratory blood (glucose) sugar test which will be interpreted by a doctor. A sample of blood is taken from a vein in the arm. The laboratory will analyze the amount of sugar in the sample and, based on specific numbers known to be normal, the result will be evaluated and a decision about diagnosis made by the doctor who interprets the result.