Recognizing the early warning signs of type 2 diabetes can start you on the right path to keep your eyesight clear and your kidneys functioning at peak capacity. Unfortunately, the slow onset of symptoms makes them easy to miss---or dismiss. If you're experiencing any of the following, ask your doctor if you should undergo some simple blood tests for diabetes.
Fatigue
In type 2 diabetes, your body doesn't respond properly to insulin, the hormone secreted by your pancreas to help convert sugar to energy. When the body isn't able to obtain energy from the food you eat, you'll notice that you fatigue easily no matter how much you've slept the night before.
Excessive Thirst
Because your body isn't converting sugar to energy, you end up with too much sugar circulating in your blood. To compensate, the body extracts fluid from your muscles and organs to dilute the blood. You become dehydrated, which leaves you with unquenchable thirst.
Frequent Urination
Naturally, the more you drink, the more trips you need to make to the bathroom. In addition to ridding the body of the fluids you're drinking, your kidneys are working to clear the excess sugar from your system.
Extreme Hunger With Weight Loss
Pangs of hunger are closely related to those feelings of fatigue. As your body struggles to convert sugar to energy, it triggers messages of hunger to encourage you to consume more food. Ironically, you may lose weight even as you eat more calories because your body turns to muscle tissue and stored fat to create energy.
Slow Wound Healing
High levels of sugar in the blood create a friendly environment for bacteria and yeasts, causing your body's white blood cells to work harder to fight infection and heal cuts. Women become particularly susceptible to vaginal yeast infections and urinary tract infections.
Blurry Vision
Just as your body pulls fluids from your muscles and skin to compensate for high levels of sugar in the blood, it also extracts fluid from the lenses of your eyes. You may notice that your vision seems fuzzy as this dryness hinders the eye's ability to focus.
Other Symptoms
Depending on how long your body has been fighting to overcome insulin resistance, you may experience other symptoms that should trigger a visit to your doctor. Prolonged exposure to high blood glucose levels can cause a type of nerve damage called neuropathy, which may cause tingling or numbness of the hands and feet. Insulin resistance can also produce dark patches of skin in the folds of your neck and armpits.
