Are you feeling thirsty? Are you always running to the bathroom? Do you feel tired? You might have
undiagnosed diabetes! This video will examine 10 signs and symptoms of type 2 diabetes. Coming up
I'm doctor John board certified in internal medicine as well as geriatric medicine.
This channel is here to promote your health and well-being. Think your Health
What is type 2 diabetes?
Type 2 diabetes is a chronic medical condition
where your levels of glucose or sugar are increased in your blood.
Why is glucose(sugar) elevated in type 2 diabetes?
Insulin is a hormone produced by your pancreas and moves sugar (glucose)from your blood,
into cells where it can be used as energy. You can think of insulin as a key helping
glucose into these various cells. Now what happens in DM2, is your body fat cells,
liver cells and muscle cells do not respond well to insulin. This is called Insulin
resistance. Your pancreas ends up producing more Insulin to try to push sugar into your cells,
but it reaches a point when it can’t keep up and there is too much sugar in your bloodstream.
Difference between type 1 and type 2 diabetes?
In type 1 DM your pancreas cannot make Insulin or makes too little Insulin.
In Type 2 diabetes the body’s cells do not respond to Insulin or your body cannot make
enough Insulin.
What are the 10 most common symptoms of type 2 diabetes?
1)Polydipsia
Polydipsia is another way of saying that you are extremely thirsty.
Elevated blood glucose levels make your kidneys produce more urine to get rid of
the extra sugar. In other words, you are peeing the extra sugar together with water out of your
body. Now that you are losing so much fluid, you are the risk of getting dehydrated. Your
brain gets signals to drink more water. If you are unable to drink enough water
dehydration can lead to increased levels of sugar which is also referred to as hyperglycemia.
Symptoms of prolonged dehydration are nausea, faints, headaches, and dizziness.
2) Polyuria:
Polyuria means you are peeing excessive amounts of diluted urine. Polyuria
is one of the classic symptoms of diabetes.
Like explained earlier your kidneys play are role in filtering and reabsorbing urine.
Polyuria in diabetes occurs when you have excess levels of sugar in the blood. Normally,
when your kidneys create urine, they reabsorb all the sugar and direct it
back to the bloodstream. With diabetes, excess glucose ends up in the urine,
where it pulls more water and results in more urine being peed out. Normally,
your kidneys would be reabsorbing as much glucose as possible. However, in diabetes as you’re your
kidneys are unable to reabsorb the sugar and the excessive sugar is peed out together with fluid.
3) Nocturia:
This means that you are getting up at nighttime to pee. There are other diseases
such as congestive heart failure as well as prostate disease which can do this as well.
Once again because of excessive sugar levels your kidneys have to work harder to get rid of it.
4)Blurred vision:
Elevated blood glucose levels can make your eye lens swell.
This is because of the flow of glucose in and out of your eye. Naturally if your lens swells
up your vision will be affected. It is important if this is occurring with you, that you follow up
with your eye doctor to help with the diagnosis. Persistent elevated blood sugar levels can lead
to damage of small blood vessels in the back of your eye called the retina. Your retina is
important for communicating visual signals to your brain as it consists of light sensitive tissue.
The damage to the retina secondary to diabetes is called diabetic retinopathy and a complication of
this type of retinopathy is decreased vision and in the worst-case scenario blindness.
5) Weight loss:
Weight loss is also a symptom of diabetes. This is because glucose is a source of energy. Now
if you're a diabetic you're not producing enough insulin. Insulin is important to
get sugar into your body cells to be used as energy. Diabetics lack insulin and therefore
as there is a lack of sugar being pushed into the body cells, as an energy source,
the body has to look for energy elsewhere. Your body starts burning body fat as well
as muscle as an energy source and because of that you lose weight.
6) Polyphagia:
This means you are eating excessive amounts of food.
If your sugars are excessively high as a you see with uncontrolled diabetes, glucose is not able
to enter your body cells because of the lack of insulin or because of insulin resistance.
In other words, your body is not able to convert the food which you are consuming into energy. As
energy is lacking you feel this as hunger. Diabetes can lead to a variety of serious
complications and this video here looks at the complications of diabetes.
7) Fatigue
As a diabetic you feel tired and weak because of the lack of energy. You have a general feeling of
weakness, and this is as a result of your cells not getting enough blood glucose.
8) Increased risk of infections:
As a diabetic you're more prone to get infections. The reason is persistently elevated blood sugar
levels makes your immune system weaker coupled with reduced blood flow in your
blood vessels .The most
common infections associated with individuals with diabetes are urinary tract infections & vaginal
infections, skin and soft tissue infections as well as ear and nose infections.
9) Numbness and tingling
Diabetes because of chronically high blood glucose levels can lead to nerve damage. About 60 to 70%
of diabetics because of progression of disease will develop a neuropathy of their extremities
usually in their lower and sometimes their upper extremities. This is because of damage to the
nerves and these damaged nerves cannot effectively communicate and send signals to the brain and to
other parts of your body. You feel symptoms of pins and needles and sometimes complain about
burning hands or feet. The neuropathy can be advanced with some individuals,
and you might be not able to feel pain or even sensations such as heat or cold. You
must be very careful in terms of skin care as you're more likely to get infections secondary
to poor blood flow and poor wound healing and at an increased risk of developing foot ulcers.
10) Dry skin:
The skin is the largest organ of your body. As a diabetic not only are you
more prone to infections, but you also prone to a dry, itchy skin as a result
of poor blood circulation. As explained earlier in this video excess sugar is
pulled from your cells making your skin dryer. There are several skin conditions
which are related with diabetes which I'm listing right here. If he interested in
a specific video looking at diabetes and your skin leave it in the comments below.
Here are more videos you can see and follow. Have a good day and think your health.