Symptoms that indicate diabetes
Diabetes is one of the lifestyle diseases and individuals with the disease have high levels of blood glucose. It’s also referred to as diabetes mellitus and is caused by production of insufficient insulin by the body, body’s insensitivity to insulin or both. It’s one of the lifestyle diseases of major focus in the present day. According to Dabelea, et al (1780) a revolution in the way of living and dieting has majorly been implicated in the increased cases of the disease. This includes a diet high in fats and sugars and low activity levels.
- Frequent urination
This is characterized by urinating more than normal. There’s excess glucose levels in the blood. As the blood passes through the kidney for elimination of waste products, the glucose is reabsorbed since it’s not one of the waste products. However, the blood glucose is too high and in most cases the kidney is unable to keep up. As a result, glucose is excreted in urine and draws a substantial amount of water with it.
- Excessive thirst
Diabetes mellitus is characterized by elevated blood glucose. This concentration makes the blood a hypertonic solution. Water is thus drawn from the cell by osmosis in to the blood stream. Due to decreased water in the cell, the brain sends the thirst cue. The individual feels thirsty.
- Extreme hunger
An individual with diabetes mellitus has either insufficient insulin production, insulin insensitivity or both. This means that the person has a high blood glucose level but little is being utilised by the cells. This then leads to a very low concentration of glucose in the cells. The brain sends hunger cues and the individual feels hungry. This could be referred to as ‘false hunger’ since the individual has the glucose required by the body cells but the cells cannot efficiently utilize the glucose.
- Unexplained weight loss
Poor utilization of blood glucose makes the body result to other means of energy provision. These include breakdown of proteins and the body fat stores. Breakdown of the muscles(proteins) and the lipids breakdown accounts for the unexplained weight loss.
- Blurry vision
This referred to as diabetic retinopathy. Kerner, et al (385) indicates that this is brought about by leaking of fluids to the retina of the eye leading to swelling of the retina. This leads to a difficulty in focusing by the eye and thus blurry vision.
- Other symptoms of diabetes include:
- Impotence
- Increased fatigue
- Numbness or tingling sensation of the feet.
The major types of diabetes are two:
Diabetes type 1
Type 1 diabetes is as result of failure of the pancreas to secrete insulin. It accounts for about 5-10% of the total cases of diabetes. It’s more common in children and is mainly attributed to genetics.
Diabetes Types
Type 2 Diabetes
This is the most common type of diabetes. It’s more common in adults. Pettitt, et al (406) argues that this results from insufficient secretion of the hormone insulin, failure of the body cells to utilize the insulin secreted (insensitivity to insulin) or both.
According to World Health Organization (WHO) classification there are a few more categories of diabetes which include:
- Gestational diabetes
This is a type of diabetes where pregnant women who have not been diagnosed with diabetes before, suffer this disease. It’s observed in about 4% of all pregnant women. It occurs when the body cannot be able to secrete and use all the insulin it needs.
- Diabetes that is induced by drugs
- Disease of the pancreas
According to Garber, et al (446) the following are some the factors that have been implicated/ associated with development of diabetes:
- Genetics
- Overweight and obesity
- Drinking alcohol in high amounts
- Sedentary lifestyle (lifestyle low in physical activity)
- Exposure to stressors
- Diet high in sugars, fats and processed foods
- Prolonged steroid use
There are several ways to manage diabetes. Hales, et al (1218) advises that the best and main method is adjusting the diet to make sure that the glucose is being released to the blood in small and manageable levels. This could be obtained by taking whole foods. A balanced diet is recommended. According to Ley, et al (2002) physical activity is highly encouraged since it improves insulin metabolism.
For type 1 diabetes, the individual need to inject insulin since the pancreas does not produce any.
In conclusion, it’s true to conclude that diabetes is one the chronic diseases of concern in the present. There are various types of diabetes with type 1 and type 2 being the major ones. Sedentary lifestyle, low physical activity levels, family history and poor dieting are some of the factors that predispose an individual to diabetes. The symptoms include excessive hunger, frequent urination, and blurry vision. Once diagnosed with diabetes, it can be efficiently managed with proper dieting, insulin injection and increasing physical activity levels.
References
Dabelea, Dana, et al. “Prevalence of type 1 and type 2 diabetes among children and adolescents from 2001 to 2009.” Jama 311.17 (2014): 1778-1786.
Kerner, W., and J. Brückel. “Definition, classification and diagnosis of diabetes mellitus.” Experimental and Clinical Endocrinology & Diabetes 122.07 (2014): 384-386.
Pettitt, David J., et al. “Prevalence of diabetes in US youth in 2009: the SEARCH for diabetes in youth study.” Diabetes care 37.2 (2014): 402-408.
Hales, C. N., and D. J. P. Barker. “Type 2 (non-insulin-dependent) diabetes mellitus: the thrifty phenotype hypothesis.” International journal of epidemiology 42.5 (2013): 1215-1222.
Ley, Sylvia H., et al. “Prevention and management of type 2 diabetes: dietary components and nutritional strategies.” The Lancet 383.9933 (2014): 1999-2007.
Garber, Alan J., et al. “AACE/ACE comprehensive diabetes management algorithm 2015.” Endocrine Practice 21.4 (2015): 438-447.
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