Diabetes Symptoms
Diabetes Symptoms: Warning Signs
How to recognise the onset of diabetes
The writer is a Type II diabetic of several years’ standing and well remembers the first intimation that something was not right. Without warning, he spent a week of nights alternating between drinking water and passing water! He now knows that the medical profession likes to call these diabetes symptoms polydipsia and polyuria respectively, but then thought that he had perhaps contracted some form of urethritis or something similar.
Polydipsia and polyuria are the classic diabetes symptoms of abnormal thirst and related high volume liquid consumption and frequent, voluminous urination.
The mechanism leading to polyuria is well understood. When glucose in the blood is too high, the kidneys are unable to completely reabsorb the glucose so some stays in the urine. This presence of glucose in the urine is known as glycosuria. The osmotic pressure of the urine is increased and the kidneys’ ability to reabsorb water is inhibited so polyuria ensues and fluid loss is magnified. Water held in cells and elsewhere in the body is drawn upon to maintain blood volume leading to dehydration and consequent heightened thirst.
The Eyes Have It
Unaddressed, long-term, elevated blood sugar levels lead to glucose absorption, which in turn alters the shape of the eyes’ lenses affecting vision. Re-establishment of control over glucose levels for a period will usually see the lenses revert to normality. Blurred vision must also be considered a classically typical symptom. If it happens quickly it might point to Type I, while a more gradual deterioration of vision is more likely to indicate Type II diabetes.
In Type I diabetes, symptoms (especially in children), may present quite quickly over a few weeks, while in Type II symptoms often develop much less rapidly and may be absent or so negligible as to be ignored by the sufferer.
Another of the well-known Type I symptoms is rapid and considerable weight loss, not generally seen in Type II, except perhaps at onset. Most sufferers will have experienced lethargy and feeling as if the brain is clouded. All these warning signs can be confirmed by measuring the blood sugar levels.
Rare
Mainly in Type I patients, the smell of acetone on the breath is indicative of diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA), as is Kussmaul breathing, a form of hyperventilation, first shallow and rapid then becoming slow, labored and deep. DKA may also be indicated by nausea, stomach pain, polyuria and a degree of mental agitation or lethargy. DKA can progress to coma and death and requires in-patient hospital treatment.
Type II patients, dehydrated as described above, may suffer one of the rarer diabetes symptoms – a condition known as hyperosmolar nonketosis, which can progress to coma and death. There are other names for the same condition, e.g., hyperosmolar hyperglycemic nonketotic coma (HHNKC), hyperosmolar nonketotic state (HNS), hyperosmotic non-ketotic coma (HONKC), and hyperglycaemic hyperosmolar state (HHS).
© healthwise4all.com 2009, 2010. All rights reserved.
0 Responses to “Diabetes Symptoms”