Type 2 diabetes is now one of the fastest growing lifestyle diseases in India with over 100 million adults living with diabetes and another 136 million classified as prediabetic. A silent epidemic is just around the corner, still awareness and preventive care remain major challenges in the country. People tend to ignore the alarming signs until blood sugar level rises significantly.
Consequences of unmanaged diabetes:
Uncontrolled diabetes has the potential to cause serious complications to heart, kidney, eyes, nerves, limb etc. This makes early detection, preventive care more important than ever.
Early signs:
People can live with type 2 diabetes for years without having any ideas of it. Such is the impact of this slow killer disease. However, there are certain symptoms which if noticed can lead to early detection of this and hence its timely management as there is, sadly, no cure of type diabetes. The symptoms may include, but not limited to:
1. Frequent urination
This condition, called polyuria, is one of the earliest signs of type 2 diabetes. In diabetes, cells stop accepting glucose inside them which leads to its build up in the blood. With this high blood sugar in the blood, the kidneys are overwhelmed and excrete excess blood sugar in the urine causing frequent urination, especially during the night.
2. Increased thirst
With frequent urination, the body loses more fluids becoming dehydrated. Hence, urge to drink water increases even after drinking sufficient water.
3. Increased appetite
Data indicates that people with early diabetes show increased hunger, called polyphagia, even after having proper meals. Insulin is considered to be the key glucose to enter the cell, however, in people with diabetes, either this key becomes dysfunctional or the cells become resistant to insulin stopping glucose to enter the cells. In this case, cells run short of fuel and giving a signal to the brain to eat more even though there is plenty of glucose present in the blood.
4. Unexplained weight loss
This sign is again linked to the unused glucose in the blood. Since cells are not able to open up for the blood sugar to enter, there is lack of energy in the cell, hence, body starts to break down muscle and fat to convert it into energy. While the person may be eating normally, there is unintentional and unexplained weight loss.
5. Fatigue
With increased burden on the kidneys to excrete excess blood sugar, cells lacking energy even after eating sufficiently because of not being able to let glucose enter cells and unexplained weight loss, the body experiences increased tiredness all the time.
6. Blurred vision:
Blurred vision is also one of the early signs of diabtetes which people tend to ignore. With rise in blood sugar levels, excess glucose in the form of fluid enters the eye lens leading to swelling up of the lens and its altered shape. Any change in the shape of the lens causes blurred or fluctuated vision.
High blood sugar can also cause dryness and dehydration in the eye lens because the instances of urination increases as discussed above. Dry eyes further contributes to vision discomforts.
7. Numbness in feet or hands:
Numbness in hands and feet in diabetes is called diabetic peripheral neuropathy. Diabetic neuropathy symptoms develop when a person has persistently elevated blood sugar levels which damage the nerves. The nerves supplying blood to the hands and feet are affected first causing numbness, tingling and even pain.
Why recognizing early signs is important:
These early signs of diabetes are important to be timely detected in order to avoid serious complications to kidney, heart, eyes etc. Early detection paired with balanced nutrition, regular exercise, stress management and proper sleep cycle can significantly reduce the harmful impact that diabetes has on the body.
