What Are the Signs and Symptoms of Type 2 Diabetes?

Diabetes comes with a lot of signs, so it is important to recognize the signs and symptoms before it is too late. It's important to see your doctor before the symptoms become severe. Type 2 diabetes symptoms often develop slowly and most people don’t even know it. It is really important to get a firm understanding of the signs so you can get diagnosed with diabetes at the soonest time. The sooner you can get treated, the better your chances of not suffering the condition's worst effects. Let's take a look at some of the symptoms of diabetes.

Symptoms

Here are some of the most common symptoms of diabetes:

• Increased thirst
• Frequent urination
• Weight loss
• Increased hunger
• Blurry vision
• Fatigue
• Slow-healing sores
• Frequent infections
• Areas of darkened skin

These are some of the most common symptoms, so check with your doctor if you notice or experience them.

Reasons behind the occurrence of these symptoms:

• Increased thirst and frequent urination: Due to the formation of excess sugar in the bloodstream, the body experiences a strong urge to pull these off from the tissues. Thus, after the removal of the same, a person feels extreme thirst, and hence drinks more and urinates more than usual.
• Intense and increased hunger: This happens because of depleted energy levels. Since a diabetes victim doesn’t have enough insulin to facilitate the transport of sugar into the body cells, the muscles and other organs become weak, and the patient feels hungry in order to fulfill the energy requirement of the body.
• Decreased body weight: A diabetes-affected individual doesn’t have the ability to metabolize the glucose in the body, on account of which the energy stored in muscles and fats is used by the cells. Moreover, due to frequent urination, calories are also lost. Hence, despite eating more, the patient experiences loss in body weight.
• Increased Fatigue: If the body's cells are deprived of sugar, it is obvious that one may become tired and feel weakness.
• Blurred Vision: Diabetes has an adverse effect on the vision and affects the focusing power of the eyes. If blood sugar levels become too high in a diabetic patient, there are chances of fluid being pulled from the eyes' lenses. Hence, eyesight becomes weak.
• Frequent infections and slow-healing sores: Type 2 diabetes is strongly responsible for having a negative effect on the healing ability of the patient and he or she becomes more susceptible to infections.
• Areas of darkened skin or skin pigmentation: Victims of type 2 diabetes have areas of dark discoloration or brown to black patches on their skin, and the skin in the folds of their bodies, especially on the back of the neck, in the armpits, elbows, and knees, become velvety. This condition is known as ‘acanthosis nigricans’ and most commonly found in obese and over-weight people. If a diabetic patient’s body produces increased insulin, then there is a possibility of acanthosis nigricans' occurrence.

What causes diabetes in the first place?

The cause of diabetes is still unknown and many doctors are still wondering about the true cause. Diabetes is the condition wherein the body does not produce insulin through the pancreas, or the body becomes immune to insulin. Doctors still wonder but some believe that genetics or environmental factors are the cause. Excess weight or no exercise may also be possible reasons for diabetes happening to someone.

It is clear that when the body becomes resistant to insulin, or the pancreas stops producing the same, there is the possibility that type 2 diabetes may develop in an individual. Being overweight and inactivity are contributing factors.

What is insulin?

Insulin is a hormone that comes from the pancreas. The pancreas puts insulin into the bloodstream, and the insulin circulates throughout the blood. This causes sugar to enter the cells of a person's body. Insulin lowers the amount of sugar in a person's bloodstream. When the blood sugar level drops, insulin drops from the pancreas as well.

The role played by glucose:

Glucose, a simple sugar and carbohydrate, plays an influential role in the human metabolism, as it is the main source of energy for all the cells of the body, including the brain cells. All the muscles and other tissues in our body gain energy from glucose.

• Food and our liver become the major sources for the body to receive glucose.
• Sugar is absorbed by the blood and carried to the other cells and organs with the help of insulin.
• The liver is responsible for storing sugar and preparing glucose for the body's cells.
• When a person has not eaten anything in a while and his or her body feels low in terms of glucose, the stored glycogen in the liver is broken down into glucose to meet the requirement of the body and maintain normal glucose levels.

So what does sugar have to do with this?

Sugar is more commonly refereed to as glucose. Sugar is a main source of energy that makes up cells in muscles and other tissues. So where does sugar come from, you might ask. It comes from two major sources, one of which is food. The other source that sugar comes from is the liver. Sugar is absorbed into the bloodstream and then enters cells with the help of insulin. The liver actually stores and makes glucose. When your glucose levels are low, the body releases the glucose stored in the liver to help keep the glucose levels normal.

So what is the difference between type 1 and type 2 diabetes?

Type 1 is when the immune system destroys beta cells. This makes the body have little to no insulin. Type two means the body’s process of letting sugar into cells. Sugar actually builds up in the bloodstream. When blood sugar levels increase, the beta cells in the pancreas release insulin. Beta cells are cells in the pancreas that produce beta cells. This impairs the cells so that they can’t make enough insulin for the entire body.

The bottom line

You should always get checked by the doctor if you suspect anything unusual. It is best to have a healthy relationship with your doctor. This makes it easy to talk to your doctor about problems and symptoms you are experiencing. If you have any problems with weight or your body in general, you should always talk to your doctor about it. It is important to maintain a healthy weight to avoid health problems.