Will You Recognize the Signs and Symptoms of Diabetes?

If you or a loved one is at risk of developing diabetes, it is important that you learn how to recognize the signs and symptoms of diabetes as soon as possible. Type 2 diabetes can develop on at any age. If you catch it early, you can often prevent the many serious complications of this disease. You need to know that diabetes is known as a "silent killer" for good reason. This is because the signs and symptoms of diabetes often don't manifest themselves right away and people often don't recognize the symptoms until they get really bad. Basically, diabetes is a disease that often sneaks up on people. Please don't let that happen to you.

Complications of Diabetes

Complications of diabetes include heart disease, high blood pressure, vascular disease, kidney failure, nerve damage (neuropathy), eye problems (retinopathy, cataracts, glaucoma, blindness), recurring infections, wounds that won't heal or are very slow to heal, and stress due to the disease. Amputations of feet and legs are more common in diabetics. Nerve damage makes wounds in extremities go unnoticed until it is too late and reduction in blood flow can make wounds very difficult to heal.

Increased Visits To the Bathroom

This is a very common sign of diabetes. If you find you are having to get up more at night to trot to the bathroom, you may have diabetes and you should get your blood sugar tested. Daytime urination may become more frequent too. Frequent urination is your body's way of diluting and eliminating the excess sugar in your blood stream.

Thirsty All the Time and Dry Mouth

Diabetics often become dehydrated because they are urinating more frequently. This causes thirst and dry mouth.

Hungry All the Time

This is another very common symptom of diabetes. If you eat a big meal and then get hungry again an hour or two later, there is a good chance you may be diabetic and you should get tested. After you eat, there is always an increase in blood sugar which prompts the release of insulin. However, in diabetics there can be a huge spike in blood sugar which leads to a huge release of insulin which in turn makes you feel hungry.

Unexplained Fatigue

If you wake up in the morning after a normal night's sleep and you still feel sluggish, this may be because you have diabetes or pre-diabetes and your cells aren't getting enough energy. The same could be true if you begin to tire out easily during the day.

Wounds Are Slow To Heal

If you notice that your body doesn't seem to heal wounds, scrapes, or cuts as quickly, you need to get to the doctor and have your blood sugar tested.

Dry Itchy Skin

This symptom can manifest itself in a variety of ways. Women may experience vaginal itching and men may experience jock itch. General dry skin including flaking can also be a symptom.

Frequent Headaches

Headaches can be caused by a variety of factors but high blood sugar is one of them. This is especially true if you tend to get headaches first thing in the morning or after large meals. Dehydration which can be caused by diabetes can also cause headaches.

Impotence

This may be a blessing in disguise as it often gets men to finally go to their doctor and get their blood sugar tested. In men, blood vessel damage and nerve damage can lead to impotence even if the desire is still there. Sexual desire can be reduced in both men and women due to disruptions in the endocrine system.

Mysterious Weight Loss

If you find you are losing weight but you haven't changed the way you eat and there hasn't been a change in your activity level, don't jump for joy too quickly because you may have diabetes. Diabetics often lose weight because the nutrients they are eating are not able to get inside their cells. You may be eating plenty but your body may be starving.

Numbness or a Tingly Sensation In Your Feet and/or Hands

Diabetes causes nerve damage and circulatory problems. The symptom for this is often numbness or a tingly sensation in your extremities.

Frequent Infections and Inflammation

Urinary tract infections, candida, thrush, jock itch, vaginal infections, athlete's foot, gum disease, and skin boils can all be signs of diabetes, especially if they chronically reoccur. Unfortunately, people often don't recognize infection as a sign of diabetes but it is very common.

Constipation

If you don't have a bowel movement every day and/or your stool is unusually hard, you may want to get your blood sugar checked, especially if you also have other symptoms.

Disruption of the Menstrual Cycle

The hormonal system can get really out of whack if you have diabetes and this sometimes affects the menstrual cycle in women. If you normally have regular menstrual cycles and suddenly start have irregular cycles or you skip a period or two entirely, this could be a sign of diabetes.

General Malaise

If you just feel "yucky" and can't quite put your finger on why, please do yourself a favor and go get tested for diabetes, especially if you are over-weight and/or have a close family member who has diabetes.

What Is the Average Life Span of a Diabetic?

People with diabetes often worry about whether or not they will be able to live a normal lifespan. This is a source of great anxiety for many people who have been diagnosed with diabetes or pre-diabetes and for those who are at higher risk for diabetes.

The bad news is that on average diabetics do not live as long as those without diabetes. Moreover, they often lead a lower quality of life due to health complications and often die from these complications with heart failure being the number one cause. Depending on the source, it is reported that life expectancy is cut by 6-17 years. Type 2 diabetics have a shorter life expectancy on average than type 1 diabetics.

The good news is that if you learn the symptoms of diabetes, you catch it early, and you follow natural remedies that can reverse your diabetes, you can live a normal lifespan. In fact, some people use their diabetes diagnosis as a wake up call to get really healthy and their quality of life actually goes way up after the diagnosis.

You CAN reverse diabetes and prevent diabetes by eating the right foods and other natural means.

I am living proof of this and so are many other people who were diagnosed with diabetes but now have normal blood sugar levels. My doctor could hardly believe the difference in my blood sugar readings after only a few weeks. Please visit my Reverse Diabetes Naturally website to learn more about how you too can reverse diabetes: http://reverse-diabetes-naturally.blogspot.com.