Diabetes

What is it?
Two Main Types
Signs & Symptoms
Tests
Treatment

Signs and Symptoms
The signs and symptoms of diabetes are related to high glucose levels (hyperglycaemia), temporarily low glucose levels (hypoglycaemia), and to complications associated with diabetes. The complications can be related to lipid (fat) production, to macrovascular (large blood vessel) or microvascular (small blood vessel) damage, to organ damage - for example kidney (diabetic nephropathy), nerve (diabetic neuropathy), and eye (diabetic retinopathy) damage, and/or to the slower healing associated with diabetes. Patients with Type 1 diabetes are often diagnosed with acute severe symptoms that require hospitalisation. With early type 2 diabetes, and gestational diabetes there may be no symptoms.

Symptoms of type 1 and type 2 diabetes with hyperglycaemia may include any of:

Increased thirst

Passing increasing amounts of urine

Increased appetite (with type 1 weight loss is also seen)

Tiredness

Feeling sick

Vomiting

Stomach pain (especially in children)

Blurred vision

Slow-healing infections

Numbness, tingling, and pain in the feet

Erectile dysfunction in men

Absence of menstruation in women

Rapid breathing (acute)

Decreased consciousness, coma (acute)

Symptoms of impending hypoglycaemia:
Temporary hypoglycaemia in the diabetic patient may be caused by the accidental injection of too much insulin, not eating enough or waiting too long to eat, exercising strenuously, or by the swings in glucose levels seen in patients with diabetes which is difficult to control (often referred to as 'brittle diabetes'). Hypoglycaemia needs to be treated because if it is severe, it can rapidly progress to unconsciousness. True hypoglycaemia occurs when the blood sugar is below 2.5 mmol/L, though symptoms may develop earlier, especially if the blood sugar falls rapidly, and include:

Sensation of hunger

Headache

Anxiety

Sweating

Confusion

Trembling

Weakness

Double vision

Convulsions (severe)

Coma (severe)