Diabetes - What Are the Symptons and Potential Side Effects of Diabetes

The symptoms of type 1 diabetes often come on suddenly and are severely dramatic.

The extra stress of diabetes can lead to something called diabetic ketoacidosis. Symptoms of ketoacidosis may include nausea and vomiting, which may also lead to dehydration and serious problems with the blood levels of potassium. This could lead to a diabetic coma and ultimately death.

One reason that diabetes is affecting more people and becoming more widespread is because it is a disease that it partly caused by consuming high levels of sugar. When you consider the fact that sugar is now in much of what we eat, this shouldn't be hard to understand.

Diabetes is basically a quiet disease. There is no pain associated with it, and the symptoms may not be all that serious at the start. This leads people to often conclude that it is not so bad. The and result from this assumption is that more often than not, nothing is done to prevent it even when people have been warned in advance by their doctor.

Don't make that mistake. Diabetes is very serious because it creates long term problems that are very detrimental if left unmanaged and the same bad habits are continued. This makes it a serious threat from the outset if you want to avoid the trouble that will come along with having diabetes.

Basically diabetes is the result of insulin problems and is caused by the body's inability to either develop enough insulin, or to be able to use the insulin that it does produce. Insulin is a natural hormone produced by your body and it is given the task of taking the sugars you consume and turning it into energy that the body can use.

Diabetes results in too much sugar in the bloodstream. When the insulin is not able or if there is not enough, for one reason or another, to be able to handle the sugar
that you eat, then that results in too much sugar being left in your bloodstream.

Normally, insulin enables the sugars to go from your bloodstream into the various tissues surrounding your blood vessels. This gives those tissues energy to be
able to adequately carry out their normal functions when needed. When insulin is not properly handling the sugar in the blood, two things occur:

- The sugar remains in the bloodstream.
- The energy does not get to the needed cells.

A lack of energy being transferred to those tissues results in general tiredness.

Left unmanaged diabetes results in damage to your organs. The excess amounts of sugar will cause other problems in your body. Since higher levels of sugar in the bloodstream are not normal (or desirable), it results in some of your organs being damaged over time. The organs that are most susceptible to damage are:

- The eyes
- The kidneys
- The nerves
- The blood vessels.

Although this damage may not be fast, or even noticeable, it still is slowly occurring. Then, when it is suddenly noticed, the damage is already underway.

Type I diabetes is a problem that is believed to be caused by the body attacking itself. When this occurs the autoimmune system somehow comes to interpret that the insulin producing glands in your body are actually some kind of disease, so they
attack those cells and destroy many of them.

This attack often leaves the body without enough insulin producing cells to be able to handle the amount of sugar regularly consumed. It is even possible that no insulin may be produced at all. Type I diabetes is often diagnosed in children and requires daily injections of insulin just to survive. However, because you do not get it when you are a child does not mean you will not get it when you are an adult.

It is usually diagnosed early because it creates emergency situations where immediate medical attention is needed.

Type II diabetes is attained slowly, by creating a situation where the sugar is not properly processed by the body's insulin. Not enough insulin is produced to be able to handle the sugar and so it leaves a lot of sugar in the bloodstream.

This form of diabetes is usually developed much later in life, unless the person is overweight. This extra fat seems to help create the condition where diabetes can develop much faster which is why younger people are now developing the disease.
Even though enough insulin is often being produced, it seems to become ineffective because of what is referred to as an insulin resistance developed by the cells to the insulin.

Oftentimes, someone with diabetes 2 may not even know that he or she has it. There may not be any noticeable symptoms for a long time.

The third form of diabetes is called gestational diabetes. This occurs in some pregnant women who are further along in their term. Symptoms may suddenly appear, or they may not be there at all. This type of diabetes can remain during the rest of the pregnancy, and then disappear afterwards.

A doctor will be needed to help the mother maintain her sugar levels, as well as to make sure that the baby is not having problems with sugar as well. It is possible that the mother may develop diabetes within 5 to 10 years later. Only about 5 to 8% of pregnant women develop this form of diabetes during their pregnancy.

Diabetes can be a very deceptive disease. It can be present with almost no warning signs. How ever there are a few symptoms that may indicate that it is present. Because of its tendency to operate in silence, its damage is being performed
and you never even know it is there.

There are tests available, which can easily tell if diabetes is present, or if you are in what is called a pre-diabetes stage. These are rather simple blood tests that are the same for either stage. Once you become aware that you have certain symptoms that indicate that you may have it, it is time to go see your doctor right away.

Before we go any further please take into consideration that some people who have diabetes never show any signs of these symptoms, so looking for them may not be the only reason to suspect you might have it. These are just some basic symptoms
that may occur:

- Need to urinate frequently
- Frequent hunger or thirst
- Blurred vision
- Tired feeling
- Dry skin
- Sores that heal slowly
- Possible rapid weight loss.

Let's take a minute and go over each of these symptoms with a little more detail.

The first symptom, having the need to urinate frequently, may be one of the first indications that your blood sugar levels are too high. This happens because your body is pulling liquids out of various places to cause you to urinate the excess sugars out of your system. You will probably notice that you need to urinate more frequently when you eat foods with high sugar levels, such as soda and deserts.

If you are thirstier than usual then it is because you are losing fluids faster, you become thirstier than normal with diabetes. This is because the liquid you are losing through urination needs to be replaced.

You may also be hungry frequently if there is a need for sugar and energy. Since the body may not be getting the energy it needs, it makes you hungry so that it can get more.

If you are feeling more tired than usual. Feeling tired is the result of energy from the sugar not being transferred successfully to where it is needed. Your body needs the energy from sugar to perform all its operations and muscle movements. Diabetes, or even prediabetes, can cause you to become drained of energy and tiredness settles in.

If you experience rapid weight loss. - Weight loss may occur rather rapidly if you have Type I diabetes. This form of diabetes can go after energy that is stored in your muscles and other body tissues. This can cause a rather rapid loss of weight
without even trying.

If you heal slowly. - When you have sores that do not heal as fast as they normally do, this could be evidence of diabetes. You may also have a tingling or numbness in your hands, which could be the result of having too much sugar in the blood for
a long time. Neuropathy, or damage to the nerves in your extremities is often a result.

Other symptoms may or may not be present. Each one of them, however, may be possible evidence that diabetes, or prediabetes, may be present. If you see these symptoms, be sure to consult a doctor soon to give you tips on what to do, or medications if it is needed.

Because there is the possibility that being overweight and diabetes go together, if you see any of these symptoms and are overweight, then you should see a doctor quickly.

It may not even be a bad idea if you aren't overweight. Let the doctor give you a blood test just to be sure. You really don't want to take any chances of having diabetes and not knowing it.

I think sometimes this is a hard disease to fully understand. The chances of being able to control your sugars increase when you understand better what is happening.

I don't know that everyone will need this, but go to The Diabetes Miracle Breakthrough and read the page. There is some good, solid information on that page and I'm sure you will pick up some new knowledge.

Many people have no idea this is possible and, as a matter of fact, neither do many doctors.

My wife had a kidney transplant in 2005, and normally this is when a pancreas is also transplanted. Because of her heart problems, they did not want her under for that long. She was on dialysis at the time and actually was considering not bothering until our grandson came along and gave her a new reason to live.

In march of 2008, we got a call in the middle of the night and headed to Ohio State Medical Center in Columbus for a pancreas transplant. It was in the middle of a huge snowstorm and a normal 2 hour drive took us 6 hours as we could not see the whole way down. I had my head sticking out of the window most of the time. But there was no way I was not going to get her to the hospital.

It went well and she is now off insulin. The downside is she has to take anti-rejection medications for the rest of her life but it's worth it, although it is financially pretty costly.

The old pancreas is still there, but somehow things are rerouted so that the new pancreas does it's job. She has blod tests about twice a week and they monitor both the kidney and pancreas to try to catch any possible rejection.

Now apparently once you have this done, things like diabetic neuropathy are stopped from getting worse and, supposedly, over a long period of time, may actually get better. I don't know if she may get out of her wheelchair in the future but there is hope.

If you have severe diabetes, you might consider talking to a physician about this and see if it might be for you. It's not all joys and there are other problems you may face, but ending diabetes is a good thing.

The insulin pump can be really handy for diabetics. Before my wife got her pancreas transplant, she had a real hard time regulating her sugar readings. When she switched to the pump, she got better control.

Now you have to continue to monitor your blood sugars. From time to time, under the supervision of the doctor, the settings will most likely need adjusted. Your bolus when you eat may need to go up or down. Your background settings may also need to be adjusted.

Now there is a problem you need to watch. The pump adds insulin in the background regularly. At night time, in particular, you need to watch your readings don't go low. A snack before bed is usually recommended.

When you are sick and unable to eat, you have potential problems. Sugar lows can be a huge problem. We use to have to sometimes remove the pump temporarily to get the readings to rise.

These are just a few of the things you need to watch, but there had been a noticeable difference once she went on it. So you should discuss this with your doctor.

This was recommended to me by 2 different readers. They thought I should offer this and claim it has helped them immensely.

Now, both were Type 2 diabetics, so I don't know how much this might help a Type 1 diabetic. I know my wife followed a few diet recommendations when she was a diabetic that was given to her by some type 2 friends, so maybe.

I have not looked at this one, so I am going strictly by my reader's recommendation. But they were pretty emphatic. :-)

"How To Fight Type 2 Diabetes & WIN!"

I have had people ask me how my wife is doing after her pancreas transplant and I do appreciate the concern. She is still doing good. We have blood tests for Columbus once a month so they can monitor her kidney and pancreas condition. Her sugars are generally around 88,

She has enjoyed being able to eat sugar. Sometimes gets a bit carried away. :-) I can understand that though.

We do have to keep up with the anti rejection medications, which are taken on a daily basis. They are pretty costly but well worth it. I do have to apologize because after she got the transplant, I have not been following up on diabetes updates and all as I have started trying to learn more about neuropathy, which she has as a result of the diabetes.

I can tell you though, from experience, if you have diabetes keep control of it. Monitor it often and watch what you eat and make certain to get plenty of exercise. My exercise site at Exercise Tips is a place where you can hopefully get the information you need to exercise at home.

Diabetic neuropathy is one of the common health problems caused by diabetes. It affects the nerves of the body and, when it is severe, can limit your movement. My wife is in a wheelchair because of this and it's one of the reasons I wrote this book on exercise sitting down. You can learn more by clicking on the cover but . . . .

Basically I found many of the best exercises that could be performed sitting down. I also did a lot of research on the internet and found web sites that will give you more help that you most likely will never find on your own. They are all free web sites.

Check it out. I have received a lot of nice emails telling me how much this book has helped. It may or may not be for you and you will need to talk to your doctor before beginning any exercise program, but it only takes a few minutes to read about it.

Exercise is very important to everyone but, if you have diabetes, it may be even more important.