First Signs of Diabetes - Early Type 1 and 2 Symptoms In Children and Adults

Diabetes is a disease that requires lifelong management. This is true for both type 1 and type 2 diabetes. Both types of diabetes can be identified through their presenting symptoms. Many early signs of diabetes are similar for both these types. The symptoms for diabetes include the following.

Frequent urination: This may be a warning sign of diabetes, although this sign may be also seen in other diseases. When the level of glucose in the blood goes up, a diabetic person feels the need to urinate frequently. This is because a kidney's filtering mechanism cannot cope up with the glucose overload in the blood. Due to this it draws water from the blood when it filters glucose out of it to dilute the blood.

This makes the bladder become full and the urination reflex is awakened. Since the amount of water in the blood has gone down, it needs to be made up. This activates the thirst reflex in the brain. The diabetic person then drinks more water. The whole urination and water drinking cycle repeats itself again and again in the life of a diabetic.

Unquenchable thirst: The above also explains the unquenchable thirst mechanism. This is another warning sign about the onset of diabetes. Frequent urination and water drinking alternately are sure symptoms of diabetes.

Unexplained weight loss: This sign is observed more in type 1 diabetes, although it may present in type 2 too. In diabetes, the problem is created by the inability to utilize the energy in the blood glucose. This awakens the hunger reflex again and again. As a result, a diabetic person is constrained to eat more frequently than a normal one.

Further, when the body's cells still do not get energy from the glucose in food, they utilize energy from the reservoirs in the fat stored in the body and from muscle tissues.

This depletes body fat and muscle tissues and causes weight loss. This weight loss cannot be reasoned out by the diabetic person or even his/her family members.

Weakness and fatigue: Since the body's cells do not get energy from glucose in the food to replenish themselves, the body feels tired and weakness and fatigue sets in.

Numbness or tingling in the feet, legs or arms: A result of the continual excess amount of glucose in the blood is that nerves in the peripheral nervous system are damaged. It takes time for type 2 diabetes to set in. The process is gradual and therefore diabetic persons are not aware of the problem for a long time. So, when the diagnosis of diabetes is actually made, it may be after a number of years after the onset of the disease. Due to this, nerve damage may have already occurred at the time of diagnosis.

The other signs of diabetes include blurred vision, itchy or dry skin, and cuts and bruises that take a long time to heal.

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