What Causes Diabetes

More than 16 million people are suffering from diabetes in the US today and it is turning out to be increasingly not just a disease affecting the middle aged. So what are the symptoms or what are the warning signs for diabetes?

Some of the warning signals for diabetes are:

• Polyuria: or excess urination is one of the first signs of diabetes. The primary reason for this is the increased level of glucose in the blood. The glucose level rises primarily due to a lack of insulin, resulting in the kidneys being unable to filter glucose back to blood thus ending up with excess of water and hence this condition.
• Polydipsia: or increased thirst or increased fluid intake sometimes seeming as if it’s an unquenchable thirst. A result of the above condition as the blood draws excess water ending up with the body needing more water and the sufferer feeling thirsty.
• Sudden weight loss:  A condition more common in type 1 diabetes is where the body starts to break down the muscle cells as an energy source after the pancreas has stopped producing enough insulin.
• Fatigue or weakness: Due to lack of insulin, the body ends up circulating glucose drawn from food into the blood stream but the same is not accepted by the cells due to which they are energy starved leading to the body feeling weak.

 Other symptoms: blurred vision, dry and itchy skin, frequent infections, cuts or bruises which take longer than usual to heal. All are possible signs of diabetes and one should get in touch with a doctor if the above symptoms are observed, because as they say precaution is better than cure.