Do you know the signs of being a diabetic?

signs of being a diabetic
signs of being a diabetic

Do you know the signs of being a diabetic? Diabetes is a very serious disease and should be checked out at the first thought of having the disease. Diabetes is where the body produces too little of the chemical known as insulin. Insulin is one of the body’s most important chemicals. It is responsible for the energy that you have. It takes the glucose in the blood and changes it into fuel that the body’s cells can use.

So when the pancreas produces to little insulin the glucose levels rise to very high levels. The high glucose levels wreak havoc upon the body damaging the heart, kidneys, nerves, and eventually blindness. Making knowing whether you have or are risk of diabetes a need to know. This is the causes of being a diabetic.

There are many signs of being a diabetic that can tell you of nearing diabetes, including test your doctor can perform to give an accurate diagnose. Many of them may seem normal for a short amount of time but are not normal. Excessive thirst, excessive urination, unexplained weight loss, altered mental status, and excessive eating are all symptoms. Excessive thirst is caused by excessive urination; the body urinates to rid itself of the excess glucose that is damaging it, thus creating the need to replenish the body.

Unexplained weight loss is formed by the body seeking nutrients and glucose that it is not getting but this does nothing because the real problem is with the insulin levels. Excessive eating is caused by the body seeking more energy. The body is then stimulated to take in more food. But this does nothing but fuel the growing glucose levels. Altered mental status is formed when the glucose beings to irritate the body giving irritability, confusion, and anger. So talk to your doctor about signs of being a diabetic. See if you have the signs of being an insulin dependent diabetic too.

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Diabetes Symptoms in Men

diabetes symptoms in men
diabetes symptoms in men

Though many diseases seem to exhibit different symptoms depending on which sex has the disease, many times diabetes symptoms in men differ little from diabetes symptoms in women. Whether type 1 of type 2diabetes, men suffer from most of the same diease symptoms as women, as far as the diabetes itself is concerned. The secondary diseases that often accompany diabetes, such as heart disease, high blood pressure, and kidney problems affect diabetic males in much the same way as they affect males without diabetes.

One of the chief reasons that a person should be familiar with the symptoms of diabetes, regardless of their sex, is that diabetes rates are on the rise even as the rates of diagnosis for heart disease, high blood pressure and cancer continue to decrease.

The three classic diabetes symptoms in men, and in women, are increased thirst, increased hunger, and increased urination. The best way to remember these symptoms is by understanding just a little bit about how diabetes works. Diabetes begins when either the pancreas ceases to produce a hormone called insulin, or the cells of the body become resistant to the action of insulin.

Insulin must be properly metabolized due to the fact that it is only through the action of insulin that the glucose that we get from out food can pass into the cells and be used for energy. If the glucose cannot pass into the cells it builds in the bloodstream where it can, in high levels, begin to cause damage to many body systems. Since the glucose molecule is so large it attracts water molecules to itself, this more fluid that normal out of the body during urination and leads to increased thirst.

This is compounded by the fact that when the body recognizes a glucose increases it tries to rid itself of excess glucose through the kidney and this leads to increased urination. Because the insulin is either not present or the cells are resistant to it, the cells do not get the glucose needed as fuel and this leads to increases hunger even though there is an excess of glucose already in the blood.

Diabetes symptoms in men and women have very little variance between the sexes, if you or someone you know begins to have constantly increased hunger, increased thirst, and increased urination, especially if they have a family history of diabetes, it is probably time to talk to a doctor to make sure that they aren’t developing diabetes.

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What Are Symptoms of High Glucose Levels?

Symptoms of High Glucose Levels
Symptoms of High Glucose Levels

There are three classic symptoms of high glucose levels and several possible other symptoms. But, in order to understand the symptoms of high glucose levels it may be important to first understand why glucose levels become elevated in the first place. High glucose levels most commonly occur in those with diabetes.

This condition is caused when the body either does not produce enough insulin, or the cells are resistant to the insulin that is produced. While the body converts the sugars and carbohydrates that we ingest into glucose and glucose is the fuel for every cell in the body, without the action of insulin the glucose cannot enter the cell for use and remains in the bloodstream where levels build up.

This is why diabetics must take insulin or some form of medication that assists in the action of insulin. Even though glucose is the fuel for the body in high levels it becomes toxic and this toxicity combined with the fact that not enough glucose is entering the cells to power those causes the three trademark symptoms of high glucose levels.

Polyphagia is the first of the three symptoms of high glucose levels. Polyphagia is a fancy Greek word that means “eats a lot,” and refers to a sudden increase in appetite. This is due to the fact that the glucose is locked in the blood stream because there is a lack of insulin action to allow it to pass into the cell. Therefore your body is tricked into thinking that it is starving even though you are eating all the time and driving your blood glucose to new and dangerously high levels.

Polyuria is the second of the three classic symptoms of high glucose levels. Polyuria occurs because the body attempts to get rid of excess glucose through the urine. The glucose molecules in the bloodstream are so large that they attract water away from the body and cause excess water to be flushed out in the urine. This leads to the third of the classic symptoms of high glucose levels, which is polydipsia, or frequently thirsty. As the body loses water through the water molecules following the glucose molecules out of the body during the frequent urination the body responds by increasing thirst in the attempt to replace the lost water.

If you or someone you know has a family history of diabetes and/or begins to develop these symptoms of high glucose levels it is time for a visit to the doctor for a glucose tolerance test before the blood glucose rises to a dangerous level.

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