You can determine diabetes by paying attention to the symptoms that appear. With this endocrine disease, the state of health worsens. At first, many patients do not even pay attention to the first symptoms of diabetes mellitus, although with type I pathology they reduce the quality of human life in a matter of days. The later the disease is detected, the more difficult it is to achieve its compensation. Remember the signs of diabetes, this will allow you to consult a doctor in a timely manner if they occur.
Characteristics of the disease
Diabetes mellitus is a serious endocrine pathology in which there is an absolute or relative insufficiency of insulin. In the first case, it is not produced by pancreatic cells in the required quantities, and in the second case, it disrupts the process of interaction of this hormone with target cells.
Insulin is required so that the glucose that enters the body can be absorbed by the tissues. If the hormone does not perform its functions, then sugar circulates in the blood for a long time. As a result, tissues and organs do not receive the necessary energy.
Pathology is manifested by the development of persistent hyperglycemia. The concentration of sugar is constantly above the norm. In this disease, all types of metabolism are disturbed. Problems arise from carbohydrate, fat, water-salt, protein and mineral metabolism.
Classification
Endocrinologists distinguish the following types of diabetes:
- insulin dependent (type I);
- insulin-independent (type II);
- gestational.
Form I diabetes is insulin dependent. This form of the disease is detected mainly in children and young people. The main symptoms in type I pathology are pronounced. In this form of the disease, insulin is not produced in the patient's body, so patients need to inject this hormone daily.
In form II, the first signs do not appear immediately, they are mild. A person may not suspect that he has health problems for several years from the onset of the disease. Insulin is produced in the body, but target cells become insensitive to it.
Gestational diabetes occurs during pregnancy. After childbirth, the condition returns to normal, but a woman needs to be careful and follow a diet. Patients with this form are at risk of developing type 2 disease.
The first signs of diabetes
All symptoms of this endocrine pathology are divided into major and minor. Their appearance is characteristic of both forms of the disease. But insulin-dependent people develop predominantly the main symptoms. They become pronounced during the period when no more than 20% of the cells that are responsible for the production of insulin remain in the pancreas.
The main features include the following:
- polyuria - increased urination, increased volume of urine;
- polydipsia - the appearance of an obsessive thirst that cannot be quenched, the patient can drink more than 5 liters of water daily;
- polyphagia - increased hunger, after meals there is no feeling of satiety;
- weight loss - with the development of insulin dependence, people quickly lose weight.
In the first form of the disease, patients can even approximately name the date when they first felt unwell.
But the main symptoms also occur in type II of the disease. Their severity increases gradually. Therefore, often the patient cannot say when he felt changes in well-being for the first time. Insulin-independent patients notice the occurrence of minor symptoms earlier. But many of them can be confused with other diseases, so people do not immediately turn to an endocrinologist.
Secondary symptoms include the following:
- dryness in the mouth;
- itching of the skin and mucous membranes;
- muscle weakness, increased fatigue;
- skin lesions that are difficult to treat;
- visual disturbances;
- persistent headaches;
- metallic taste in the mouth;
- limb numbness.
But the main and secondary signs develop in all forms of pathology. It is possible to understand from what type the patient suffers without conducting a comprehensive examination on specific grounds. But for specification of the diagnosis, selection of treatment diagnostics is obligatory.
Symptoms of type 1
People whose cells responsible for producing insulin are destroyed experience constant hunger. With an increase in the amount of food absorbed, their weight may fall. Noticing such changes, it is necessary to immediately donate blood for sugar.
Other symptoms of insulin dependence include:
- increased nervous excitability;
- causeless bouts of vomiting, nausea;
- the smell of acetone when breathing;
- pain in the region of the heart;
- sleep disturbance;
- sharp headaches.
The appearance of even 1 symptom should not be ignored. You can understand that there are problems by passing an analysis to determine the level of sugar in the blood. If you do not start insulin therapy when the first signs appear, then the patient's condition will rapidly deteriorate, he may fall into a diabetic coma.
Symptoms type 2
The specific changes that can be suspected for the development of the non-insulin-dependent form of the disease include the following:
- pain in the limbs;
- cramps in the muscles of the legs, arms;
- weight gain;
- deterioration of libido, problems with potency;
- decrease in pain sensitivity;
- weakening of the immune system;
- the appearance on the body of xanthomas - yellow formations that occur in violation of fat metabolism;
- increased hair growth on the face while reducing their number on the legs.
But these manifestations in patients are often mild, so people do not pay any attention to them. Many problems are discovered by chance during a routine examination.
Features of occurrence
There are no significant differences in the development of the disease in men and women. It starts the same way in both sexes. They may differ only in minor symptoms.
The severity of pathological signs and the rate of development of the disease depends directly on the age of the person. Children and adolescents are diagnosed with the I form of diabetes. People over 40 develop type II disease.
Insulin-independent pathologies are more often detected in patients who:
- lead an inactive lifestyle;
- suffer from overweight;
- consume simple carbohydrates in large quantities;
- experiencing constant psycho-emotional stress.
You can distinguish the types of the disease by the symptoms.
In children
Young people develop a predominantly insulin-dependent form of diabetes. This diagnosis is given to patients under 30 years of age. A doctor's consultation is necessary if a child or a young person has frequent urination, the volume of fluid they drink has increased significantly.
The likelihood of developing the disease is higher in those children who:
- have a genetic predisposition to develop diabetes;
- born with a weight of 4. 5 kg;
- suffer from metabolic disorders (obesity, hypothyroidism);
- suffered a viral infection, as a result of which pancreatic cells (rubella, measles, mumps, and others) could be damaged.
With a mild form in children, adolescents, symptoms do not always occur, they can be almost invisible. Signs will appear only with the progression of the disease.
In men
In adult patients, there is a risk of developing type 2 pathology. Men are prone to diabetes, in whom, when gaining excess weight, the volume of the abdomen first of all increases. With visceral obesity, pressure on the internal organs increases, the work of the pancreas is disrupted.
Alarming symptoms are the weakening of sexual desire and impotence. A characteristic symptom may be inflammation of the foreskin - it occurs due to increased urination. The development of this condition contributes to the active reproduction of pathogenic bacteria.
Among women
One of the symptoms of diabetes is itchy mucous membranes. More often, women face its occurrence - they have unpleasant sensations in the genital area. Most of them turn to the gynecologist with suspicion of infection with infections that are transmitted through sexual contact. If, according to the results of the tests, there are no STDs, there are no problems with the microflora, then the doctor may advise checking the sugar level.
Diagnostics
If symptoms of endocrine disorders appear, it is necessary to undergo an examination. Diabetes can be detected by tests that determine:
- concentration of glucose in the blood on an empty stomach;
- glycated hemoglobin - shows the average sugar level that the patient had over the past 2-3 months;
- glucose tolerance test - an analysis that is performed on an empty stomach and repeated after taking glucose.
The doctor may recommend donating blood at any time without prior preparation. This is necessary if there are signs characteristic of diabetes.
Which doctor to contact
Patients who develop major, minor, or specific signs of diabetes should make an appointment with an endocrinologist. But a therapist can conduct a preliminary diagnosis - he will give a direction for the necessary tests.
Based on the results of the examination, the endocrinologist can immediately give recommendations on nutrition, lifestyle changes and drug therapy. With a disease of the first type, insulin injections are indispensable. Patients with type II diabetes are prescribed diet therapy, medications are selected, under the influence of which target cells begin to more actively absorb insulin and glucose.