Diabetes mellitus (or diabetes), otherwise known as sugar disease, is a scourge that requires awareness of all levels of society. Diabetes mellitus is a metabolic disease caused by increased levels of glucose or blood sugar.
If not managed properly, diabetes mellitus can lead to various complications such as coronary heart disease, stroke, obesity, and disorders of the eyes, kidneys, and nerves. Therefore, it is important to know the signs of diabetes mellitus so that handling can be done as soon as possible.
Diabetes mellitus is often diagnosed by checking the levels of hbA1C, which is a person's average sugar level for 2-3 months. A person is said to have diabetes mellitus if the results of his hbA1C examination are 7 in at least two separate examinations.
Diabetes can lead to serious health problems, such as neuropathy or nerve damage, visual impairment, to increased risk of heart disease.
In addition to the hbA1C numbers, there are several other examination processes that doctors can use to diagnose the possibility of diabetes mellitus, such as fasting and fasting blood glucose, and analyzing the risk factors and symptoms that a person has.
Of course, if you recognize the signs and symptoms of diabetes mellitus, you can change your lifestyle and prevent worsening of the condition early on. The early signs of diabetes are not always easy to recognize as they develop slowly over a long period of time. However, you can learn it to increase self-awareness of health.
Excessive thirst
Often feel thirsty despite drinking enough and mouth often feels dry? It could be a sign of diabetes. This symptom is actually a domino effect of the first symptom, that is the desire to urinate continuously. High blood sugar levels cause urine production to increase so that people urinate more often. This causes the circulation of fluid in the body take place more quickly, so you will also feel thirsty faster and mouth feels dry.
If you feel constantly thirsty and drink more than usual (when there is no change in activity), it could be a sign of diabetes.
Starving
Excessive hunger is also a sign of diabetes. The medical term is known as polifagi. Insulin disturbances in diabetics make the cells that exist in the body can not utilize the sugar in the blood properly. This condition is the main cause of accumulation of blood sugar levels. Due to lack of energy sources, the cells in the body will signal that the body "lacks" food. This is what makes people with diabetes will usually feel the excessive hunger that often happens all the time throughout the day.
Frequent urination
In people with diabetes, the kidneys respond to high blood sugar levels by trying to get rid of them through the urine. As a result, the production of urine becomes more, so the patient feel the urge to urinate more often than usual. This condition also increases the risk of urinary tract infections in both men and women.
For a simple comparison, a person with diabetes can go to the bathroom up to 2 times more often than people who do not have diabetes. If you experience this, especially if you have a resting night break because you have to wake up frequently to urinate at night, you can suspect it as a sign of diabetes.
Impaired vision
Visual impairment such as blurred vision often occurs as an early sign of diabetes. Any changes in blood sugar levels not only cause fluid shifts into the lens of the eye, but also affect the function and flexibility to focus the view. Although not necessarily cause damage to the lens, this condition causes the muscles around the lens should work harder to focus the view, so the view becomes blurred and not infrequently the eyes become tired.
Skin changes
The seventh mark of diabetes is skin changes, such as discoloration or the appearance of skin tags (warts). One of the identical skin changes to diabetes is the appearance of acanthosis nigricans or thickened black areas. This condition usually occurs in the folds of the skin, such as the armpits, neck, and groin. Warts can also appear in these areas.
Muscle and tingling pain
These symptoms in particular, vary greatly in each person. Some feel just a numbness or tingling. There are also who feel worse symptoms such as hand and foot pain. However, all this is due to a nerve disorder due to long-term exposure to high blood sugar levels. This symptom usually begins from the legs then creeps up to the upper limbs.
Hard wounds heal
This mark is usually already quite recognizable laity as a sign of suspicion of diabetes. The presence of minor injuries but never recovered or even worsened in diabetics closely related to poor circulation, as well as the impact of high sugar levels on the destruction of blood vessel function.
In addition, in women with high blood sugar levels due to diabetes, can lead to recurrent health disorders of the feminine area. This is caused by fungi and bacteria that develop faster when blood sugar levels soar. These conditions can increase the risk of bacterial and fungal infections, especially in the area of femininity.
Well, that's seven signs of diabetes mellitus that you can identify for early detection of this metabolic disease. If you or anyone nearest suffers one or more of these seven signs, accompanied by risk factors such as family history of diabetes, obesity, etc., consult a health care provider immediately to confirm and get an early treatment plan.