How to Recognize a Diabetes Symptom

Unfortunately, there is no single diabetes symptom that will help a person know for sure whether or not they have the disease.  Millions of Americans have diabetes at this very moment and they have no idea they are suffering from it.  When it comes to knowing whether or not you have the disease of diabetes, the best option is to analyze what your family history is with regard to diabetes and to look to see whether or not you are overweight.  If the answer to both questions is yes, then you need to think about actually being tested for diabetes mellitus.  Your doctor can do a fasting test, a Hemoglobin A1C or a glucose tolerance test to determine if you are pre-diabetic or have full blown diabetes. 

Some people have a diabetes symptom that actually results from having low blood sugar.  This situation can occur when the diabetic individual takes too much insulin or has abnormal fluctuations in their own insulin levels.  Low blood sugar has relatively obvious symptoms.  The person feels very shaky, has sweats and feels dizzy and hungry.  Very low blood sugar can progress to loss of consciousness if the condition is severe.  Generally, when a person has those symptoms, they learn to recognize that they need to eat something sugary, like orange juice, to bring the blood sugar back up to normal levels. Some diabetics carry candies with them to eat whenever the diabetes symptom of low blood sugar comes up.

There is a diabetes symptom when a diabetic suffers from extremely high blood sugar.  They can feel a dizziness, nausea, vomiting and symptoms that can progress to loss of consciousness if severe.  A person can go into ketoacidosis or a hyperglycemic coma that requires immediate medical attention.  This can happen when a person has not taken their insulin or has a sudden change in their need for insulin.  Checking the blood sugars frequently can do something to prevent this kind of thing from happening.

More than one diabetes symptom can occur when a person has uncontrolled diabetes for too long.  The individual can suffer from poor circulation to their legs, poor nerve supply to their legs—both of which can result in diabetic foot sores and lack of feeling in the feet and legs.  Another diabetic symptom is urinating frequently.  The kidneys are stressed from the diabetes and eventually will fail to rid the body properly of toxins.  The end result is kidney failure.

Another diabetes symptom occurs because diabetics often have problems with their cholesterol and other lipids.  This can result in poor blood flow to the heart and symptoms of chest pain on exertion.  This is known as angina and can be a precursor symptom to developing full blown heart disease or a heart attack.  This is why doctors work hard to lower the cholesterol of their diabetic patients.  Diabetics are checked more often for signs of heart disease and they may require surgery to open the blocked arteries of the heart.