There has yet to be a specific cause or any one factor determined for what Causes Diabetes, but there have been strong hereditary connections made and people with a close family member with type 2 diabetes have up to a 15 % increase in getting the disease. Obesity, poor diet and a stationary lifestyle will also increase person’s chances of developing diabetes. Some nationalities and races, such as African Americans and Asians seem to be at higher risks for developing type 2 diabetes. It is thought that up to 18% of Americans suffering from the early onset of diabetes do not even know they have it. Why is that?
Diabetes is most often times treatable but the symptoms of diabetes are often masked and very comparable to other diseases, causing it to go ignored and undiagnosed or treated until it reaches a critical point.
One of the first signs of diabetes is often a feeling of being rundown all the time and never feeling as if you got enough rest and one of tiring very easily. There may also be sudden mood swings and bouts of depression as the body’s glucose levels vary and try to self regulate. There can also be an unexplained and sudden weight loss as well as times of rapid breathing when little exertion has been expended. There can be sensations of excessive thirst and extreme hunger where the body never seems satiated. It can also be accompanied by blurred vision, headaches or a numbing and tingling sensation in the body’s extremities. Dry itchy skin and being unable to heal quickly from minor cuts and bruises are also signs of diabetes. High blood pressure and recurring UTIs and repeated yeast infections have also been linked with Type 2 Diabetes.
What we term Type 1 Diabetes also known as juvenile diabetes is most times discovered in early childhood but can actually at any age. This type of diabetes has all of the same symptoms of Type 2 but is much more common among Caucasians than in any other ethnicity and is autoimmune disease that develops from the body’s inability to produce insulin. Most people diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes will need to be on an insulin maintenance program and will most likely require daily insulin injections.
We have all experienced headaches and times of feeling rundown and most of us have experienced all the other symptoms listed above and obviously having any one the symptoms at any one time is not a sure diagnosis of having diabetes. Most, if not all can be linked to other ailments as well, but if you experience a combination of any of the above listed signs it would be pertinent to visit a physician for a complete work up to accurately determine if any of these symptoms are linked to diabetes.
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