Signs You Might Be Suffering From Undiagnosed Diabetes

9 days ago

In the world that we live, it is known that over 240 million people are living with undiagnosed diabetes. That is the population of Germany, France, the United Kingdom, and Singapore Combined and there will still be space to add other countries, and that is the population of Nigeria and a few more individuals as we speak, so if we must tell ourselves the truth, that is a whole lot of numbers. Not being able to identify and manage this condition can become very detrimental to ones life over time. So what is diabetes and how can you catch it easily before it kills you.

My simple definition for diabetes is a condition where the body is unable to manage the blood sugar level that it would have normally managed or is meant to manage. Sorry I like keeping things simple because it will make it understandable for both you reading, and me the writer. In the body, an hormone names insulin is released from the pancreas and this hormone helps sugar to leave the blood and get into the cells in the body where they are needed for energy but this doesn't happen when a person has diabetes and this can be as a result of either the pancreas stop making insulin, or the cell becomes resistant to insulin. The former is what is referred to as type 1 diabetes, and the latter is referred to as type 2 diabetes.

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In both cases I mentioned above, sugar starts to increase in the blood and its increase can lead to irreversible damage in the blood vessels, organs and nerves. Both type of diabetes affect humans but type 2 diabetes is common than type 1 as type 1 could be as a result of an autoimmune disease but what are the signs that tell you that you suffering from possible diabetes? Let's discuss them.

The first sign I usually tell people to look out for is Polyuria which is frequent urination which is usually noticeable at night where patient has to wake up multiple times at night and this is because as blood sugar levels rise the kidney has more work to do as it has to filter the water as well as excess glucose in the blood. Asides from this, patients with diabetes can have dark patchy lines in their neck, groins, armpit, and back which is a sign of insulin resistance because increased insulin in the body can stimulate the growth of skin cells such as keratinocytes in areas of high friction.

Skin tags are another sign to look out for with insulin resistance. While skin tags do not have any health harm on us when they are little but when a person have multiple skin tags, it can be a sign of insulin resistance which is possible diabetes. Another thing to look out for in infections. This is because diabetes allows humans to be susceptible to bacterial and fungal infections because bacteria and fungi thrive with the high blood sugar level in the body which feeds them.

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Another sign of diabetes is Diabetic Stiff Hand Syndrome ( diabetic cheiroarthropathy ) which is when both hands cannot straighten when they are join together in a prayer form as a result of the stiffening of the tissues causing the inability of fingers to fully straighten. Just as a person with diabetes can experience diabetic cheiroarthropathy, they can also experience Adhesive Capsulitis or Frozen shoulder where there can be stiffness in the joint of the shoulder causing pain for a long time.

People suffering from diabetes can suffer numbness, shortness of blood to the feet and ulcers which slowly heals. People with diabetes can experience fractures on their digits but because it is numb, they might not notice on time that they have fractures. Overtime, the feet of people suffering from diabetes can change look to become what is known as charcot foot and so many people with this debilitating condition do not feel pain on their feet as a result of nerve ending damage caused by diabetes and this places diabetes as the number one cause of non-traumatic amputation.