Unlike most diseases, the Monster referred to here, Type-2 Diabetes hardly ever leaves a trail of Symptoms to follow. Experience and Expertise of the medical practitioner facing the patient is often the decisive factor in a timely diagnosis. However, some specific symptoms of Type-2 diabetes have been identified. They may be very subtle and often obscure in the beginning; this leads to neglect in most cases as busy lives often ignore the symptoms as passing phases or just aging factors.
Though two-thirds of Type-2 Diabetics have almost no identifiable symptoms, the most common happens to be an increase in urination. The body tries to reduce blood glucose levels by rapid and excessive urination. This leads to dehydration of the body as a lot of fluid is lost in the body’s natural response to high blood-glucose levels. Unusual thirst is the second identifiable symptom of Type-2 Diabetes which surfaces from the rapid dehydration of the body. Thus, high fluid intake is a must for the diabetic.
Since the glucose in the blood is going to waste, and glucose happens to be the basic fuel to the human body; undue tiredness and often lethargy is another common symptom of Type-2 Diabetes. Blood-glucose highs mean that the glucose isn’t used up but rather wasted in the human body. This leaves the body with an unusual tiredness and lack of energy.
Fall in weight in spite of a good food intake is another trait of a Type-2 diabetic. Food is not digested well; hence there is a waste of nutrients. The cells cannot perform well enough to synthesize other foods like proteins and fats and this leads to rapid weight loss. Contemporarily, a hike in appetite is also a noted symptom. With all the waste of essential nutrition, the body requirements aren’t satisfied. Appetite increases as the body demands more nutrition to cope with the lack of energy and nutrients. Feeling sick due to no apparent reason is often another closely associated symptom of this kind.
With a loss of nutrients, the body naturally feels weak and is susceptible to other diseases as there is a loss in immunological responses compared to a healthy body. Eye-sight failures and blurry visions are another easily detectable symptom of Type-2 Diabetes. Hypo-glycaemia or loss of glucose from the body system causes blurry vision, most common with diabetics and their weak glucose retention.
Yeast infections, thrush in the mouth and throat and genital irritation are also very common and predictable symptoms of Type-2 Diabetes. Increase of urination and low immunity causes these very uncomfortable symptoms. Often to be noted is also the collection of ants on the spot of urination due to high glucose levels in the urine. In fact, in India, people often urinate in open fields to detect high blood-glucose to see if ants are attracted to their urination spot!
There are these very minute symptoms in detecting the early signs of Type-2 Diabetes, but very often they tend to be rather vague to the layman. In aging patients, particularly, they go un-noted for long as “just age catching up” and natural. In younger adults, it is often given a blind eye in the melee of busy, crazy lives. There are various tests to diagnose Type-2 Diabetes; a medical practitioner will often test after suspecting Diabetes in a patient after seeing the said symptoms. Some common tests for Diabetes detection are:-
• Fasting blood glucose level – Diabetes is diagnosed if higher than 126 mg/dL on two occasions.
• Random (non-fasting) blood glucose level — diabetes is suspected if higher than 200 mg/dL and accompanied by the classic symptoms of increased thirst, urination, and fatigue. (This test must be confirmed with a fasting blood glucose test.)
• Oral glucose tolerance test — diabetes is diagnosed if glucose level is higher than 200 mg/dL after 2 hours.