If you suddenly feel very thirsty and often have to urinate, it might be a sign that you have type 2 diabetes.
But how do you know this for sure?
In this article, I will give you the 9 most important symptoms of type 2 diabetes so you get a better picture of the consequences of this disease.
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Always feeling thirsty and tired can be a sign of type 2 diabetes
Experiencing frequent thirst can be very annoying. No matter how much you drink, your thirst is never quenched and you just want more.
Apart from being annoying, it can also be dangerous if you happen to have type 2 diabetes without knowing it.
Before I explain what type 2 diabetes is and how you can recognize it, I want to warn you. If you think you are ill, you should always go to your doctor first. There are no exceptions to this.
If you've recently been feeling frequently thirsty, have a dry mouth, and also feel tired, then I want you to contact your doctor right now and make an immediate appointment.
Only when you've done this should you continue reading this article.
Before I explain why type 2 diabetes makes you feel thirsty, I'll tell you a little more about the disease so that it's easier for you to understand.
What is type 2 diabetes?
Diabetes is short for diabetes mellitus. It's a condition that affects hundreds of millions of people all around the world.
There are two forms of diabetes. The first is childhood diabetes, also called type 1 diabetes. The second form is called adult-onset diabetes or type 2 diabetes. This form is called adult-onset diabetes because previously it only affected older people.
Nowadays we see that more and more young adults are affected by the disease, mainly because they start eating unhealthy food at a very young age.
Type 1 diabetes is an auto-immune disease, which means you can get it at an early age. So there is a big difference between these two types of the "same" disease.
When you eat something rich in carbohydrates or sugars, the sugars are absorbed from your intestines into your bloodstream. The blood transports them to all the areas of your body that need energy, in a process that you don't notice at all.
However, in people with diabetes, things go wrong. The process of extracting the sugar from the blood and taking it to the places that need it is less efficient than in healthy people. In such cases, too much sugar remains floating in your blood.
Why is this happening? With type 2 diabetes, our cells become desensitized to the hormone insulin (insulin resistance).
The hormone insulin tells your body that all this sugar must quickly be taken out of your blood. When there's not enough insulin, too much sugar remains in your blood.
In type 1 diabetes, the pancreas no longer produces insulin. This is because the organ that makes the hormone is 'broken.' People with childhood diabetes must, therefore inject insulin. As a child, they often notice that they are very thirsty, have to pee a lot, and are constantly tired.
Can type 2 diabetes be cured?
Where type 1 diabetes develops during childhood and has no known cure, type 2 diabetes can be prevented and cured.
Type 2 diabetes develops because people eat too much sugar and unhealthy carbs over long periods of time. To prevent or cure the disease it is essential to live a healthy life.
Some people who are destined to develop type 2 diabetes are not there yet, but they're well on their way. They have pre-diabetes, which is also dangerous. With this condition, you have a continuously rising blood sugar level that can be harmful in the long term.
If you are often very thirsty, you may already be suffering from type 2 diabetes. If this is indeed the case, there's still a lot you can do to get rid of it. Read about how to do this here.
You might think, "Oh, a little more sugar in my blood won't hurt, will it?" But, unfortunately, it's unwise to think so lightly about it.
Too much sugar in your blood will badly damage your body.
Most parts of your body cannot endure excessively high blood sugar levels for very long.
I am not just talking about your organs, such as your eyes, your heart, and your kidneys but also about every other part of your body that is connected to your cardiovascular system and to your nerves.
You can only prevent this by living a healthier lifestyle and taking the necessary medication.
Purpose of this article
Before taking action, you will want to know for sure whether or not you do have diabetes. Below, you will find a list of the most common symptoms so you can 'test' yourself. Whatever the case may be: When in doubt, always consult a doctor.
Symptom #1: Thirst
Thirst is one of the most significant symptoms of type 2 diabetes. If you are very thirsty for no obvious reason, you will definitely want to exclude type 2 diabetes.
Why do you get so thirsty when you have diabetes? Let me explain:
This is the resulting vicious circle:
Having to urinate often is called polyuria. And that's also an indication of (severe) type 2 diabetes.
Having to urinate a lot and being extremely thirsty is not usual for most people – it usually means that something is wrong.
So be careful if you are in this situation.
Symptom #2: Fatigue
You can get very tired if your blood sugar level is consistently too high.
That sounds crazy. After all, you have a lot of sugar available that your body could use for energy. How is it possible that you feel tired and weak?
Well, if you have diabetes, then the exact location of that sugar is vitally important.
The fact that there is a lot of sugars in your blood, doesn't mean that your muscles and brain can use it.
They can only absorb sugar if the signal comes via the hormone insulin.
And if you are not sensitive to insulin, the sugars can NOT get from your blood to your brain and muscles.
The result is that you always feel weak and tired despite having lots of potential energy in your bloodstream. No matter how much you eat or drink, you're unable to get the energy you need. This is often accompanied by a lot of headaches and dizziness.
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Symptom #3: Dehydration
All the drinking and urinating will eventually drive you crazy.
And another indication that you have diabetes is that your mucous membranes will start drying out, leaving you with a dry mouth and eyes, for example.
These organs become dry because fluids are extracted from them to lower your blood sugar levels. This allows bumps and cracks to appear.
You will hardly ever get a dry mouth unless you drink a little alcohol, fall sick, or find yourself somewhere with a very hot climate. So, it's a condition that almost never occurs under normal circumstances... unless you have type 2 diabetes of course.
Thus, being thirsty, having a dry mouth, and having to urinate a lot are all connected.
Symptom #4: Frequently hungry
When your muscles and brain don't get enough energy, you will feel exhausted. But on top of that, you will also feel hungry. You can eat whatever you want, but you won't feel full.
This is because your body isn't getting what it needs. The energy-giving sugars remain in your blood, unable to reach the organs that are crying out for them.
This will make you eat more and more...
...but, unfortunately, eating will not help at all.
You end up in a vicious circle where you eat and eat but you never feel like you've had enough.
Symptom #5: Blurred vision
Blood sugar levels also affect the lenses of your eyes. In type 2 diabetes patients, blood sugar levels vary a lot. This also means that the sugar level in your lenses can fluctuate.
Changing sugar levels in the lens of the eye
The refractive properties of the lens of your eye determine the strength of the glasses or contact lenses you might need to wear. Changes in the sugar level in the lens of the eye also change the way light is refracted through the lens, which in turn affects the clarity of what you can see.
One fortunate thing about this is that the effect can be reversed. As soon as you receive medication, or even better, as soon as you adjust your lifestyle, your blood sugar level will stabilize. Thus returning your vision back to normal.
Symptom #6: Wounds that won't heal
If you suffer from diabetes, wounds you sustain won't heal as well as they normally would. This is because small blood vessels leading to the affected areas become clogged and the compounds needed to repair the wounds can no longer reach their destination.
TYPE 2 DIABETES RISK FACTORS
Here's the deal: your body is full of small capillaries, tiny blood vessels that transport blood to your tissues. The blood contains the nutrients and oxygen your body needs to stay healthy.
With diabetes, these capillaries get clogged up by the excess sugars in your blood.
Because of this, the overall blood flow to your body decreases dramatically.
As a result, your body gets into a lot of trouble doing the simplest things.
Consider delivering nutrients to parts of your body that need them to heal wounds.
Now, if you notice that small wounds are not getting any better, or are healing but very slowly, this too could be a signal that you have diabetes.
Wounds like this run a serious risk of becoming inflamed or infected. And if you don't go to your doctor with this as soon as possible, it can lead to very severe problems.
Symptom #7: Bladder infections
Do you know who the biggest sugar lovers are? Fungi and yeasts.
And they can make you really sick.
Consider having yeast in your body. They need sugar to multiply. Yeasts die without sugar. In healthy individuals, yeasts are removed pretty quickly.
But if you have diabetes, it's different
If you have diabetes, your blood sugar level is high all the time. Not only that: your urine is also full of sugar. This means the organs that filter and store your urine - your kidneys and bladder respectively - are ideal breeding grounds for yeasts. And this can often be the cause of bladder infections.
If you often suffer from bladder infections, it may indicate that you have diabetes.
It is true that later in life many people fall victim to bladder infections. However, this doesn't necessarily mean they are diabetic. But if you notice that you have several of the symptoms mentioned in this blog, you'd be well-advised to test yourself for type 2 diabetes.
Symptom #8: You're moody
And I don't mean this in the wrong way.
You have little energy because of your diabetes, which prevents your body from using the sugars in your blood.
You can stuff your face with handfuls of food, but the energy won't end up where it belongs. Your brain, in particular, finds this hard to cope with.
If you've ever been on the road for a day without having any food, you probably noticed it wasn't much fun. After a while, you stop enjoying yourself and you're liable to become quite grumpy.
If you notice you have several of the symptoms listed above, and you're grumpy as well, there's a distinct possibility that you have diabetes.
It can also manifest itself as mood swings, where one minute you feel great and the next you feel really down.
Symptom #9: Itching
I mentioned earlier that fungi and yeast are fond of sugar.
Unfortunately, this is evident not only in the bladder infections mentioned earlier but also in other infections all over the body.
Typical characteristics of a fungal infection would be:
If your blood sugar level is high, the fungus gets all the energy it needs to multiply.
And there's every chance that it'll get worse.
The prime suspect is the fungus Candida albicans.
Fungal infections are relatively harmless as long as they remain on your skin.
But, given the right circumstances, they can also cause many nasty complications. They can also move through your body and nestle in places where you really don't want them.
If you often have fungal infections, you should really have a conversation with your doctor about them. Then get tested for type 2 diabetes.
Diabetes-Free Secret
Do you have several of the symptoms mentioned above? Then it's definitely time to visit your doctor and determine whether you have type 2 diabetes or not.
And believe me when I tell you, this is not the end of the world.
it has Recently been discovered that it is possible to reverse type 2 diabetes. Everything you need to do this can be found in your local grocery store.
You can reverse type 2 with one powerful principle. It's something I call "The Diabetes-Free Secret". I have written a number of pages about this secret that will change your life forever. You will learn:
Enter your e-mail address below and I will send you the E-book for free.
Greetings,
Marloes Schuurman
PS: Are you always thirsty? What do you do about it? Leave a comment below.