What are the Symptoms of Diabetes?
The symptoms of diabetes may develop very quickly or can appear more gradually over a longer period of time. Sometimes the symptoms can be quite mild and may pass unnoticed for months. Type 2 diabetes develops quite slowly and sometimes any symptoms that developed are put down to stress or aging. Type 1 diabetes usually develops very rapidly with a lot of weight loss and a severe thirst.
When you develop diabetes you have too much glucose in the blood and this gives you these symptoms:
- Excessive thirst and a dry mouth
- Passing large amounts of water (urine) - especially at night
- Weight loss
- Craving for sugar
- Tiredness
- Blurring of vision
- Itching ‘private parts’ (which are prone to infection e.g. thrush)
- Leg cramps
Most of the symptoms improve quickly after treatment to lower the blood glucose levels is started. However, blurring of vision may take several weeks or even a month or two to clear completely.
Some patients have no symptoms whatsoever and their diabetes may be picked up during a routine health check where a sample of urine or blood is tested for high glucose or sugar levels. It is thought that as many as one million people in the UK may have diabetes which is not yet diagnosed.
If you have any of these symptoms consult your GP or Practice nurse. They will arrange for you to be tested for diabetes. The earlier your diabetes is discovered the better.