Symptoms and Causes of Diabetes

Diabetes is a persistent and serious disease. It cannot be cured, even when you receive treatment. If left untreated, it can lead to very serious complications that can be deadly. There is some good news though, diabetes can be controlled if it is carefully monitored.

Diabetes is a serious disease and should be treated with great care. In most situations, people diagnosed with diabetes require routine medical treatment. By making changes toward a healthy lifestyle and a working on maintaining target blood-sugar levels, people with diabetes can significantly slow down the degenerative process of the disease.

Symptoms of Diabetes

The symptoms of diabetes can develop quickly in people who had previously been exhibiting no signs of the disease.

There are two types of diabetes, and each type has different signs of their onset. Initial symptoms of Type 1 diabetes usually develop over weeks and months, while Type 2 diabetes can take years. While Type 1 diabetics can experience the mild symptoms similar to the early stages of Type 2 diabetes, the most prominent symptoms of Type 1 diabetes are usually the symptoms of very high blood sugars count and it progresses very quickly.

Irritability: This is one sign of high blood sugar because the brain and other organs are not getting a sufficient supply of glucose, which causes you to feel tired and uneasy.

Diabetes also brings on fatigue, a sick feeling, frequent urination, especially at night, and excessive thirst. One way the body gets rid of the excess glucose is through frequent urination. This loss of fluids causes extreme thirst.

Unexplained weight loss: Some people with diabetes have the inability to process many of the calories in the foods they eat. This may cause the person to lose weight even though they eat normal or even excessive amount of food. The loss sugar and water in the urine and the dehydration caused by the frequent urination can also contribute to weight loss.

Poor wound healing: High blood sugar resists the creation of white blood cells. When these cells do not function correctly, wounds do not heal very quickly. Secondly, circulation of blood can be hindered in different body parts for people with long standing diabetes due to thickening of blood vessels.

Altered mental status: Agitation, unexplained irritability, inattention, extreme lethargy, or confusion can all be signs of conditions diabetes can cause (i.e. very high blood sugar, ketoacidosis, or hyperosmolar hyperglycemia nonketotic syndrome or hypoglycemia). Any of these conditions requires immediate medical attention. Call your health care provider or 911.

Causes of Diabetes

In Type 1 diabetes, the insulin-producing beta cells are destroyed by the body's immune system. For some reason, the immune system recognizes the cells as being 'foreign' rather than 'self', and therefore attacks them.

Type 2 diabetes is believed to run in families. There are several genes are being studied that may be related to the cause of type 2 diabetes.

Drugs such as steroids, Dilantin, and others may elevate the blood sugar through a variety of mechanisms. Certain other drugs, such as alloxan, streptozocin, and thiazide diuretics, are toxic to the beta cells of the pancreas and can cause diabetes.

Heredity is a major cause of diabetes. If both parents have Type 2 diabetes, there is a chance that nearly all of their children will have diabetes. If both parents have Type 1 diabetes, fewer than 20 percent of their children will develop Type 1 diabetes. In identical twins, if one twin develops Type 2 diabetes, the chance is nearly 100 percent that the other twin will also develop it.