More than 40 million people in the U.S. live with diabetes, and an estimated 11 million could be living with the disease without a diagnosis. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, cases have reached a record high in the U.S., with about 1 in 8 people now living with diabetes. Experts have revealed the common symptoms of type 2 diabetes that often go ignored.
Five Signs of Diabetes
Dr. Mikel Daniels, chief medical officer at WeTreatFeet Podiatry, urges people not to ignore signs that their feet “feel different” as despite seeming small at first, they “escalate quickly”. He says: “I see a lot of type 2 diabetes patients who brush off the early warning signs. They seem small at first, but escalate quickly. Symptoms like numbness in the feet, burning, tingling, dry skin, slow-healing cuts, or even just ‘my feet feel different lately.’ All of these can be easy to ignore, but they matter.”
Other signs of diabetes include feeling tired and stressed, sexual dysfunction, aging, and blurry vision. Dr. Jody-Ann McLean says: “You could feel more depleted or tired even after eating a meal. This is often put down to age or stress.” Dr. McLean also notes that skin changes associated with diabetes can often be mistaken for normal aging, as well as perimenopausal symptoms such as fat redistribution.
Diabetes can also affect the eyes, causing blurry vision. Dr. McLean says that “blurry vision can often be dismissed as just needing glasses.” She adds: “Temporary fluctuations in blood sugar can cause the lens of the eye to swell slightly, which can change the way it focuses light, leading to blurred vision. Persistently high blood sugar levels can lead to damage to the tiny blood vessels in the retina at the back of the eye.”
Original reporting: KTBS 3 (Shreveport) — read the source article.
