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Older adults and some adults with disabilities qualify for the federal medical program Medicare. Discover what Medicare is and why you should work with a Medicare provider.
6 Signs You Might Have Diabetes
Impacting 10% of American adults, diabetes is an extremely common medical condition. Many adults with diabetes are receiving treatment, but a significant number don’t know they’re living with diabetes.
Without treatment, diabetes can be an extremely dangerous condition. The good news is, with early diagnosis and continued medical treatment, diabetes is very manageable. The early symptoms of diabetes are often subtle, so it’s important to learn them in order to get the medical help you need right away.
Thomas Nguyen, MD, MS of Nguyen Medical Group in Boynton Beach, Florida, shares six of the most common symptoms you might experience if you have diabetes.
Understanding diabetes
You get diabetes when your body is no longer effectively able to process your food into energy. Normally, your body releases insulin to turn sugars from your food into energy, but with diabetes, your body can’t effectively use your insulin or doesn’t produce enough.
There are two types of diabetes, type 1 and type 2 diabetes. Type 1 diabetes isn’t preventable and usually occurs before young adulthood. Type 2 diabetes usually occurs in adults, and your risk is higher if you’re obese or inactive.
Once you develop diabetes, there’s no cure, but Dr. Nguyen can help you successfully manage your health with diabetes with a personalized treatment plan.
6 common symptoms of diabetes
Type 1 diabetes symptoms are usually too severe to miss, but type 2 diabetes symptoms, which is the more common form, can be difficult to see until your diabetes is quite advanced. To ensure you get effective treatment as soon as possible for your diabetes, keep an eye out for these signs something might be amiss.
1. Increased hunger
When your body isn’t properly taking in glucose from your food, you can feel hungrier as your body looks for a form of additional fuel. You might find you’re hungry even though you’ve eaten a normally satisfying meal.
2. Increased thirst and urination
Elevated levels of blood sugar keep your kidneys from working as effectively as usual, causing you to make more urine and need to urinate more often. Excessive urination and high blood sugar levels also make you thirster, which contributes to the cycle of urinating more frequently.
3. Dry mouth and skin
Your body has less moisture available for other bodily functions because you’re urinating more. This can mean you feel dryness in your mouth and also cause your skin to feel dry and itchy.
4. Higher levels of fatigue
Since your body isn’t properly converting your food into energy, you won’t have the same energy levels as usual. This can cause excessive tiredness and fatigue.
5. Dark patches of skin
Insulin resistance from diabetes can make dark and velvety patches of discoloration appear on your skin. Some of the most common areas for this to appear are your neck, groin, and armpit.
6. Vision blurring
Uncontrolled blood sugar levels can cause changes to your eye blood vessels. This makes your eyes blur or swell, causing temporary changes to your vision.
What to do if you have symptoms of diabetes
If any of these symptoms of diabetes sound familiar, make an appointment with our team at Nguyen Medical Group to get evaluated for diabetes. We can diagnose diabetes or prediabetes, a condition that shows you’re at risk for diabetes, quickly with an in-house laboratory test.
Dr. Nguyen and his team develop a plan for you to manage your type 1 or type 2 diabetes long term, or to prevent you from developing diabetes if you have prediabetes. Treatment can include making lifestyle changes, taking insulin, or taking medications.
If you think you might have diabetes or would like help managing your diabetes, make an appointment at Nguyen Medical Group online or by giving us a call.
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