Do I Have Diabetes?

The Basics

• Know the Basics about Diabetes
• Diabete's Types, Symptoms
• Do I Have Diabetes
• Managing Your Life
• Diabetes and Pregnancy

A Guide to Diabetes Warning Signs

Because diabetes can cause serious complications, it's important to be on the lookout for signs that you may have the disease. The symptoms of type 1 diabetes are often subtle, but they can become severe. They include:

• Increased thirst
• Increased hunger (especially after eating)
• Dry mouth
• Frequent urination
• Unexplained weight loss (even though you are eating and feel hungry)
• Fatigue (weak, tired feeling)
• Blurred vision
• Numbness or tingling of the hands or feet
• Loss of consciousness (rare)

The symptoms of type 2 diabetes may be the same as those listed above. Most often, there are no symptoms or a very gradual development of the above symptoms. In fact, half of all people who have diabetes don't know they have it.

Other symptoms include:

• Slow-healing sores or cuts
• Itching of the skin (usually in the vaginal or groin area)
• Yeast infections
• Recent weight gain
• Velvety dark skin changes of the neck, armpit, and groin called acanthosis nigricans

If you have any of these symptoms, contact your doctor right away so you can get tested for diabetes.

Source: Your Health Encyclopedia, 4-rd Edition, 2002

Last Revised at December 4, 2007 by Harutyun Medina, M.D.