Symptoms of Diabetes

Common symptoms of diabetes can include increased thirst and urination, constant hunger, and increased fatigue. Other symptoms of diabetes include weight loss and slow-healing wounds. In the case of type 1 diabetes, symptoms of diabetes usually develop over a short period of time; in type 2, symptoms of diabetes develop more gradually. Oftentimes, women with gestational diabetes have no symptoms of diabetes.

 

Symptoms of Diabetes: Type 1 Diabetes

Symptoms of
 type 1 diabetes usually develop over a short period of time. Unfortunately, most symptoms of diabetes do not begin until almost all insulin-producing cells are destroyed. By the time a person is diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, damage to these cells is nearly complete.
 
Common symptoms of diabetes associated with type 1 may include:
 
  • Constant hunger
  • Weight loss
  • Blurred vision
  • Extreme fatigue
  • Increased thirst and urination.
     
If type 1 diabetes is not properly treated, a person can lapse into a life-threatening coma, known as diabetic ketoacidosis, or DKA.
 
Often, children will present with vomiting, a sign of DKA, and mistakenly be diagnosed as having gastroenteritis. New-onset diabetes can be differentiated from a GI infection by the frequent urination that accompanies continued vomiting, as opposed to decreased urination due to dehydration if the vomiting is caused by a GI "bug."
 
(Symptoms of Diabetes Continued: Page 2)
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Written by/reviewed by: Arthur Schoenstadt, MD
Last reviewed by: Arthur Schoenstadt, MD