Diabetes, also known as diabetes mellitus, is a medical condition where the body is unable to process blood glucose, commonly known as blood sugar. In this condition, your blood sugar is excessively high and causes severe damage to your overall health.
The pancreas secretes a hormone called insulin that helps to digest and helps the sugar from the good we eat and pass it into our bloodstream to produce energy.
Carbohydrates are broken down into glucose and further passed into our blood cells. When the pancreas is unable to produce enough insulin to absorb the sugar, then the blood sugar level in the body stays high, thereby causing diabetes.
Diabetes can lead to dysfunctions like erectile dysfunction, which is the inability to get or hold an erection while getting intimate. Erectile dysfunction like diabetes affects millions of people and is not an uncommon condition. ED is caused by Erectile dysfunction and can be treated with Tadalafil 60mg tablets after consulting a doctor.
Different types of diabetes:
Depending on the condition, different types of diabetes can occur to a person. Some are overweight, and some are present since childhood. There are three types of widely-known diabetes-
- Type 1 diabetes is when the body is not able to produce enough insulin to break the sugar from the intake of food. Therefore, type 1 diabetes patients have to be dependent on artificial insulin. It happens to 5-10% of diabetes patients, who are generally teens and young adults. No cure, as of now, has been yet found to treat Type 1 diabetes.
- Type 2 diabetes is a widespread type of diabetes that affects the body in which our body uses insulin. Unlike type 1, where the body doesn’t create enough insulin, here the cells do not respond to insulin effectively, as they earlier used to.
- Gestational diabetes occurs in women temporarily when they are pregnant. During pregnancy, their body becomes less sensitive to insulin. It does not happen in all women and is resolved after the pregnancy ends. But both the mother and the child are at risk of having Type 2 diabetes in later stages of life.
- Prediabetes occurs when the body’s blood sugar level is high but not high enough to be diagnosed as Type 2 diabetes.
EARLY SYMPTOMS OF DIABETES
The most common symptom of diabetes is increased blood sugar levels in the blood. The symptoms of Type 1 diabetes are noticeable faster than symptoms of Type 2 diabetes, and they are much more severe.
A patient with Type 2 diabetes might not be able to detect it in the early stages because the warning signs are too mild, and it might end up causing long-term damage to the body.
Some early warning symptoms of diabetes are:
Frequent hunger and the constant feeling of fatigue:
The cells in our body need insulin to absorb the glucose. The food we consume that convert into smaller particles called glucose.
In diabetes, the body’s function to make enough glucose is hampered, and the cells do not take in the glucose, causing any or low energy; thereby, this makes the patient feel more hungry and low on energy (that is the feeling of fatigue).
Frequent need to urinate:
People with diabetes have to pee more often than an average person because our bodies reabsorb the blood glucose as food passes through our kidneys, but in diabetes, it does not happen so. It’s one of the noticeable symptoms of diabetes.
The increased blood sugar level hampers the kidney’s strength to absorb the glucose. Thereby causing more production of urine and excessive use of fluids to do so. One might pee more or use the washroom more often.
Thirst and Dryness:
When a person is peeing more, he gets thirsty more because his water retaining ability is compromised. This makes the person more dehydrated. This also decreases the body’s moisture making the person’s mouth dry. Reduced moisture might also result in dry and flaky skin, which can cause itchiness and irritation.
Blurred vision:
This constant change of bodily fluids affects the eyesight. Eyes can swell up, and the lens shape might change, making it unable to focus clearly. This results in blurred vision.
Slow healing process (Most common symptoms of Diabetes):
The absence of adequate glucose affects the body’s ability to heal wounds. Higher blood sugar levels prevent nutrients and oxygen from energizing the cells and immune system to work efficiently.
As a result, a small cut or injury may take up to weeks or months to properly heal. The most wound-prone area is the foot. A small cut on foot can become a foot ulcer in no time, and if left untreated, it might result in lower limb amputation.
The chances of this are somewhere around 15-30%. Keeping a close check and catching unhealed wounds quickly is the only thing one can do to prevent it from getting severe.
Decreased sex drive and erectile dysfunction:
As mentioned earlier, diabetes can damage blood nerves. Damaged nerves can cause difficulty in holding or getting an erection. Diabetes also lowers the testosterone level, which is a prominent hormone in sexual stimulation.
ED can be effectively treated with Sildenafil citrate 150mg tablets which widen the blood vessels and also increase the flow of blood to the penis.
Patches of dark skin:
Soft and velvety patches might form near/ on the neck, armpits, or legs, signifying a higher risk of diabetes. This skin condition is known as acanthosis nigricans.
Growth of yeast infection:
The higher sugar level in blood and urine provides food for the growth of yeast that causes infection, especially in women. These infections occur in warm moist areas on the body, such as the mouth but most commonly around the genital area and hips. The affected infection area might be itchy along with soreness and visible redness.
Also Read:- Using Exercise To Improve Wellbeing
Conclusion
Therefore, it is essential to maintain a healthy lifestyle and consult a doctor. If and when any of the above-mentioned symptoms occur to minimize the risk of damage that diabetes might cause.