Symptoms of diabetes mellitus - Causes, symptoms and treatment. MF.

Diabetes mellitus is a chronic endocrine disease. The main metabolic manifestation of diabetes is an elevated level of glucose( sugar) in the blood. Glucose is the source of energy for all cells in the body. But in high concentrations this substance acquires toxic properties. Diabetes mellitus causes damage to blood vessels, nervous tissue and other body systems. Develop complications - neuropathy, cataracts, nephropathy, retinopathy and a number of other conditions. The manifestations of diabetes are associated with both a high level of glucose in the blood, and with the development of late complications of the disease.

Early signs of diabetes

The first signs of diabetes are usually associated with elevated blood sugar levels. Normally, this index in capillary blood on an empty stomach does not exceed 5.5 mM / l, and during the day - 7.8 mM / l. If the average daily sugar level becomes more than 9-13 mM / l, the patient may have the first complaints.

First appears abundant and frequent urination

.The amount of urine in 24 hours is always more than 2 liters. In addition, you have to go to the toilet several times a night. The large volume of excreted urine is due to the fact that glucose is present in it. Sugar begins to leave the body through the kidneys at a concentration of 9-11 mM / l in the blood. Once upon a time, doctors even diagnosed "diabetes" based on the taste of urine. Sugar "draws" water from the bloodstream through the wall of the renal capillaries - this is the so-called "osmotic diuresis".As a result, a patient with diabetes develops a lot of urine day and night.

The body loses fluid, dehydration can develop .Skin on the face, the body becomes dry, its elasticity disappears;"dry" the lips, the patient feels a lack of saliva, "dryness" in the mouth. Usually patients feel strong thirst. I want to drink constantly, including at night. Sometimes the volume of the drunk liquid exceeds and 3, and 4 and even 5 liters a day. Taste preferences are different for all people. Unfortunately, many people with diabetes, but who do not know about their diagnosis, drink fruit juices, sweet drinks, carbonated water, thereby aggravating their condition. Thirst is a protective reaction in this situation. Of course, you can not give up drinking in order to reduce the amount of urine. But drink better pure water or unsweetened tea.

Glucose accumulates in the blood, leaves with urine, but can not enter the cells. So the fabrics do not get the energy they need. Because of this, cells are sent to the brain information about hunger and lack of nutrients. As a result, a diabetic patient can sharply increase the appetite of , he eats and does not eat up even a large amount of food.

Thus, the first and quite specific signs of diabetes are thirst, dry skin, dry mouth, increased appetite, a large amount of urine for a day.

High blood glucose levels, increased fat breakdown and dehydration in diabetes affect negatively the brain. As a result, there is another group of early, but not specific signs of diabetes. This is fatigue, fatigue, irritability, frequent mood swings, inability to concentrate, reduced ability to work. All these symptoms with diabetes occur at the very beginning of the disease, but they can be in any other diseases too. For the diagnosis of diabetes, the significance of these symptoms is small.

For diabetes it is characteristic not only to increase blood glucose levels. Another important feature is the large amplitude fluctuations in the blood sugar concentration of .So in a healthy person, the minimum and maximum values ​​of blood sugar differ by less than 1-2 units per day. In a diabetic patient on the same day, sugar can be 3 mM / L and 15 mM / L.Sometimes the difference between the values ​​is even greater. An early sign of diabetes associated with a sharp change in blood sugar concentration can be considered temporal blurred vision .Deterioration of vision can last several minutes, hours or days, then normal visual acuity is restored.

Signs of diabetes associated with organ and system damage

Diabetes mellitus, especially type 2, often goes undetected for a long time. Patients have no complaints, or do not pay attention to them. Unfortunately, sometimes the early signs of diabetes are ignored by health workers. As a result, the first obvious signs of the disease may be signs of persistent damage to organs and tissues, that is, late complications of diabetes mellitus.

Who can be suspected of a disease? In those who have signs of symmetrical damage to the sensitive nerves of the hands or feet, the shins. In this situation, the patient will be disturbed by numbness and coldness in the fingers, a feeling of "crawling crawling," a decrease in sensitivity, and cramps in the muscles. Especially characteristic is the manifestation of these symptoms at rest, at night. With the presence of damage to the nervous tissue is associated with the emergence of another complication - of the diabetic foot syndrome .

Diabetic foot, requiring conservative treatment

This condition is manifested by long-lasting non-healing wounds, ulcers, cracks in the legs. Unfortunately, sometimes a diabetic is diagnosed for the first time by a surgeon in a patient with such signs. The syndrome often causes gangrene and amputations.

A persistent decline in 's vision may also be the first observed sign of diabetes mellitus due to cataracts or diabetic vascular lesions of the fundus.

It should be noted that against the background of diabetes the immunity of decreases. So, longer wound, scratches, more often there are infectious processes and complications. Any disease is more severe: cystitis is complicated by inflammation of the renal pelvis, cold - bronchitis or pneumonia. Fungal infection of nails, skin, mucous membranes also often accompanies diabetes because of the available immunodeficiency.

Signs of different types of diabetes mellitus

The most common types of diabetes are type 1, type 2 and gestational diabetes. Diabetes 1 type is associated with insulin deficiency in the body. It often occurs in children and youth up to 30 years. For this type of diabetes, there is a specific sharp decrease in body weight against a background of increased appetite. A person eats a lot, but loses more than 10% of the weight. In patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus, many products of the decomposition of adipose tissue - ketone bodies - are formed. Exhaled air, urine acquire a characteristic smell of acetone. The earlier the disease debuted, the brighter its beginning. All complaints appear suddenly, the condition worsens dramatically. Therefore, the disease rarely occurs unrecognized.

Sugar Diabetes 2 type are commonly affected by people after 40 years, more often women with overweight. The disease proceeds secretly. The reason for this is the insensitivity of the tissues to their own insulin. One of the early signs of the disease is a periodic sharp drop in blood sugar - hypoglycemia. The patient feels a shiver in the body and fingers, palpitations, severe hunger. He has a rising pressure, a cold sweat. Such episodes are possible and on an empty stomach after eating, especially after taking sweet food. Diabetes mellitus can also be suspected in those who have signs of tissue insensitivity to insulin. These symptoms can be called excess fat in the waist, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, triglycerides and uric acid in the blood. A skin sign of type 2 diabetes can be considered black acanthosis - rough areas of dark skin in places of skin friction.

Black acanthosis in diabetes mellitus

Gestational diabetes appears in a woman during pregnancy. His signs are the large size of the child, including by ultrasound, early placenta aging, its excess thickness, miscarriages, stillbirths, malformations of the fetus. Gestational diabetes can be expected in women after 25-30 years of age who have excess weight and burdened heredity.

Special signs of diabetes in children

Children with diabetes usually stop adding weight, height. In infants, urine, when dried on diapers, leaves white traces.

Special signs of diabetes in women

For women with diabetes, an early symptom may be the itching of the vulva, a long-lasting and persistent "thrush".Women with latent type 2 diabetes can be long treated for polycystic ovaries, infertility. Also, they are characterized by excessive growth of hair on the face and body.

Special signs of diabetes in men

In men, impotence can become the first sign of diabetes.

What should I do with the first signs of diabetes?

In case of signs of diabetes, the doctor excludes other diseases with similar complaints( diabetes insipidus, nephrogenic diabetes, hyperparathyroidism and others).Further, a survey is conducted to determine the cause of diabetes and its type. In some typical cases, this task is not difficult, and sometimes additional testing is required.

Suspected at home or relatives of diabetes, it is necessary to undergo an examination immediately in medical institutions. Remember that the earlier the diagnosis of diabetes is established and the treatment is started, the better the prognosis for the patient's health. For help, you can contact the general practitioner, therapist or endocrinologist. You will be assigned a study to determine the concentration of sugar in the blood.

Do not rely on the self-monitoring device - glucometer. His testimony does not have enough accuracy to diagnose the disease. To determine the concentration of glucose in the laboratory, more precise enzymatic methods are used: glucose oxidase and hexokinase. To establish and confirm the diagnosis of diabetes may require repeated measurements of sugar at different times of the day or oral glucose tolerance test. This is a stress test using 75 grams of glucose. All over the world, the analysis of glycated hemoglobin becomes increasingly important for diagnosis. This indicator characterizes the level of blood sugar not at this moment, but during the last 3-4 months. Diagnosis of diabetes mellitus is established when the value of glycated hemoglobin is more than 6.5%.

Doctor of the endocrinologist Tsvetkova IG