Diabetes affects 24 million people in the U.S., but only 18 million know they have it. About 90 percent of those people have type 2 diabetes.
In diabetes, rising blood sugar acts like a poison.
Diabetes is often called the silent killer because of its easy-to-miss symptoms. "Almost every day people come into my office with diabetes who don't know it," says Maria Collazo-Clavell, MD, an endocrinologist at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn.
The best way to pick up on it is to have a blood sugar test. But if you have these symptoms, see your doctor.
Increased urination, excessive thirst
If you need to urinate frequently — —particularly if you often have to get up at night to use the bathroom — —it could be a symptom of diabetes.
The kidneys kick into high gear to get rid of all that extra glucose in the blood, hence the urge to relieve yourself, sometimes several times during the night.
The excessive thirst means your body is trying to replenish those lost fluids.
These two symptoms go hand in hand and are some of "your body's ways of trying to manage high blood sugar," explains Dr. Collazo-Clavell.
Weight loss
Overly high blood sugar levels can also cause rapid weight loss, say 10 to 20 pounds over two or three months — —but this is not a healthy weight loss.
Because the insulin hormone isn't getting glucose into the cells, where it can be used as energy, the body thinks it's starving and starts breaking down protein from the muscles as an alternate source of fuel.
The kidneys are also working overtime to eliminate the excess sugar, and this leads to a loss of calories (and can harm the kidneys). "These are processes that require a lot of energy," Dr. Collazo-Clavell notes. "You create a calorie deficit."
Hunger
Excessive pangs of hunger, another sign of diabetes, can come from sharp peaks and lows in blood sugar levels.
When blood sugar levels plummet, the body thinks it hasn't been fed and craves more of the glucose that cells need to function.
Skin problems
Itchy skin, perhaps the result of dry skin or poor circulation, can often be a warning sign of diabetes, as are other skin conditions, such as acanthosis nigricans.
"This is a darkening of the skin around the neck or armpit area," Dr. Collazo-Clavell says. "People who have this already have an insulin resistance process occurring even though their blood sugar might not be high. When I see this, I want to check their blood sugar."
Slow healing
Infections, cuts, and bruises that don't heal quickly are another classic sign of diabetes.
This usually happens because the blood vessels are being damaged by the excessive amounts of glucose traveling the veins and arteries.
This makes it hard for blood— — needed to facilitate healing — —to reach different areas of the body.
