Weekend Health Watch
Diabetes: Recognising the Warning Signs and Reducing Your Risk
Weekend Health Watch explains warning signs, type 2 diabetes risk factors and why blood-glucose testing matters, especially when symptoms are absent.
Diabetes is a condition in which blood glucose remains persistently elevated. Type 2 diabetes often develops gradually and may be present without obvious symptoms.
Warning signs
Possible warning signs include frequent urination, increased thirst or hunger, unexplained weight loss, fatigue, blurry vision, and recurrent urinary or yeast infections. Type 2 diabetes may also involve slow-healing cuts or wounds, darkened patches of skin around the neck, armpits or groin, and numbness or tingling in the hands or feet.
These signs do not confirm diabetes on their own. Anyone experiencing them should seek blood-glucose testing and medical evaluation.
Understanding type 2 risk
Risk factors for type 2 diabetes include prediabetes, overweight or obesity, increasing age, a family history of type 2 diabetes, low physical activity, previous gestational diabetes, and certain metabolic conditions.
Prediabetes and type 2 diabetes can be present without symptoms, so people with risk factors should ask a qualified healthcare professional whether testing is appropriate.
Reducing risk
Healthy eating, regular physical activity and modest weight loss when appropriate can help prevent or delay type 2 diabetes in people at risk. These steps reduce risk but do not guarantee prevention or provide a cure.
Type 1 diabetes is different and is not currently known to be preventable. Readers should not delay medical care or change treatment on the basis of general health information.
This article provides general public-health education, not a diagnosis or individual medical advice.
Health information reference: CDC Diabetes.