Type 2 Diabetes: Recently Diagnosed: Symptoms

Content provided by Healthwise

Symptoms

Before being diagnosed, many people with type 2 diabetes have symptoms such as increased thirst and urination, weight loss, and blurred vision. But others do not have symptoms. You may not have had symptoms if your blood sugar level increased slowly over several years and your body adjusted to the rising level.

Diabetes is diagnosed when fasting blood glucose is 126 milligrams per deciliter (mg/dL) or higher, but some people do not notice symptoms until their blood sugar rises to 200 mg/dL or higher.

If you did have symptoms before your diagnosis, they will go away when your blood sugar level returns to a normal or near-normal range.

If your blood sugar level stays high, you may develop symptoms of high blood sugar, such as increased thirst, hunger, and urination, and blurred vision. You may not have symptoms of high blood sugar if your blood sugar level is only slightly elevated. The higher the level rises, the more likely you are to have symptoms. If you have higher-than-normal blood sugar and do not drink enough liquids, you can become dehydrated, which can lead to an emergency situation called a hyperosmolar state.

If your blood sugar is below a normal or near-normal range, you may have symptoms of low blood sugar, ranging from sweating and shakiness to confusion and loss of consciousness. These may occur as side effects of insulin or of certain oral medicines for type 2 diabetes, such as glyburide (DiaBeta), glipizide (Glucotrol), glimepiride (Amaryl).

Symptoms and signs of complications

You may already have one or more complications of diabetes. Be aware of possible complications and their symptoms, such as:

• Burning pain, numbness, or swelling in your feet or hands, which may indicate diabetic neuropathy. If one nerve is affected (focal neuropathy), you may have symptoms in one area of your body, such as your eye or face. Diabetic neuropathy can eventually affect your internal organs (autonomic neuropathy) as well, causing abdominal problems, sexual problems, and other kinds of symptoms. For more information, see the topic Diabetic Neuropathy.
• Blurred or distorted vision; seeing floaters or flashes of light, large floating red or black spots, or large areas that look like floating hair, cotton fibers, or spiderwebs; or pain in your eyes. Although eye disease is not likely to cause symptoms in its early stages, these symptoms may indicate diabetic retinopathy.
• A wound that won't heal or that looks infected, which may indicate damage to the blood vessels that supply that area.
• A heart attack, stroke, or peripheral arterial disease, which may indicate macrovascular disease.

If you have kidney damage (diabetic nephropathy), you may not notice symptoms. Early damage to your kidneys can be detected only with urine tests for protein.

Last updated:	June 16, 2008
Author:	Caroline Rea, RN, BS, MS
Reviewed By:	Caroline S. Rhoads, MD - Internal Medicine, Matthew I. Kim, MD - Endocrinology & Metabolism
Editors:	Susan Van Houten, RN, BSN, MBA, Pat Truman, MATC