Diabetes is spreading rapidly around the world and it doesn't matter that scientists haven't figured out all the causes of the disease. In this case, a person can only pay attention to his own body.
And let the symptoms of another disease be mistaken for the manifestations of diabetes - if in doubt, you should seek clarification from your doctor immediately (especially since there is also asymptomatic diabetes).
Diabetes is generally characterized as an endocrine pathology with severe clinical manifestations. In this case, the initial stage of the disease is usually asymptomatic or characterized by manifest polymorphisms. However, there are some pathological signs that you can learn about from the material below.
causes of diabetes
Although the causes of this disease are obviously many, there are two main reasons:
- sugar (special) and food (general);
- Psychological preparation for physical impairment (stress states).
Despite the search for new treatments for diabetes, sucrose continues to take over the world in parallel. Sugar is given the most exotic and alluring look—even a ketchup recipe isn't complete without added sugar, not to mention incredible wedding cakes and seemingly innocent children's breakfasts.
refer to. Most natural fruits and fruits do not contain sucrose - it is made from plant juices that humans do not eat raw. Therefore, it can be attributed to artificially obtained compounds.
Food has also become a threat to health in general. A person has never eaten so much, so often. The compulsive eating turned him into a chewing creature—the pancreas had its own rhythm, and its burden became constant and threatening.
Alcohol preparations are both a direct cause of glandular tissue necrosis and a way of inducing organ ischemia.
This also applies to:
- smoking;
- medication;
- Drug addiction: sleeping pills, tranquilizers, pain relievers.
The second major cause of diabetes is stress. One of the levers of stress is constant reminders of the threat of diabetes, chasing a person everywhere. Shocked by such a prospect, the mind creates subconscious preconditions for the disease.
Another factor in the worldwide spread of diabetes exists due to advances in medicine. If 100-150 years ago, people with diabetes had few offspring, now the influence of genetics on the disease has increased hundreds of times, and 100% of people with diabetes have a high probability of giving birth to the same person with diabetes.
The world has become a more comfortable sanctuary for people with diabetes due to lack of physical activity, and with it obesity, constipation, osteoporosis, microthrombosis and metabolic disturbances in all body systems, general pollution of the environment (another of diabetesReason) looks the opposite like an innocent baby.
Disease classification
According to the etiological (causal) classification, diabetes is divided into:
- Type I (also called insulin-dependent, or "juvenile");
- Type II (insulin-independent);
- pregnancy (due to pregnancy);
- For other program reasons (due to past infections, medication use, or other reasons).
The disease is divided into cases of varying severity:
- Light;
- to ease;
- serious.
Depending on the status of carbohydrate metabolism, diabetes can be:
- paid;
- secondary compensation;
- decompensation.
Classification by the presence of complications includes the following forms of diabetes consequences:
- microangiopathy or macrovascular disease (vascular disease);
- Neuropathy (damage to nerve tissue and its structures);
- Retinopathy (damage to the organs of vision);
- Nephropathy (renal pathology);
- Diabetic foot (a single isolated syndrome that describes the pathology of the blood vessels and other structures involved in the lower extremities).
The clinical diagnosis, written on the basis of the above systematics, already gives a brief and extensive description of the patient's condition on the first reading. For people without special education, it is sufficient to know that there are 2 types and 3 severities of the disease.
first symptoms of disease
As is clear from the classic literal translation of the Latin (honey diabetes) disease name, diabetes has two main characteristics:
- the sweetness of urine;
- Frequent urination and profuse urination.
Medieval physicians only suspected an excess of the natural glucose -- glucose -- in the blood, but they could confirm the diagnosis another way -- by tasting a patient's urine. Because the glucose in diabetes goes into the urine (usually it shouldn't be there) due to an obstacle in the filtration process by the kidneys. Later, the hypothesis of the father of medicine was brilliantly confirmed—a disorder that also includes hyperglycemia (excessive glucose in the blood).
Even in this day and age, it's possible to be guided by these norms, but keep in mind that it is the presence of both of these signs that confirm the presence of diabetes: sweet, rich urine. Diabetes can also be diabetes insipidus, but it is a completely different disease and its development is caused by completely different causes.
For asymptomatic (almost asymptomatic) or slow diabetic disease, the initial sign may be its secondary symptoms (uncharacteristic of this particular pathology) in the form of:
- visual impairment;
- Headache;
- Unreasonable muscle weakness;
- dry mouth;
- Itching involving the skin and mucous membranes (especially in the intimate area);
- skin lesions that are difficult to heal;
- There is a distinct acetone odor in the urine.
Their presence does not allow a diagnosis of type I or II disease - only a specialist's study of the pathology, combined with other tests, can distinguish them.
specific function
They are more characteristic of Type I, and they approach abruptly and forcefully, so that patients can report not only the year but also the month (up to the week associated with a particular event).
These include:
- Polyuria (polyuria and frequent urination);
- Polydipsia (unquenchable thirst);
- polyphagia (does not bring saturated "wolf appetite");
- Significant (and increased) weight loss.
It should be noted that this is not about a temporary stay in any difficult time of life, after which everything will return to normal, but about the steady discomfort of the body for weeks and months.
In addition to glucose, excess glucose is no longer a nutrient, but a compound that disrupts established metabolism and disrupts the body's natural biochemical balance, where substances with toxic effects on the structure accumulate:
- nervous tissue;
- Heart;
- kidney;
- liver;
- vessel.
The most famous of these is acetone, which the brain is very familiar with after drinking alcoholic beverages. The accumulation of acetone and other incompletely oxidized metabolites leads to the failure of all body systems, primarily the nervous and vascular systems that provide transport and communication in the body.
In critical situations (a sharp rise or fall in blood sugar), diabetes can lead to coma, while circulation disturbances in the brain can lead to death.
Under what circumstances should a doctor visit not be postponed?
The answer to this question will become clear after some clarification.
Type 1 diabetes is the result of insufficient insulin production, which limits blood sugar levels. In the type II variant, insulin is sufficient, but due to the nature of the body, its ability to regulate blood sugar is limited - insulin cannot lower its levels at all. Due to excess glucose, it becomes a toxin that disrupts the normal process of all chemical reactions in the body, not just the metabolism of carbohydrates.
The extent of tissue metabolic disturbances and the body's ability to compensate for these disturbances determine the severity of diabetes.
During the mild course, glucose levels do not exceed the threshold of 8 units (mmol/l), and their daily fluctuations are negligible.
The moderate form is characterized by elevated glucose already as high as 14 units and is accompanied by ketosis-ketoacidosis (excessive amounts of acetone and similar substances in the blood), which is replete with vascular disease.
In severe cases, glucose levels exceed 14 units, which fluctuate widely during the day - there is a serious problem with the blood supply to the tissues, and disruption of nutrition to the brain can cause coma.
From here follow the feelings experienced by the patient, either characterized by small signs, or typical of diabetes:
- polyuria (diabetes) with sweet urine;
- polydipsia (thirst that persists even with frequent heavy drinking);
- polyphagia (indomitable gluttony);
- Unmotivated weight loss.
The presence of this syndrome (with complex signs) is a good reason to visit an endocrinologist, or in the absence of such a specialist, a therapist will perform the necessary preliminary research.
The reason for being the subject of close study may also be the neurological disease caused by diabetes that is detected by neuropathologists in inexplicable forms:
- Dizziness;
- nausea;
- noise and tinnitus;
- Vomit;
- Transient sensory or motor disturbances;
- Problems with perception and memory.
Small signs of diabetic vascular disease, manifested as ocular symptoms, may also be deviations in the function of the visual organs, in the form of:
- reduce its severity;
- dry cornea (feeling dry, "sand", itchy or sore eyes);
- The outline of the object is blurred;
- Ripples and flies in the eyes;
- Periodic blind spots and loss of the entire field of vision;
- Inexplicable "blackening" in his eyes.
The presence of diabetic vascular disease may have major attractions for other types of physicians:
- Suffering from nutritional skin diseases (ulceration of the lower extremities) - surgeons;
- Skin damage that does not heal - dermatologist;
- Bleeding, mouth wounds that don't heal, or ulcers - see your dentist.
The reason for immediate medical help should be any sudden loss of consciousness, "loss of tongue", "numbness in arms and legs", dizziness, accompanied by nausea and vomiting, even if these symptoms may be explained by alcohol or drug intoxication or taking a doctorPrescribed stable tablet.