Diabetes symptoms how to detect them early

According to French Association of Diabetics (FAD), nearly 700,000 French diabetics ignore to be affected by this affection. Yet, it is essential to detect diabetes before that does occur complications related to this disease.

 Can we get diabetes without knowing? How then the diagnosis of diabetes is done and performed?

The doctors say Yes, we can get diabetes without knowing.

It is currently estimated that there are between 600,000 and 800,000 people with diabetes who are ignorant and unaware of this disease in France, in addition to the 3 million known diabetics. More specifically, the data from the UKPDS (United Kingdom Prospective Diabetes Study) have shown that the real start of diabetes preceded by 8 to 10 years the diagnosis of the disease.

In more than 80% of cases, diabetes is diagnosed in the opportunity of a blood sample requested as systematic basis. In cardiological intensive care units , 20% of patients are in fact living with diabetes and half of them are diagnosed during this hospitalization, and therefore for an acute coronary complication.

As well, among many people, the diagnosis of diabetes is carried out during the complication of the disease, knowing that the latter occurs ten years and more after the beginning of the diabetes, confirming therefore that the diagnosis is often overlooked for a whole decade.

How to spot the symptoms of diabetes?

The symptoms suggestive of diabetes are the existence of a syndrome polyuria polydipsia, i.e. , the appearance of a thirst related to the fact that the patient urine frequently, especially at night, which it wakes up and needs to stand up. However, these symptoms occur only when the sugar appears in the urine, which occurs when the blood glucose exceeds 1.80 g/l. In practice, this means that the blood glucose is widely beyond 2g/l when these symptoms are visible. Often then be associated with a weight loss. Thus, when these symptoms appear and occur, the diagnosis is already very late.

We should therefore insist on the fact that it's not the symptoms directly related to diabetes which may mention the disease, but before the events that predispose to diabetes:

• It is before the existence of family history. If a parent is diabetic became known at the age of 50 years and that it was ignored for 10 years, the disease is therefore emerged at the age of 40 years. It is then of 35 years that a systematic periodical search must be performed on children.

• The existence of other anomalies, such as a dyslipidemia, hypertension or an inflammatory syndrome non-explained, must do search for a metabolic syndrome, which is frequently associated with diabetes.

• Finally, the lack of physical activity and overweight are major factors revealing a genetic predisposition to diabetes. Less active or overweight patients must do regularly check the existence of diabetes, and in particular when obesity is an abdominal obesity.

It is known that patients with diabetes have often had big babies at birth. Thus, any woman who had a child with a weight greater than 4.5 kg must be periodically search a diabetes.

It is only at the price of a screening and of a systematic research that we can arrive to diagnose early enough and therefore to treat diabetes, in order to avoid complications.
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