An Early Diabetes Symptom That Is Easy to Miss

Diabetes is not only an epidemic among many American adults, it's also becoming increasingly common and on the rise in teenagers. Diabetes is caused when the body's ability to handle glucose is compromised leaving it unable to properly regulate it's sugar levels. But are there any warning signs indicating that you might have diabetes?

There are many diabetic symtoms including tiredness, a sense of numbness in the limbs such as the feet and hands, blurred eyesight, and slow healing of injuries. But among the first signs is a need for frequent urination accompanied by incessant thirst.

Frequent urination and thirst can be caused by many things, but it is also a symptom of type 2 diabetes. In fact, many times diabetes is first noticed in children when they suddenly begin bedwetting out of the blue. The combination of the need to urinate and thirst create a vicious cycle. Here's how it works.

Diabetes is an excess of sugar in the blood, and when someone's blood sugar level becomes extremely elevated the body needs to get rid of some of it. In a normal person, the body gets rid of excess glucose by eliminating it through the urine. In order to make the urine, however, the body needs water - so it makes the person thirsty.  The thirst causes them to drink more liquids - water, juice, or whatever. Of course, drinking more water increases the need to urinate - which they do, thus eliminating some of the excess glucose from the body. The excessive urination, however, also drains necessary water from the body, leading to dehydration which causes the person to become thirsty again. The cycle then repeats.

A person not suffering from diabetes will not go through this cycle. He will become thirsty, drink water to quench the thirst, and that's the end of it. Many people that have diabetes, however, never notice the cycle as it is gradual. And before too long they perceive their thirst and urination needs as normal.