The many symptoms of type 2 diabetes

There are many symptoms of type 2 diabetes depending on how far you let it progress before doing anything about it. These are the symptoms that I personally had which let it get to the point that I was in imminent danger of dropping dead.If you haven’t read the beginning of my story please read it first here .

Well known symptoms

The most well known symptom is thirst. I don’t  mean like it’s hot out and I could really go for a beer. I mean, my mouth is dry all the time and no amount of fluid seems to satisfy it. I drank everything I could get my hands on, beer, milk, orange juice, gatorade, vitamin water, you name it. All of these things make it worse. The only thing that will help is plain old water.

Another fairly well known symptom is sores that don’t heal. I had sores or boils on the back of my neck that frequently got extremely infected requiring antibiotics. It is common to get these in your groin too (not for me thankfully). Generally speaking your immune system is weakened and all kinds of infections seem to come your way. I got toenail fungus too. I also believe, just my opinion, it is one of the reasons the corona virus seems to hit diabetics harder.

Lesser known symptoms

Other lesser known symptoms that could easily be attributed to another condition are:

High blood pressure, the higher your blood glucose level the thicker your blood is.

Outbreaks on the skin, everything from hard rough skin on the feet to acne.

Itchy skin, I mean you are gonna go nuts itchy, on the bottom of the feet and the back.

Sore feet especially when first getting up, barely able to walk.

Worsening eyesight.

Painful joints.

The link between diabetes & cognitive impairment

The mayo clinic sites a connection between diabetes and Alzheimer’s disease (click the link to read the whole article):

Diabetes may also increase the risk of developing mild cognitive impairment (MCI), a condition in which people experience more thinking (cognitive) and memory problems than are usually present in normal aging. Some research indicates that diabetes may increase the risk of MCI worsening to dementia. Mild cognitive impairment may precede or accompany Alzheimer’s disease and other types of dementia.

I experienced memory loss, cognitive reasoning loss, was very emotional, easily angered and depressed.

Diabetes and other diseases

Consistent very high glucose (consequently high insulin) attacks your whole body therefore many different symptoms can present themselves. You may have one thing that bothers you more than the others and you could seek treatment for that symptom and find that nothing helps. As of 2017 the CDC said that approximately 1 in 4 Americans have diabetes or pre-diabetes. I believe that number is on the low side. As diabetes symptoms can mimic or cause many other diseases, it would make sense for your doctor to start by doing a blood test to check for diabetes.

My doctor said “you have diabetes, you need to take these  10 pills a day or you will die”. Just like that. I felt I had been handed a death sentence. He said I had a much higher chance of having a stroke or heart attack but didn’t refer me to anyone to address that. Just take the pills. I was angry with him but in hindsight I believe he did me a favor.

What can you do?

I went on to discover a lot about diabetes and about how closely related it is to our modern food supply. I discovered that pills aren’t the only option but a last resort. I got my diabetes under control with diet (keto) and exercise, all my symptoms went away and I lost 50 pounds in about 3 months.

I wondered why the doctor had not suggested this course of action for me. I found the answer to that as I got better. I started a low carb diet, basically a Keto diet. I started to lose weight, feel better and get off the pills. I wanted to tell everybody! This is what the doctor knew, nobody wants to hear about it. I was stunned at the number of people I knew that had diabetes, who were content to just take the pills and forget about it. The pills have side effects. Nobody seemed to care.

I am writing this blog for people that do care. Leave your comments and questions below and I will be happy to answer them.

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