The symptoms of type 2 diabetes are often so subtle that many people overlook them, making regular testing important.
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What are the early signs and symptoms of diabetes? I am 60 and was just diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. What did I miss?
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), as of 2021 more than 38 million Americans have diabetes, and 97 million are prediabetic. The symptoms of type 2 diabetes are often so subtle that many people overlook them, making regular testing important. Here is what you should know.
Type 2 diabetes is a disease that develops slowly over decades. Most people have prediabetes for a long time before it progresses, and once at the diabetes stage it continues to progress gradually.
Diabetes occurs when your blood glucose, also called blood sugar, is too high. Elevated blood sugar levels can damage blood vessels and affect circulation, putting you at risk for a host of ailments, from a heart attack and a stroke to blindness, kidney failure and nerve damage.
Signs and Symptoms The earliest signs of diabetes are usually subtle, including urinating more frequently (often at night), being thirstier and hungrier than usual, weight loss without trying, feeling very tired, having dry or itchy skin, and blurry vision. Symptoms of advanced diabetes and long-term damage may include cuts or sores that heal slowly, having more infections than usual, and pain or numbness in your feet or legs.
Who Should Get Tested? Because prediabetes typically causes no outward symptoms and the signs of early type 2 diabetes can easily be missed, a blood test is needed. Everyone 45 or older should consider getting tested for diabetes, especially if they are overweight.
If you are younger than 45 but are overweight, have high blood pressure, a family history of diabetes or belong to an ethnic group with a higher risk (such as Latino, Asian, African or Native American), you should get checked too. To help you determine your risk for diabetes, the American Diabetes Association has a quick, online risk test you can take for free at diabetes.org/risk-test.
Diabetes Tests There are three different tests utilized to diagnose diabetes. The most common is the “fasting plasma glucose test,” which requires an 8-to-12-hour fast before you take it. There is also the “oral glucose tolerance test” that analyzes how your body processes sugar, and the “hemoglobin A1C test” that measures your average blood sugar over the past few months.
Most private health insurance plans and Medicare cover diabetes tests. If you cannot visit your doctor to get tested, an alternative is to go to the drug store, buy a blood glucose meter and test yourself at home. The cost for the device is in the range of $15 and $30, with additional costs for the test strips.
If you find that you are prediabetic or diabetic, you should visit your doctor to develop a plan to get it under control. In many cases, lifestyle changes like losing weight, exercising, eating a healthy diet and cutting back on carbohydrates may be all you need to do to get your diabetes under control. For others who need more help, many medications are available.
For more information on diabetes and prediabetes or to find help, join a lifestyle change program recognized by the CDC (CDC.gov/diabetes-prevention). These programs offer in-person and online classes in more than 2,100 locations throughout the United States.
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