Diabetes mellitus is spreading rapidly all over the world, and it does not matter that scientists have not yet figured out all the reasons why this disease can be. In this situation, one can only pay attention to one's body.
And confuse the symptoms of another disease with the manifestation of diabetes - if you suspect it, seek medical attention immediately (especially since there is also asymptomatic diabetes).
Diabetes mellitus is usually classified as an endocrinological pathology with a severe clinical picture. In this case, the initial stages of the disease are often asymptomatic or characterized by polymorphism of manifestations. However, there are certain pathological signs that you can learn about from the material below.
Causes of diabetes
Despite the apparent abundance of causes of the disease, there are two main reasons:
- sugar (specifically) and food (generally);
- psychological readiness for damage to the body (stress state).
Despite the search for new treatments for diabetes, sucrose continues to rule the world. Sugar takes on the most exotic and seductive appearance - not even a recipe for tomato ketchup is complete without added sugar, let alone unimaginable wedding cakes and innocent-looking children's breakfasts.
Reference. Most natural fruits and vegetables do not contain sucrose - they are made from the juice of plants that humans do not eat raw. Therefore, it can be attributed to artificially produced chemical compounds.
Food in general is a health hazard. A person has never eaten so much and often. The obsessive offers to eat have turned him into a constant chewer - and the strain on the pancreas, which has its own rhythm of life, becomes constant and threatening.
Alcoholic preparations serve both as a direct cause of necrosis of glandular tissue and to induce organ ischemia.
This also applies to:
- smoking;
- drug use;
- excessive drug addiction: sleeping pills, sedatives, painkillers.
The second leading cause of diabetes is stress. One of the drivers of stress is the constant reminder of the danger of diabetes, which haunts people everywhere. Because of such prospects, the mind creates a subconscious precondition for illness.
Another factor in the worldwide spread of diabetes is due to advances in medicine. If 100-150 years ago, diabetics rarely had offspring, today the heritability of the disease has increased hundreds of times, 100% diabetics are most likely to give birth to the same diabetics.
The world has become an even more comfortable haven for diabetes thanks to physical inactivity with its inevitable companions: obesity, constipation, osteoporosis, microthrombi and metabolic disorders in all systems of the body, against which total environmental pollution (another cause of diabetes) is faced. like an innocent baby.
Classification of the disease
According to the etiological (causal) classification, diabetes is distinguished:
- Type I (also called insulin-dependent or "juvenile");
- Type II (which is insulin independent);
- pregnancy (due to pregnancy);
- arising from another plan (due to past infections, medication use or other reasons).
The disease is divided into cases of different severity:
- light;
- moderate;
- strict.
Depending on the state of carbohydrate metabolism, diabetes can be:
- compensated;
- undercompensated;
- decompensated.
Classification according to the presence of complications includes the consequences of diabetes in the following form:
- micro- or macroangiopathies (vascular changes);
- neuropathies (damage to nerve tissue and its structures);
- retinopathy (damage to the organs of vision);
- nephropathy (kidney pathology);
- diabetic foot (a separate isolated syndrome that describes the pathology of blood vessels and other structures with involvement of the lower limbs).
The clinical diagnosis compiled on the basis of the above systematics gives a short and comprehensive picture of the patient's condition on first reading. It is enough for a person without special education to know about the existence of 2 types and 3 degrees of severity of the disease.
The first symptoms of the disease
As can be seen from the literal translation of the name of the disease in Latin (honey diabetes), diabetes mellitus has two main characteristics:
- sweet taste of urine;
- frequent and copious urination.
The doctors of the Middle Ages only suspected an excess of the natural grape sugar - glucose - in the blood, but they could support the diagnosis in another way - by tasting the patient's urine. This is because due to a disturbance in the kidney's filtration process, glucose ends up in the urine in diabetes (it shouldn't normally be there). Later, the assumptions of the fathers of medicine were brilliantly confirmed - the disease also includes hyperglycemia (excessive amount of glucose in the blood).
You can follow these canons even today, remembering that the presence of both signs is evidence of diabetes: sweet and abundant urine. Diabetes can also be insipidus, but it is a completely different disease, the development of which is caused by completely different causes.
In the case of unmanifest (practically asymptomatic) or slow diabetes, the first signs may be secondary symptoms (uncharacteristic of this pathology), in the following form:
- visual disturbances;
- headache;
- unexplained muscle weakness;
- dryness in the oral cavity;
- itching affecting the skin and mucous membranes (especially often in the intimate area);
- skin lesions that are difficult to heal;
- a noticeable acetone smell from the urine.
Their presence does not make it possible to diagnose I. or II. diagnosis of its type - only a pathology examination by a specialist, as well as a study of the blood composition combined with other tests, can distinguish them.
Specific characteristics
They are more characteristic of type I, they approach suddenly and strongly, so the patient can announce not only the year of appearance, but also the month (even up to a week related to a specific event).
These include:
- polyuria (abundant and frequent urination);
- polydipsia (unquenchable thirst);
- polyphagia ("wolf appetite", which does not bring satiety);
- noticeable (and increasing) weight loss.
It should be noted that this is not a temporary stay in a difficult period of life, after which everything returns to normal, but a stable malaise of the body lasting for weeks or months.
In addition to glucose, the excess of which does not become a nutrient, but a compound that interrupts the established metabolism and disrupts the body's natural biochemical balance, substances with a toxic effect on the structures accumulate in it:
- nervous tissue;
- hearts;
- kidney;
- liver;
- ships.
The best known of these is acetone, which is well known to the brain for the state of intoxication that occurs after drinking an alcoholic beverage. The accumulation of acetone and other incompletely oxidized metabolic products leads to the breakdown of all body systems, primarily the nervous and vascular systems, which provide transport and communication in the body.
In a critical case (with a sharp increase or decrease in blood sugar), diabetes can lead to a coma, when circulatory disorders in the brain can lead to the death of the patient.
In what cases can the visit to the doctor not be postponed?
The answer to the question becomes clear after some clarification.
Type I diabetes is the result of insufficient insulin production, which limits blood sugar levels. In type II, insulin is sufficient, but due to the peculiarities of the body, the ability to regulate blood sugar levels is limited - insulin simply cannot reduce its content. As a result of excess glucose, it becomes a poison, which disrupts the normal course of all chemical reactions in the body, not only with regard to carbohydrate metabolism.
The severity of diabetes is determined by the level of tissue metabolism disorders and the body's ability to compensate.
In the case of a mild course, the glucose level does not exceed the threshold of 8 units (mmol / l), its daily fluctuation is insignificant.
The moderate form is characterized by an increase in glucose up to 14 units with episodes of ketosis-ketoacidosis (excess of acetone and similar substances in the blood), which is full of vascular disorders.
In severe cases, the glucose level exceeds 14 units, and its fluctuations during the day are significant - there are serious problems with the blood supply to the tissues, while interruption of the brain's nutrition can cause coma.
From here, the sensations experienced by the patient, whether minor symptoms or manifestations typical of diabetes, follow:
- polyuria (diabetes) with sweet urine;
- polydipsia (appearance of thirst, which is not eliminated even by frequent and abundant drinking);
- polyphagia (uncontrollable gluttony);
- unmotivated weight loss.
The presence of this syndrome (complex of symptoms) is a good reason to visit an endocrinologist or, in its absence, a therapist who will conduct the necessary initial examinations.
The reason for becoming the subject of a thorough examination may also be nervous system disorders caused by diabetes, which the neuropathologist detected in an inexplicable form:
- dizziness;
- nausea;
- noise and ringing in the ears;
- What number;
- temporary sensory or motor disturbances;
- problems with perception and memory.
Small signs of diabetic vascular disease manifested in eye symptoms can also be deviations from the functioning of the visual organs:
- reducing its severity;
- dryness of the cornea (dryness, "sand", itching or pain in the eyes);
- blurring the outlines of objects;
- waves and flies in the eyes;
- periodic occurrence of blind spots and loss of the entire field of vision;
- unexplained "darkening" in the eyes.
The presence of diabetic vascular disease may be a primary attraction for doctors with other profiles:
- with trophic skin diseases (formation of ulcers on the lower limbs) - to the surgeon;
- with non-healing skin lesions - to a dermatologist;
- with bleeding, non-healing of wounds in the mouth or the appearance of wounds - to the dentist.
Immediate medical help may be caused by sudden loss of consciousness, "loss of language", "numb arms, legs", dizziness, nausea and vomiting, even if these symptoms are caused by alcohol or drug poisoning or prescribed by a doctorcan be explained by taking stable tablets.