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Symptoms

Publication Date: 6/25/2004

The symptoms of diabetes may begin gradually and can be hard to identify at first. They may include fatigue, a sick feeling, frequent urination, especially at night, and excessive thirst. When there is extra glucose in blood, one way the body gets rid of it is through frequent urination. This loss of fluids causes extreme thirst. Other symptoms may include sudden weight loss, blurred vision, and slow healing of skin, gum and urinary tract infections. Women may notice genital itching.

Points to Remember

 

  • The symptoms of diabetes can develop gradually and may be hard to identify at first.

     

  • Symptoms may include feeling tired or ill, excessive thirst, frequent urination, sudden weight loss, blurred vision, slow healing of infections, and genital itching.

A doctor also may suspect a patient has diabetes if the person has health problems related to diabetes. For instance, heart disease, changes in vision, numbness in the feet and legs or sores that are slow to heal, may prompt a doctor to check for diabetes. These symptoms do not mean a person has diabetes, but anyone who has these problems should see a doctor. This page lists the symptoms of diabetes when it first develops.

 

 

 

The classic symptoms of diabetes are:
  • frequent urination, with large volumes of urine (polyuria),
  • excessive thirst (polydipsia),
  • hunger (polyphagia), and
  • weight loss.
Other symptoms might include:
  • fatigue,
  • blurry vision,
  • odd aches and pains,
  • dry mouth,
  • dry or itchy skin,
  • impotence (in a male),
  • vaginal yeast infections (in a female),
  • poor healing of cuts and scrapes, or
  • excessive or unusual infections.
Not everybody will have every one of these symptoms. Indeed, some people may have no symptoms at all!

You can take the Diabetes Risk Test to help tell if you have diabetes and not know it.

If you have these symptoms, then you'll need testing of your blood sugar levels. Further information about testing for diabetes may be found at Testing for Diabetes.

Further information about the diagnosis and classification of diabetes may be found at Classification and Diagnostic Criteria for Diabetes.

 
Modified from a webpage at the US government's Federal Citizen Information Center
Last updated: 10 February 1997
http://www.pueblo.gsa.gov/cic_text/health/noninsulin-diabetes/symp.htm 
 

Also see

high and low blood glucose symptoms and causes
low blood sugar (hypoglycemia)
low blood sugar (hypoglycemia)

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