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If you are a diabetic patient undergoing treatment for diabetes, you are one of the approximately 18 million people in the United States who have either insulin dependent diabetes mellitus or non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus. If you have diabetes and do not know it, and have not been diagnosed as yet, you are one of the approximately 12-15 million people who are suffering with the symptoms of diabetes and are not yet diagnosed.

Although these numbers appear large, if you are that person who shows the signs and symptoms of uncontrolled diabetes, life can appear, at least at times, to be just plain miserable. With uncontrolled blood glucose values ranging from 200 mg/dl and higher, into the seriously high ranges of 400-600 mg/dl, just making it through the day can take a major effort, and the constant thirst and frequent urination can keep you finding water fountains and bathrooms all day. At night, trips to the bathroom as many as ten times per night can rob you of needed rest, and if it’s not a bathroom trip, then the constant thirst, due to dehydration, can keep you reaching for a glass of water. But, your thirst never seems to get quenched, your fatigue never seems to stop, and even with more and more hours of rest and sleep, life is becoming worse by the day.

During the month of November and December, most of us tend to eat too much, drink too much, and generally over indulge in the season’s wonderful sugary sweet desserts, candies and confections. If you are an uncontrolled and undiagnosed diabetic, during the last few months, you may have felt even worse than you had earlier in the year. Why?

The answer is that with the over-eating, your average blood glucose values (normal values are 70-110 mg/dl) have skyrocketed into the more and more dangerous high blood glucose ranges, and if left unchecked, may even plunge your body into diabetic keto-acidosis (dka). In this situation, emergency hospitalization is required, and careful medical management is mandatory.

What are the main symptoms of diabetes?

For the individual who has no knowledge of diabetes, the first symptom of diabetes that, with time, becomes extremely tiresome, is frequent urination. Seriously uncontrolled and untreated diabetics tend to find themselves urinating many times during the day, and many times during the night. How many times does this represent? It depends on the individual. Some learn to control their bladder function, and not give in to going every twenty minutes. Others have little bladder control, and must urinate every twenty or thirty minutes.

Constant thirst derives from the dehydration effect of uncontrolled and untreated diabetes, and it seems that no amount of water will ever quench the intensity of this thirst. Drinking plenty of good quality water is important for all of us. In the uncontrolled state, the diabetic will drink more and more, but never become truly satisfied, and adding to the already over burdened urinary tract and bladder, the frequency and urgency of urination is increased.

Because of the high blood glucose situation that is ever-present, healing of any wound, minor, moderate, or more severe, is slowed, and the tendency to produce a pustalent infection within the wound, is highly probable. It is important to treat these wounds with antibiotic ointment right away, avoid infection, and if the wound does not heal, a trip to your doctor is necessary. This is true whether you have uncontrolled, undiagnosed diabetes or not.

Because the body is not producing the normal amount of insulin, as is the case in Type II non-insulin dependent diabetes, or no insulin at all, as in the case with Type I insulin dependent diabetes, the normal endocrine loop, which balances hormonal regulation, is disturbed, and not functioning correctly. Insulin is required to maintain normal endocrine and hormonal regulation. This out-of-balance condition in the undiagnosed diabetic results in bodily fatigue and lethargy. If you find yourself constantly over burdened with fatigue, having to take a nap after school or work, and having a general feeling of “I’m just not feeling ‘right’”, then seeing your doctor is a must.

With increasing high blood glucose, there may be times when the undiagnosed diabetic experiences blurry vision. This can be caused by the sugar concentration in the lens of the eye (sorbitol) fluctuating due to the high circulating blood glucose. This condition can be very unsettling, and seeing your doctor is mandatory.

Experiencing these symptoms should result in a wake-up call, and even if your blood glucose is found to be only slightly elevated, your doctor will begin considering that you may be developing diabetes. Your doctor will order additional blood chemistry tests, and prepare you for the possible eventuality of becoming a diabetic patient.

If your doctor determines that you do, in fact, have diabetes, and must begin a treatment program, the alleviation of these uncontrolled and untreated diabetic symptoms will make your life healthy and more like really living again.

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