What are the symptoms and how to treat type 2 diabetes

Type 2 diabetes is a chronic disease characterized by the body's resistance to insulin and increased blood sugar levels, which generates classic symptoms such as dry mouth, increased urge to urinate, increased urge to drink water and even weight loss for no apparent reason.

Unlike type 1 diabetes, the person is not born with type 2 diabetes, developing the disease due to several years of unhealthy lifestyle habits, especially the excessive consumption of carbohydrates in the diet and sedentary lifestyle.

Depending on the degree of change in sugar levels, treatment may involve making only some changes in diet and lifestyle, or include the use of medications, such as oral antidiabetics or insulin, which should always be indicated by a doctor. Diabetes has no cure, but it is a disease that with complications can be avoided.

Main symptoms

If you think you may have type 2 diabetes, select what you are feeling and find out what your risk of having the disease is:

1. Increased thirst Yes No
2. Constantly dry mouth Yes No
3. Frequent desire to urinate Yes No
4. Frequent tiredness Yes No
5. Blurred or blurred vision Yes No
6. Wounds that heal slowly Yes No
7. Tingling in the feet or hands Yes No
8. Frequent infections, such as candidiasis or urinary tract infection Yes No

Sometimes these symptoms can be difficult to identify and, therefore, one of the best ways to monitor the possibility of having diabetes is to have recurrent blood tests to assess blood sugar levels, especially when fasting.

What exams to confirm

The diagnosis of type 2 diabetes mellitus is made through a blood or urine test, which assesses the level of glucose in the body. This test is usually done on an empty stomach and must be performed on 2 different days, in order to compare the results.

The fasting glucose reference values are up to 99 mg / dL in the blood. When the person has fasting glucose values between 100 and 125 mg / dL, he is diagnosed with pre-diabetes and when he has fasting glucose above 126 mg / dL he may have diabetes.

See all about the tests used to diagnose diabetes.

How the treatment is done

The first form of treatment for type 2 diabetes is the adoption of a balanced diet with less sugar and other forms of carbohydrates. In addition, it is also important to exercise at least 3 times a week and lose weight in the case of overweight and obese people.

After these guidelines, if your sugar levels are not regularized, your doctor may advise you to use oral antidiabetics, which are pills that help control blood sugar levels.

Insulin use, on the other hand, is the treatment option for people who are unable to keep their glucose level under control only with the use of oral medications or who cannot use antidiabetics due to other health problems, such as people who have kidney failure and do not they can use metformin, for example.

These people need to keep a daily check of sugar levels and corresponding insulin administration for the rest of their lives, in most cases, but they can return to using pills only if they have good blood glucose control.

Watch the video below and find out what types of exercise can help fight diabetes:

Check out even more guidelines on how the diet should be.

Possible consequences of type 2 diabetes

When diabetes treatment is not started in time, the disease can cause various complications in the body, related to the accumulation of sugar in various types of tissues. Some of the most common include:

Serious changes in vision that can lead to blindness; Poor wound healing that can lead to necrosis and amputation of the limb; Dysfunctions in the central nervous system; Dysfunctions in blood circulation; Cardiac complications and coma.

These complications can also happen when the person is already undergoing treatment, but does not follow the guidelines to the letter.