Type 2 diabetes

Diabetes is usually a lifelong condition that causes a person’s blood glucose (sugar) level to become too high.

The hormone insulin – produced by the pancreas – is responsible for controlling the amount of glucose in the blood

There are two main types of diabetes:

type 1 – where the pancreas doesn’t produce any insulin type 2 – where the pancreas doesn’t produce enough insulin or the body’s cells don’t react to insulin

This topic is about type 2 diabetes.

Read more about type 1 diabetes

Another type of diabetes, known as gestational diabetes, occurs in some pregnant women and tends to disappear after birth.

Symptoms

The symptoms of diabetes occur because the lack of insulin means glucose stays in the blood and isn’t used as fuel for energy.

Your body tries to reduce blood glucose levels by getting rid of the excess glucose in your urine.

Typical symptoms include:

feeling very thirsty passing urine more often than usual, particularly at night feeling very tired weight loss and loss of muscle bulk slow to heal cuts or ulcers frequent vaginal or penile thrush blurred vision

Read more about the symptoms of type 2 diabetes

It’s very important for diabetes to be diagnosed as soon as possible as it will get progressively worse if left untreated.


The symptoms of diabetes include feeling very thirsty, passing more urine than usual, and feeling tired all the time.

The symptoms occur because some or all of the glucose stays in your blood and isn’t used as fuel for energy. Your body tries to get rid of the excess glucose in your urine.

The main symptoms of type 2 diabetes are:

urinating more often than usual, particularly at night feeling very thirsty feeling very tired unexplained weight loss itchiness around the genital area, or regular bouts of thrush (a yeast infection) cuts or wounds that heal slowly blurred vision – caused by the lens of the eye becoming dry

The signs and symptoms of type 1 diabetes are usually obvious and develop very quickly, often over a few weeks.

These signs and symptoms aren’t always as obvious, however, and it’s often diagnosed during a routine check-up.

This is because they are often mild and develop gradually over a number of years. This means you may have type 2 diabetes for many years without realising it.

Early diagnosis and treatment for type 2 diabetes is very important as it may reduce your risk of developing complications later on.