How can you tell if you have diabetes? Let us talk about the early signs of type 2 diabetes and how you can prevent health deterioration by using connected health technology like remote patient monitoring.
Diabetes is a long-term illness that affects the way your body converts food into energy. The majority of the food you consume is converted to sugar and released into your bloodstream. Your pancreas releases insulin when your blood sugar levels rise. Insulin is a key that allows blood sugar to enter cells to be converted to energy.(1) If you have type 2 diabetes, the glucose is blocked from entering the cells and insulin cannot do its job of giving the cells the energy it needs. This is called insulin resistance. Over time, the blood sugar levels build up, leading to diabetes. In the United States, more than 37 million people have diabetes, and 1 in every 5 of them is unaware of it.(2) Read more about the early signs of type 2 diabetes.
Hunger
The food you eat is converted into glucose, which your cells utilize for energy. However, your cells require insulin to absorb glucose. The glucose can’t get into your cells if your body doesn’t manufacture enough or any insulin, or if your cells fight the insulin your body produces. This may make you feel more hungry than normal.
Frequent urination
When blood sugar levels are high, the kidneys attempt to filter the excess sugar out of the bloodstream. This can make it necessary to urinate more frequently, especially at night.
Increased thirst
The frequent urination required to eliminate extra sugar from the bloodstream might cause the body to lose more water. This might lead to dehydration and a person feeling thirstier than usual over time.
Tiredness
Type 2 diabetes can affect a person’s energy levels, making them feel sluggish or exhausted. This fatigue is caused by a lack of sugar flowing from the bloodstream into the body’s cells.
Slow healing of wounds
High blood sugar levels can harm the body’s neurons and blood vessels, causing blood circulation problems. As a result, even minor wounds and cuts can take weeks or months to heal. Infection risk is also increased by slow wound healing.
Tingling sensation in the hands and feet
High blood sugar levels can harm the body’s neurons and disrupt blood circulation. People who have type 2 diabetes can experience discomfort, tingling, or numbness in their hands and feet. If a person does not receive treatment for their diabetes, this condition is known as neuropathy, and it can worsen over time and lead to more serious consequences.
Blurry vision
A high sugar level in the blood can harm the microscopic blood vessels in the eyes, resulting in hazy vision. The fuzzy vision might affect one or both eyes, and it can come and go. If a person with diabetes doesn’t get treatment, the damage to these blood vessels could get worse, which could cause them to lose their sight for good.
Patches of dark skin
Patches of dark skin appearing in the neck, armpit, or groin might also indicate a higher diabetes risk. These patches may have a velvety texture. Acanthosis nigricans is the name for this skin disorder.
How can remote patient monitoring help you know if you have diabetes?
Remote patient monitoring provides information about your daily health. Prior to remote patient monitoring, clinicians would only find out if a diabetic patient was non-compliant or at danger of complications when the patient had a major problem that required an unscheduled appointment or hospitalization. Patients frequently wait until the issue has worsened to the point where serious medical intervention is required. The use of remote patient monitoring detects a potential danger factor for earlier intervention before it’s too late.
RPM is equipped with easy-to-use home monitoring devices such as blood glucose meter and blood pressure monitor. Patients can take measurements and transmit health data to their healthcare provider remotely through a secure cloud-based mobile application. The healthcare provider then analyses the data and provides immediate medical intervention, diet or exercise modification if needed.
Check this video to know about RPM for diabetes: Continuous real-time RPM solution for patients with acute, post-op, and chronic care.
Takeaway
The majority of early signs are caused by blood glucose levels that are higher than normal. You may not notice the warning signs since they are so minor. This is especially true for people with type 2 diabetes. Some people don’t realize they have it until they start having problems with the disease’s long-term effects.
