Symptoms of Adult Diabetes

Symptoms of adult diabetes are explained through a story about my grandfather. My grandfather was 66 years old. He had gone for his annual physical exam. He had blood drawn that day, and his doctor called him the following day.

His doctor told him he was diabetic.

I went to visit him because he sounded so upset. I told him about type 2 diabetes. It affects older people and especially overweight adults. My grandfather is tall but weighs almost 300 pounds. He was not happy with the news.

I asked him some questions. I had done a little research online before going to see him.

• Have you been feeling tired lately? He said, “Yes, a little.”
• Are you more thirsty than normal? He said, “Yes, I always have a cup of tea near me.”
• What about urinating more? He said, “Yes, it’s a pain in the neck.”

I told him these were all symptoms of adult diabetes. It means there is too much sugar in your blood. He argued with me. How can that be? I don’t put sugar in my tea. And I never eat cake. He was adamant. There must be a mistake.

He was a retired science teacher. So, all I had to say was that his pancreas was not producing enough insulin. He reluctantly agreed that would be a problem.

I went over to his computer and accessed the American Diabetes Association web page. I bookmarked the page for him and printed out the symptoms of adult diabetes. They also include:

• Tingling or numbness in your hands or feet.
• Eye problems.
• Dry, itchy skin.
• Weight changes.
• Cuts and/or bruises that take a long time to heal.

He looked over the list and was very quiet. He told me his skin had really been bothering him. It was itchy all the time. He thought it was because of the cold winter we had. He told me his glasses didn’t work right anymore.

I made appointments for him with my dermatologist and his eye doctor. This is something all diabetics should do. Next, would be the foot doctor, but I decided to wait a couple of months before doing that.

A week later I went to see him. He showed me his glucose meter and test strips. I asked him if I could see his blood glucose numbers. They were stored in the memory of the meter. He didn’t know how to access that feature. So I showed him and we looked at his numbers together.

They were high in the morning and low in the late afternoon. I suggested he have a four o’clock snack of fruit or yogurt. The morning was high because of the hormones in the body as we wake up.

The next thing I wanted to talk to him about was the complications of diabetes. Once again I went to the ADA web site and printed out the possible ailments.

• Diabetes hypertension was at the top of the list. High blood pressure comes from too much glucose in the blood and your heart has to work harder. The extra weight also means the heart is stressed.
• Diabetes neuropathy is another complication. The capillaries in the tips of the toes and the fingers die because of the glucose and we lose feeling in our toes and fingertips. This becomes a problem for a diabetic’s feet. They need to see a podiatrist or someone who can cut their toenails. A pedicure at a discreet salon is one solution to the problem.
• Diabetes impotence is not something I was willing to talk to my grandfather about. I would leave the list of complications on his table for him to read.
• Diabetes nephropathy involves kidney damage because the tiny filters cannot handle the glucose.
• Diabetes retinopathy affects the eyes. His eye doctor would check for that on his next visit.

Two months later, I am happy to report that my grandfather’s eyes are okay. He has a prescription for his skin. His latest blood glucose numbers were improved and his A1c was down to 6.0% I think it is safe to say he is on his way to a healthy future.

Margaret Stenerson
March 7, 2010