Could you be glucose intolerant? You’ll be surprised at some people who are without even realizing it. They suffer the common symptoms without ever thinking about them, believing them to be normal parts of life. It’s only when they suffer a major health problem that they realize those symptoms have never been good.
You need to put your health first. It’s essential that you look out for common symptoms that indicate there is a major problem. These symptoms can be minor at first, but they will get worse over time.
When it comes to glucose intolerance, you want to be aware of the following nine symptoms. Seek medical attention if you do have them.
Glucose Intolerance Is Known as Prediabetes
Most people right now will wonder what glucose intolerance is. Your body naturally creates this, so how could you possibly be intolerant to it?
The medical term is impaired glucose intolerance (IGT) or prediabetes. It’s a term given to individuals who are at a higher than normal risk of developing diabetes at some point, especially if they continue with the current lifestyle that they have.
This isn’t just about your diet, though. It could be that your body doesn’t produce enough insulin or that the normal hepatic glucose output is higher than it should be. Some doctors have linked the intolerance to the poor disposal of blood sugar from the system.
Doctors wanted to remove the social stigma of having diabetes. At the same time, they needed a way to note if someone was a higher risk, as well as note those who were at a higher risk of developing cardiovascular disease.
Now that you know more about what glucose intolerance is, it’s time to note the main symptoms. This will help you get an official diagnosis and help to avoid this issue turning into full-blown diabetes.
Feeling Thirsty Despite Constantly Drinking Liquids
Have you drunk your two liters of water today but do you still feel thirsty? If it’s not a hot day or you haven’t done exercise, this isn’t normal. It’s especially not normal if you drink more than that and continue to feel thirsty.
This is one of the signs of diabetes, but it is also a symptom of prediabetes. You should speak to a doctor if you feel like this because you can drink too much water!
Despite drinking plenty of water, you could feel like you have a dry mouth. This makes you want to drink more, but it’s due to the way that your body is dealing with the glucose levels within your system (or more importantly not dealing with them)!
Of course, with the extra liquid, you will also feel the more frequent need to urinate. However, even if you don’t drink more, you can still end up needing to urinate more often. You may even find that your urine is a dark color, suggesting that your body isn’t taking in enough fluids.
Feeling Lethargic and Fatigued
How do you feel within yourself when it comes to energy levels? Those with a glucose intolerance tend to feel like they don’t have enough energy to get through the day. There’s the constant need to eat more sugar or drink more caffeine to get more energy through bursts. Of course, this makes the whole thing worse. You end up with a sugar crash and then feel the need for even more soon after.
Your body isn’t dealing with the glucose in the right way. You’ll have more crashes throughout the day, meaning that your mind just doesn’t remain within the game.
The problem with fatigue is that it’s often an overlooked symptom. After all, it’s a symptom of so many other problems, and you genuinely may not have slept well the night before. You can try all sorts of herbal remedies to help get more iron into your body and sleep better, but you still feel tired for no reason.
Your fatigue is due to the way that your body is absorbing and utilizing the sugar. The body doesn’t use it thoroughly, so you don’t get as much energy from the sugars as you once did. Of course, you end up eating more sugar, which causes more health problems!
After a while, your muscles will start to ache. You can even feel cramping, as you will also feel thirstier, despite drinking plenty. Your doctor will want to know about all these seemingly minor symptoms that are linked to prediabetes.
Check Out Your Vision Symptoms
Did you know that diabetes can affect your vision? Those with diabetes are more likely to suffer from various eye illnesses and major changes in their glasses and contact lens prescription.
Well, your vision could also be an indication of glucose intolerance. You’ll be surprised at the ways your eyes tell you the story of what is happening within!
When your blood sugar dips and spikes randomly and suddenly (like it does with glucose intolerance), your eyes find it much harder to fixate and focus. They won’t see an image clearly, even if you’ve just had your eyes tested recently. That blurriness won’t stay for long though. Once the sugar levels increase again, your eyesight returns to normal. Of course, once it dips back down, you’ll be left with the blurriness causing a problem.
No amount of eye testing will improve your vision. You can also end up with more headaches and tiredness, as your eyes strain far more than they should. Your concentration will already lag with the fatigue.
It may be your optician who suggests getting a prediabetes check, especially if you regularly visit with similar symptoms. They’ll know the warning signs within the eyes, so follow the suggestion to put your health first.
You Suffer from More Serious Infections and Wounds
Keep a note of how regularly you are ill or how long a wound takes to heal. It should only take a few days for wounds to scab over and start to heal fully, but this isn’t the case when you are prediabetic. Patients often find that their body’s immune system is low, which means it is harder for the clotting and healing process to begin. After all, the body thinks it has to fight something else.
Likewise, you can end up suffering from more minor illnesses. You may always feel full of cold or suffer for longer when you do get an illness. That cold that took the rest of your family a couple of days to get over has taken you three weeks and counting! This definitely isn’t normal or acceptable. It’s not just your poor immune system, but an underlying cause is preventing your immune system from working effectively.
Glucose intolerance also leads to more fungi and bacteria growing within the body. You can get more repeat infections or find that you get urinary tract and thrust infections. Many patients have noted that their genital areas are very itchy for seemingly no reason or it burns when they urinate. Added in that you will need to urinate more frequently, this can be extremely depressing.
This is all linked to the amount of blood sugar that is within your system. When the glucose remains high, the circulation slows down. The body doesn’t get the right levels of white blood cells to help fight infections, close wounds, and repair the body.
Weight Loss or Weight Gain that Is Sudden and Unexplainable
We all know that if we eat too many calories or don’t eat enough, we will either gain or lose weight. It’s a normal, everyday occurrence, but we do have some control over it. You may follow a healthy diet. Sure, sometimes you go a little over but the next week you go under, and you fluctuate between the same 2-5lbs.
Then there are others who will actively try to lose weight. Or you may have to try to gain weight actively. Either way, you know you are doing it healthily and are determined to do whichever your doctor recommends.
When it comes to prediabetes, your weight gain or loss won’t be completely controlled. You may suddenly find that you gain tens of pounds, despite following a calorie controlled diet. On the other hand, you may find that you lose tens of pounds without actively trying to do so—all you want is to lose a few pounds each week.
The unexplained weight loss is linked to the fatigue. Your body doesn’t get energy from the blood sugar, so it needs to burn other elements within your body. You may not even be on a diet, and you’ll start losing 10lbs or so each week. You’re struggling to keep hold of muscle mass, or you may find that your bone density is dropping. It’s clear that the weight loss isn’t healthy, but you just don’t know how to stop it!
As for the weight gain, this can be due to the resistance against the insulin. Your body needs fuel, so it tells the brain that you’re not eating enough. You end up feeling hungry, so you eat more calories than you need to. The metabolism isn’t able to work effectively, because of the insulin response to the higher glucose levels. This leads to stored calories and a higher weight gain.
The Limbs Start to Tingle
If you put your weight on one arm and cut off the blood supply, there are changes that you will feel a tingling sensation in the arm, hand, and fingers. This is perfectly normal, and you can rectify it by removing the weight. The tingling sensation is from the lack of blood flow to that part of your arm.
When you have glucose intolerance, your circulation slows down. This is something we’ve already touched on, but we’ve not looked into all the symptoms that can cause. One of them is the tingling sensation in the limbs, especially in your extremities. It can feel like you actually have poor blood circulation, but this is just a symptom of a bigger issue.
At first, it will feel like pins and needles in the fingers and toes. You could overlook it, thinking you must have cut off a nerve accidentally at some point. However, then you notice it happens more frequently. You start to experience the symptoms daily when you are just lying normally or sitting on the couch.
The tingling sensation can turn to numbness in the limbs. You can also start to feel like they’re cold all the time.
You need to get this symptom looked at. Many diabetes patients suffer from gangrene in their limbs. The limbs turn black due to the lack of blood flow, and it can’t always be rectified, meaning that the limbs must be amputated because the bad blood and toxins within these parts of the body spread to others.
Your Mental Abilities Aren’t as Stable
Think about how you feel when you’re tired and in some pain. Think about a symptom of dehydration! Your brain doesn’t cope very well when the rest of your body isn’t in the best shape. You can start to experience more headaches and depression.
This is the case for those with glucose intolerance. The brain is overwhelmed by all the other symptoms in the body. Your fatigue makes it harder to concentrate, while the blurriness in your vision means that you have to strain more. Your head hurts constantly, and that constant pain really does get on your nerves. All you want is for it to stop, but even sleep doesn’t seem to be helping the headaches anymore. And those headaches turn into migraines!
Irritability and a lack of clarity and focus are completely normal in prediabetic patients. There are a few reasons for this. It can be directly linked to the high blood sugar and reduce circulation. If your brain isn’t getting enough oxygenated blood, then it isn’t going to be able to work effectively. However, many of the symptoms are linked to the other symptoms of glucose intolerance.
You don’t need to live with headaches and depression. However, you want to make sure your doctor gets to the bottom of them. Too many will treat them as a condition rather than the symptoms of a condition.
Menopause Starts Earlier than It Should
Some women have noticed that menopause starts earlier than normal because of their intolerance to gluten. This is one of the more severe side effects of the condition and one that should definitely not be overlooked. However, some doctors will miss the reason for it, believing that it may just be your body.
You will usually notice some vaginal dryness first. This can come across as an itchiness in the area, as your genitals become irritated. Some doctors will prescribe acream for the symptoms, but you will need to make sure that the actual reason is found.
The estrogen levels can be compromised with high blood sugar. The metabolism doesn’t work properly, and there is a complete hormonal imbalance within the system. Your body believes that it is time to stop releasing the eggs and the ovaries aren’t as fertile.
So if this is so serious, how come sometimes it can be overlooked? Well, many women who go through early menopause are too busy dealing with their lack of fertility. They’re not so much as interested in the reason as they are in dealing with the side effects and the feelings that come from knowing they’re no longer able to have children. Also, doctors aren’t always going to consider glucose intolerance, especially if no other symptoms have been noted.
Know the Symptoms and Look After Your Health
Only you will put your health first. You will be able to keep track of all the symptoms and not stop until you have the definitely answer.
Some of the symptoms above are commonly overlooked. It’s easy to do so, considering they’re symptoms noticed with many other problems. Sudden weight gain or weight loss can be linked to thyroid problems, while fatigue is linked to almost every condition that you could possibly suffer from! Why would you consider prediabetes?
Make sure you talk to your doctor, especially if you suffer from a mixture of your symptoms. Prediabetes doesn’t mean you are definitely going to suffer from diabetes in later life. You can reverse all and put your health first!
