Diabetes: Signs, Symptoms, and Risk Factors

DIABETES 1
Diabetes
By ( )
Class (Course)
Professor (Tutor)
School (University)
City and State
The Date

DIABETES 2
Question 1
Signs and Symptoms
Type two diabetes is a severe illness that interferes with sugar metabolism in the human body.
Type 2 diabetes is milder than type one diabetes, the pancreas engages in the production of
insulin but it is not sufficient for the human body, or sometimes the body cells are resistant to it.
Among the people with diabetic conditions, almost 90% of them suffer from type 2 diabetes
(Jaacks et al, 2016). This condition is mostly due to diet, lifestyle, age or family history (Zinman
et al, 2015). The condition is also experienced in people with obese cases. Some of the possible
symptoms and signs of type 2 diabetes include; increased hunger even after food intake, high
weight loss, increased thirst, dry mouth, feeling weak and tiredness all the time, frequent
urination, headaches and sometimes migraine and having a blurred vision. Type 2 diabetes
symptoms and signs can be gradual and mild during the early stages. Some of the main
symptoms and signs of type two diabetes include;
Frequent urination
When the blood sugar level increases, the kidney help in trying to remove excess sugar into the
blood by filtering it. This makes one urinate more frequently especially during the night (Wanner
et al, 2016).
Increased hunger
Individuals suffering from type 2 diabetes do not often get adequate energy from the food they
consume. This is because the glucose in food is not transformed into energy by the insulin that is
produced, hence the body cells receives inadequate glucose from the bloodstream. Therefore,

DIABETES 3
these individuals end up feeling hungry all the time despite eating all the time or the amount that
they eat.
Increased thirst
Due to frequent urination to remove excess sugar one becomes dehydrated and one feels
abnormally thirsty.
Tiredness
Type 2 diabetes can influence the energy levels of an individual. One feels tired and fatigued all
the time. This feeling of tiredness comes in because of inadequate movement of energy to the
body cells from the bloodstream.
Blurred vision
Excessive sugar in the blood damages tiny blood vessels that are in the eyes that in turn results
into blurred vision. The blurry vision may be in one of the eyes or both eyes can come and go. If
a person’s diabetes becomes untreated, it can damage the blood vessels (Paul et al, 2015). This
can lead to permanent vision loss.
Slow healing of wounds
Excessive sugar in the blood damages the blood vessels and body nerves, which ends up
impairing the blood circulation (Pfeffer et al, 2015). Therefore, even small cut wounds take
weeks or months to heal. The slow healing of wounds is a sign of the disease occurrence.
Question 2
Factors influencing type2 diabetes

DIABETES 4
There are conditions within the human body and environment that increase the likelihood of type
two diabetes developing. Some of the factors that are a risk for type two diabetes occurring
include;
Genes
Different bits of DNA influences the way the body produces insulin. Scientists have associated
numerous gene mutations in increasing type two diabetes. Several gene mutations have proved to
influence the risk of type two diabetes, especially between twins. (Lou et al, 2015).
Extra weight
In most instances, obesity and overweight are likely to cause insulin resistance which leads to
diabetes type 2 especially among people who carry extra pounds around the abdomen. This is
experienced among children and also adults. Insulin resistant people often have high blood
pressure, high cholesterols, triglycerides and extra fats around the waist.
Broken beta cells and bad communication between cells
If the cells that help in making insulin send out incorrect amount of insulin and at the mistaken
time, blood sugar is raised. This increased blood glucose damages the cell (Neal et al, 2017).
The cells may also send bad signals and end up not picking up the messages appropriately. This
influences how the body makes use of glucose or insulin which causes a chain reaction and
which leads to diabetes.
Too much fat in the liver