Diabetes symptoms can be incredibly difficult to spot, because they don’t often make you feel actually unwell. That’s why it’s really important to notice any small changes to your daily routine – including how often you use the loo, according to ITV This Morning’s Dr Sara.
Diabetes is a condition that’s caused by the body’s reaction to insulin; a type of hormone.
For type 2 diabetes patients, the body struggles to produce enough insulin, or it doesn’t react to it.
Without enough insulin, it’s difficult to convert sugar in the blood into useable energy.
If you have diabetes, it should be diagnosed as soon as possible, because it raises the risk of some serious medical conditions.
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“I think the subtle symptoms are usually the type of symptoms that could be attributed to anything,” Dr Sara told Express.co.uk.
“Passing urine a little bit more frequently – a lot of people don’t necessarily pay attention to how often they’re going, but it can be a really subtle sign.
“It’s about knowing what’s normal for you, because it can depend on your own hydration, your activity levels, all of those types of things as to what’s a normal amount of urine.
“If it changes for you, that’s when you need to be alerted by it. I would say if it’s an unusual volume and frequency of urine for you.”
If you’ve been drinking much more water over the past few days, then you don’t necessarily need to worry about using the toilet a few extra times a day, she added.
“But if actually over the last few days you’ve been passing urine in significant volumes and you don’t have the explanation for it, that’s when you see your doctor,” said Dr Sara.
Anytime that you’re concerned about your toilet routine, you should speak to a doctor.
But just because you’ve started peeing more often than normal, it doesn’t necessarily mean that you have diabetes.
Other common signs of the condition include feeling unusually fatigued, having cuts or wounds that take longer to heal, or even smelly breath.
Many people might be living with diabetes without even knowing it.
In the UK, there are about five million people that have been diagnosed with diabetes.
Most of those cases are caused by type 2 diabetes, with just 10 percent of patients diagnosed with type 1 diabetes.