diabetes week day 4 - know the signs

did you know that type 1 diabetes is 5x more common than meningitis?

did you know that there are 1,000,000 people in the UK with undiagnosed type 2 diabetes?

do you know the signs to look for in a child with type 1 diabetes or someone with type 2 diabetes? no? 

symptoms of type 1 diabetes start showing themselves over the period of a few weeks... whereas the symptoms of type 2 diabetes tend to appear over a few years.

the main symptoms for both types are:

• unquenchable thirst
• tiredness
• rapid weight loss (type 1 mainly)
• needing to go to the toilet frequently
• frequent infections

all it takes to diagnose diabetes is one finger prick test, if you suspect diabetes visit your GP and insist on having a test done..... 

its easy to put the symptoms of diabetes down to other causes, i know i did..... i thought i was drinking more because it was summer (and going to the toilet more because i was drinking more), i thought i was tired from the stress of doing GCSE's, i thought the infections were to do with picking a bug up from my trip to Tanzania...... i NEVER imagined that they were all due to one thing and that thing would be diabetes.... 

so know the signs, raise awareness and hopefully we can work together to prevent the deaths and complications that undiagnosed diabetes can cause

here is JDRF (juvenile diabetes research foundation) and Diabetes UK's type 1 awareness video :)