Type 2 diabetes is one of the most common health conditions in the UK. The latest figures showing 4.3 million people are now living with a diagnosis of diabetes up and down the country.
According to the charity Diabetes UK, more than 2.4 million people are at high risk of developing type 2 diabetes in Britain. Although the condition is common, symptoms can be hard to spot.
Sometimes, symptoms are so vague or overlap with other illnesses that diabetes can go undetected for a long time - possibly even years. So understanding the warning signs of diabetes is important and being mindful of any changes you notice.
When it comes to waking up first thing in the morning, three red flag symptoms can appear if you do indeed have diabetes. Pharmist Abbas Kanani, of Chemist Click, says people should be made aware of three key sensations after waking up.
“You may notice you have increased thirst, or hunger, or feel the need to pee frequently," Kanani said. Everyone is going to get thirsty from time to time, but feeling thirsty all the time or your thirst being stronger than it usually is, even after having a drink, could be a tell-tale sign, as reported by Express.co.uk.
Feeling this kind of excessive thirst is known as polydipsia and is one of the 'initial' symptoms of diabetes. The second is excessive hunger, which is called polyphagia.
Polyphagia, also called hyperphagia, is the medical term for a feeling of extreme, insatiable hunger. To get energy, your body sources sugar from the food we eat, but if you have diabetes, this can inhibit this due to your body not producing enough insulin to use glucose for energy. This then leads to a lack of energy usage in the body, making you feel hungrier.
The third sign is polyuria. This is where you urinate more often than usual. Frequent urination is a common symptom of both Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes.
This can occur when your body can’t use insulin to break down glucose, so it makes more urine to get rid of it. Diabetes is more likely to cause higher volumes of urine when you go than other causes of frequent urination.
Abbas Kanani added: £The body's blood sugar levels are naturally high when we wake up and it is generally recommended to eat between one and one and half hours after waking. Some studies, such as this one by the International Journal of Epidemiology, have suggested that eating an earlier breakfast may help to reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes."
If you experience any of these warning signs, the NHS advises speaking to your doctor "as soon as possible". Diabetes UK runs local support groups. These can help with things like managing your diabetes on a daily basis, diet, exercise or dealing with emotional problems, such as depression.
