What Are the Signs and Symptoms of Type 2 Diabetes?
By Sheryl Huggins SalomonMedically Reviewed by Kacy Church, MD
Reviewed:
Medically Reviewed
Type 2 diabetes can be life altering. But it’s not always easy to recognize the signs that you have developed the disease, which occurs when your body does not respond to the hormone insulin as effectively, and the pancreas is not able to keep up with the increased demands on insulin production. This results in blood glucose (sugar) levels that are too high.
“Patients may have no symptoms when their blood sugar is only slightly elevated,” says Sarah Rettinger, MD, an endocrinologist at Providence Saint John’s Health Center in Santa Monica, California. “By the time patients have higher blood sugar, they may feel thirsty, hungry, and may be urinating excessively. Some patients lose weight without any change in diet and exercise.”
Type 2 diabetes is a disease that happens often in people who are older than 45 or have these other risk factors:
- A family history of developing it
- Are overweight or inactive, or have obesity according to your body mass index (BMI)
- Are of a certain ethnicity, including Black American, Hispanic American, Native American, Asian American, or Pacific Islander
- Are a smoker
- Have had gestational diabetes
Type 2 diabetes is distinct from type 1 diabetes, which is an autoimmune disease that occurs when beta cells of the pancreas are damaged and that organ makes little or no insulin.
What Are the Early Symptoms of Type 2 Diabetes?
Potential Early Warning Signs of Type 2 Diabetes
Dr. Rettinger cites the most common diabetes symptoms, but additional ones include:
- Eating more than usual
- Blurred vision
- Fatigue, even when you’ve slept the normal amount of time
- Inflamed or red gums
- Dry mouth
- Burning, tingling, or numbness in your hands or feet
- Confused thinking
- Irritability
- Wounds that heal slowly or won’t heal
There are still more symptoms that are specific to each gender.
Type 2 Diabetes Symptoms Common in Men
Type 2 diabetes symptoms are generally the same for men and women, but urological problems such as erectile dysfunction (ED) — the inability to achieve or maintain an erection — are associated only with men.
Previous research suggests men with diabetes are up to three times more likely to develop ED than those who do not have the disease.
Researchers believe diabetes causes sexual function problems in men by damaging nerves and blood vessels, affecting circulation.
ED can have many causes, such as cardiovascular disease, kidney disease, injury, multiple sclerosis, Peyronie’s disease (where scar tissue results in a curved penis), and lower-than-normal testosterone levels. But it may be a sign that you have diabetes.
Another urological problem associated with diabetes in men is retrograde ejaculation, or the release of semen into the bladder during ejaculation. Symptoms include reduced semen during ejaculation or no ejaculation at all.
Diabetes management and other treatments can help with the sexual problems men may encounter.
Type 2 Diabetes Symptoms Common in Women
Women with diabetes may experience low sexual desire, reduced response, vaginal dryness, and painful sex. This is because the disease can result in nerve damage, reduced blood flow to the genitals, and hormonal changes in women. Changes in arousal may also be tied to swings in blood sugar level, from high to low.
But other possible causes of these symptoms include menopause and cardiovascular disease.
Diabetes can also affect fertility and pregnancy. Inadequate blood sugar control is linked to higher miscarriage rates during the first three months of pregnancy.Also, obesity and polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) are linked to diabetes and can contribute to problems becoming pregnant.
Additionally, women with type 2 diabetes are at increased risk for vaginal yeast infections because organisms such as the fungus Candida albicans (also called “yeast”) can grow more easily when blood glucose is high (since urinary excretion of glucose is also high). Getting blood sugar under control can help prevent yeast infections, and antifungal medication such as miconazole and clotrimazole can help clear them up.
What to Expect When Seeking a Type 2 Diabetes Screening
The only way to know for sure if you have the disease is to be checked out by a doctor, who will take a medical history, including asking if anyone else in your family has had diabetes and what type it was. Lab tests will likely be ordered to measure your blood glucose levels. You will receive a diabetes diagnosis if your test result is:
- 200 milligrams per deciliter (mg/dl) or higher in two random plasma glucose tests, with symptoms
- 200 mg/dl or higher with an oral glucose tolerance test
- 126 mg/dl or higher with a fasting plasma glucose test
- Or 6.5 percent or higher with a hemoglobin A1C test on two separate days
If you are diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, your healthcare team will help you devise a plan for lowering your blood sugar and managing the disease. That team may include your primary care doctor, an endocrinologist, and a registered dietitian nutritionist or a certified diabetes educator, as well as other doctors who can address health complications, such as a podiatrist.
If the tests come back with elevated readings that do not reach the threshold for diabetes, you may be diagnosed with prediabetes. Having an A1C test of 5.7 to 6.4 percent is among the criteria for this intermediate condition, which elevates your risk for developing diabetes.A1C is a two- to three-month average of blood sugar levels. Losing just 5 to 7 percent of your weight and getting regular exercise are good ways to delay or prevent type 2 diabetes.
Risks of Letting Type 2 Diabetes Symptoms Go Unaddressed
If you have had poorly managed diabetes for a while, complications may have developed. “In patients with poor blood sugar control, complications can include cardiovascular disease, with heart attacks, peripheral artery disease, or strokes resulting,” says Rettinger. “Microvascular disease (damage to small blood vessels) can occur, including damage to the nerves of the feet, which can cause infections over time and poor wound healing.”
Rettinger also cites kidney disease and retinopathy, which can cause loss of vision over time, as common complications.
Some of the symptoms mentioned above may suggest diabetes has advanced. For instance, burning, tingling, or numbness in your hands or feet may be caused by nerve damage, which is also known as diabetic neuropathy.
The best way to prevent or delay complications is to keep your blood sugar under control, says Rettinger. In general, doctors advise having an A1C of less than 7 percent for most nonpregnant adults. An A1C of less than 6.5 or less than 8 may be targeted for certain groups.
A healthy diet and regular exercise are important to staying within this goal. This means limiting the amount of sweets, beverages, and food with added sugar that you take in, while favoring appropriate portions of whole grains, vegetables, fruit, and lean or plant-based protein sources.
Home blood sugar monitoring, oral medication, and insulin may also be a part of your treatment plan if you are diagnosed with diabetes.
Additional reporting by Ingrid Strauch and Stephanie Bucklin.
Editorial Sources and Fact-Checking
- Diabetes: An Overview. Cleveland Clinic. March 28, 2021.
- What Is Diabetes? National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. July 18, 2017.
- Chu NV, Edelman SV. Diabetes and Erectile Dysfunction. Clinical Diabetes. January 1, 2001.
- Erectile Dysfunction. Cleveland Clinic. October 14, 2019.
- Retrograde Ejaculation. Diabetes.co.uk. January 25, 2023.
- The Link Between Diabetes and Sexual Dysfunction. Cleveland Clinic. July 29, 2020.
- Sexual Problems in Women. MedlinePlus. June 20, 2016.
- Type 1 or Type 2 Diabetes and Pregnancy. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. July 14, 2022.
- Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS). Diabetes.co.uk. January 25, 2023.
- Vaginal Yeast Infection. MedlinePlus. July 13, 2021.
- Diabetes: An Overview — Diagnosis and Tests. Cleveland Clinic. March 28, 2021.
- Get to Know Your Diabetes Care Team. American Diabetes Association.
- Prediabetes — Your Chance to Prevent Type 2 Diabetes. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. December 30, 2022.
- Diabetes Tests. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. December 30, 2022.
- Causes of Peripheral Neuropathy. The Foundation for Peripheral Neuropathy.
- A1C Does It All. American Diabetes Association.
- Diabetes: An Overview — Management and Treatment. Cleveland Clinic. March 28, 2021.
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