How Do I Know If I Have Diabetes?

Your body changes most of the food you eat into glucose (a form of sugar). Insulin is a hormone produced by the pancreas that allows glucose to enter all the cells of your body and be used as energy.

Diabetes is a disease that occurs when a person’s body doesn’t make enough insulin or can’t use insulin properly. When you have diabetes, the sugar builds up in your blood instead of moving into the cells. Too much sugar in the blood can lead to serious health problems, including heart disease and damage to the nerves and kidneys.

There are 2 types of diabetes. Type 1 diabetes occurs when the body doesn’t produce any insulin. In type 2 diabetes, the body either doesn’t produce enough insulin or the cells ignore the insulin. Nearly 95% of people who are diagnosed with diabetes have type 2 diabetes.

The early stages of diabetes have very few symptoms, so you may not know you have the disease. But damage may already be happening to your eyes, your kidneys and your cardiovascular system even before you notice symptoms. Symptoms of diabetes may include the following:

If you are regularly experiencing any of these symptoms, call your family doctor right away.

You are at increased risk for diabetes if:

If you have 1 or more of these risk factors, your doctor may want you to be tested (also called "screened") for diabetes. You might also be screened at a younger age and more often if you have risk factors. Talk to your doctor about your risk of developing diabetes and about a plan for regular testing.

Screening is usually done with a fasting blood test. You'll be tested in the morning, so you shouldn't eat anything after dinner the night before. A normal blood sugar test result is between 70 and 99 mg per dL. A test result higher than 126 mg per dL suggests diabetes. However, you should have 2 tests that are higher than 12 mg per dL, on 2 different days, before a diagnosis of diabetes is made. Test results from 100 mg per dL to 125 mg per dL suggest prediabetes.

Many people have diabetes for years before they show symptoms. By the time they are diagnosed, some people already have eye, kidney, gum or nerve damage caused by diabetes. There's no cure for diabetes, but there are ways for you to stay healthy and reduce the risk of complications. If you exercise, watch your diet, control your weight and take the medicine your doctor may prescribe, you can make a big difference in reducing or preventing the damage that diabetes can do. The earlier you know you have diabetes, the sooner you can make these important lifestyle changes.

Your family doctor can tell you how often you should be screened for diabetes. He or she can give you advice about diet, exercise and lifestyle changes that can help manage your diabetes.