What is the number 1 symptom of diabetes?
Feeling very thirsty – also urinating more frequently than usual (particularly at night), and losing weight – see below.
Diabetes symptoms
The symptoms of diabetes occur because lack of insulin means the blood glucose (sugar) is high but is not used by your muscles as fuel for energy.
When blood glucose is high, glucose is lost in your urine and you may become dehydrated. This in part, leads to the following symptoms.
Typical symptoms include:
- Feeling very thirsty
- Passing urine more often than usual, particularly at night
- Weight loss and loss of muscle bulk
- Feeling very tired all the time
- Persistent infections such as thrush.
The symptoms of type 1 diabetes usually develop very quickly in children or young people (over a few hours or days). In adults, the symptoms often take longer to develop (a few days or weeks).
The symptoms of type 2 diabetes usually develop in adults, and do so slowly (over weeks or months). There may be no symptoms.
Summary
We have described what is the number 1 symptom of diabetes – i.e. feeling very thirsty. We hope this has been helpful.
Other resources
What is a normal blood sugar and HbA1C?
How do you diagnose diabetes and prediabetes?
