Key Takeaways
- Approximately 40% of American adults have prediabetes or diabetes.
- One in four American adults is unaware they have prediabetes or diabetes.
- Common symptoms of diabetes include frequent thirst and urination, elevated blood sugar levels, extreme hunger and fatigue, blurry vision, tingling or numbness in hands and feet, and slow-healing wounds.
Sometimes, we don’t want to know when we have a health condition.
However, knowing you have a condition can help you take action to manage the condition or even reverse it.
Knowledge is power and provides you with choices.
Understanding and controlling type 2 diabetes will take time, hard work, and support from various healthcare professionals and people in your life.
Approximately 40% of American adults have prediabetes or diabetes, with some of those unaware they have the condition.
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Can I Have Diabetes Without Knowing?
As of 2021, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that 38.4 million American adults have type 2 diabetes, or 11.6% of the population.
The majority (29.7 million) of people with type 2 diabetes have been diagnosed, leaving 8.7 million undiagnosed and unaware they have diabetes.
Thirty percent of people with type 2 diabetes are unaware.
Another 98 million American adults have prediabetes.
Prediabetes means blood sugar levels are higher than normal but not high enough to classify as type 2 diabetes.
More than 80% of adults with prediabetes don’t know they have it.
About 87 million adults in the United States do not know they have prediabetes or diabetes.
That equates to one in four adults in America.
Prediabetes puts you at increased risk for developing type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and stroke.
Over 70% of people with prediabetes go on to develop type 2 diabetes.
Individuals with prediabetes and diabetes can manage their condition and health by keeping blood sugar levels within a target range.
Take the Quiz: Do I Have Diabetes?
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Our diabetes quiz can help you review your symptoms and how they might be a sign of diabetes.
If you have many symptoms, discuss them with your healthcare provider for diagnosis and treatment options.
This diabetes quiz is not intended to replace a medical diagnosis and is not a validated tool for diagnosing diabetes.
1. Am I Frequently Thirsty and Urinating More Than Usual?
Frequent urination (polyuria) is a major sign of diabetes.
The kidneys filter blood to make urine and normally reabsorb the sugar (glucose), which returns to the bloodstream.
When someone has excess blood sugar, like diabetes, the kidneys cannot keep up, so extra sugar ends up in the urine, and water is attracted to it, causing excessive urination.
If you are urinating more than usual, it is important to rehydrate.
This process is altered due to the excessive amount of urine made with abnormally high blood sugar levels.
Thirst and frequent urination symptoms generally go together.
Other medical conditions can cause excessive thirst or urination, but these are two of the major symptoms of diabetes.
Symptoms of polyuria, polydipsia, and polyphagia occur more often in type 1 diabetes than in type 2 diabetes.
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2. Is My Blood Sugar Level Consistently High?
Your blood sugar level is an indicator of how your body uses energy.
After you eat or drink foods with carbohydrates, the digestive system breaks carbohydrates into glucose or sugar and then releases sugar into the blood.
Insulin is released from the pancreas in response to increased blood sugar levels.
Insulin enables the cells to take in glucose from the blood, causing the blood sugar level to decrease appropriately as it is used for energy.
Blood sugar levels change throughout the day.
When your blood sugar is consistently elevated, some part of the process is malfunctioning.
There are several blood sugar level tests to diagnose diabetes: fasting blood sugar, a two-hour oral glucose tolerance test, or hemoglobin A1C.
Learn more about calculating your A1c at home.
Each test can help determine if you have diabetes.
If your tests are elevated often, or an at-home finger stick is elevated on several occasions, you should seek extra guidance from a healthcare professional.
3. Do I Experience Extreme Hunger or Fatigue?
Extreme hunger or fatigue are symptoms of diabetes.
Extreme hunger, also called hyperphagia, is when a person is always hungry and never satisfied after eating.
When insulin is not working correctly with diabetes, blood sugar is not being transferred adequately to the cells in your body that need fuel.
Cells in your body keep telling you to eat food because the energy is not getting where required.
This leads to overeating, especially for sugar or high-carbohydrate foods.
These foods typically give quick energy to the cells of the body.
With diabetes, the blood sugar continues to elevate.
Additionally, the cells in your body are asking for fuel.
Since the sugar in your blood cannot transfer properly to the cells, you become fatigued.
Other health conditions can cause extreme hunger and fatigue.
Answering yes to several of these questions indicates a possibility of diabetes.
Getting tested with your healthcare provider can determine the root cause.
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4. Have I Noticed Sudden Weight Loss Without Trying To Lose Weight?
Sudden weight loss can be a symptom of type 2 diabetes.
Similar to question three, the cells are not getting enough energy from blood sugar.
The body will find fuel from your fat stores.
As the fat stores are broken down, you experience weight loss.
Sudden weight loss is a more common symptom when type 2 diabetes has been undiagnosed for a long time.
5. Do I Have Blurry Vision or Numbness and Tingling in my Hands and Feet?
As blood sugar levels remain elevated over time, they cause damage to tiny blood vessels that supply your nerves and your eyes.
Damage to the nerves is called neuropathy and affects almost half of people with diabetes.
The most common type is peripheral neuropathy, which affects nerves in the hands, feet, legs, and arms.
Generally, the feet are affected first with tingling, pain or increased sensitivity, numbness, or weakness.
Keeping blood sugar levels within range can prevent neuropathy in the first place and prevent it from worsening.
Regular eye exams can help catch any eye damage symptoms from type 2 diabetes before they turn serious.
Often, symptoms start as blurry vision and may come and go.
High blood sugar levels damage the blood vessels in the eye's retina.
Damage to the retina can cause vision loss.
Early treatment can reverse or prevent further eye damage.
6. Am I Experiencing Frequent Infections or Slow Healing Wounds?
Frequent infections or slow-healing wounds are common symptoms of uncontrolled diabetes.
Unfortunately, with diabetes, the immune system response is altered.
Elevated blood sugar levels and insulin deficiency can lead to a less effective immune system and an inability to fight illness or infection.
Slow wound healing affects about 25% of people with diabetes.
Abnormally high blood sugar levels cause many problems that affect wound healing.
The inability of cells to get the required energy and nutrients can delay wound healing.
Additionally, poor circulation due to high blood sugar levels can slow healing.
If you have frequent infections or slow-healing wounds, seek medical care for treatment and to determine if you have diabetes.
7. Do I Have a Family History of Diabetes?
Genetic predisposition plays a key role in developing type 2 diabetes.
A family history of type 2 diabetes puts you at an increased risk for the health condition as well.
Having more family members with diabetes increases your risk.
Some researchers estimate that having a parent or sibling with diabetes increases your risk by four times compared to individuals without a family history.
Interpreting Your Results
If you answered yes to more than one of the questions, you should seek guidance from your healthcare provider about the possibility of prediabetes or type 2 diabetes.
Early detection and treatment is critical for long-term maintenance and optimal health.
Diabetes is not the only cause of these symptoms.
Your healthcare provider can help address any other health conditions causing some of these symptoms.
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Diagnostic Testing
Different tests can be used for diagnosis.
Your provider may conduct various tests to determine if you have diabetes. Diagnosis can be made with a hemoglobin A1C or blood sugar test.
Share any symptoms from this quiz, as they will help determine your best treatment plan.
Takeaway
If you experience symptoms of elevated blood sugar levels, you may have prediabetes or type 2 diabetes.
This quiz may help you identify symptoms of type 2 diabetes.
Keep track of your symptoms and talk with your healthcare provider to take steps to manage your health.
How a Dietitian Can Help
A registered dietitian specializing in diabetes works with you to create a plan that fits your lifestyle.
Often, dietitians get extra certifications (CDCES) and are trained to help you understand how to check, interpret, and respond to the results of a blood glucose meter.
They also help you understand how the foods and drinks you consume affect your diabetes and ways to optimize your diet.
Find a dietitian near you to optimize your blood sugar levels through diet.
Do you have any of these insurances?
Frequently Asked Questions
The best way to check if you have diabetes is to make an appointment with your healthcare provider.
Keep track of symptoms and share these concerns.
Ask for blood sugar tests to determine if you have prediabetes or diabetes.
Ten warning signs of diabetes include frequent urination, thirst, hunger even after eating, extreme fatigue, blurry vision, tingling or numbness in hands or feet, elevated blood sugar levels, sudden weight loss, slow healing cuts or wounds, and frequent infections.
You may have increased blood sugar levels if you notice increasing symptoms on this quiz.
Routine medical care that includes blood sugar testing will help determine if you are developing prediabetes or diabetes.
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