Always up in the night for a pee? It could be a little-known sign of silent killer
WE’VE all been woken up mid-sleep by the strong urge to pee at some point, after gulping down a drink too close to bedtime.
But if you take care to time your pre-bed beverages correctly or frequently find yourself taking nighttime toilet trips, it might be down to something more sinister.
Needing to wee lots at night is a little known symptom of type 2 diabetes, according to Dr Kishan Vithlani, NHS GP and Medical Director at Qured.
This silent killer condition causes the level of sugar in your blood to become too high due to your pancreas not making enough insulin – or what it does make not working properly.
Type 2 diabetes makes up about 90 per cent of UK diabetes cases, but many can live with condition for years without being diagnosed.
Diabetes UK suggests that as many as 850,000 Brits might not know they have the condition, while over 2.4 million are already at an increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes because of their blood sugar levels.
If symptoms are missed, high blood sugar levels can cause serious health complications, such as sight loss, nerve damage and kidney problems.
It can also put you at increased risk for strokes and heart attacks.
“The good news is that the right support and treatment can lower the risk of developing these complications,” Dr Vithlani noted.
Here are seven common symptoms of type 2 diabetes you should know to spot.
1. Constantly needing to wee
Type 2 diabetes might make you need to wee all the time, not just at nighttime.
Dr Vithlani said: “This is because, when your blood sugar levels are high, your kidneys work to remove the excess sugar from your bloodstream.
“This in turn increases the body’s production of urine, and the number of times you have to visit the loo.”
2. Feeling thirsty all the time
An unquenchable thirst is another common symptom of type 2 diabetes.
Dr Vithlani explained that diabetics experience thirst because their kidneys are trying to flush out the excess sugar in the blood, which causes them to pee more.
“As a result, the body compensates by sending signals to your brain that you need to drink more fluid to make up for the water you have lost,” he said.
3. Unintended weight loss
If you’re loosing weight without meaning to and you haven’t changed anything in your diet or lifestyle, that could be another sign you have the condition.
It happens because the cells in your body can’t absorb enough sugar, meaning they can’t get the energy they need from the glucose.
Your body will then compensate by breaking down fat to use as energy instead, leading you to shed weight.
4. Slow healing cuts
People with type 2 diabetes tend to find that wounds and cuts take longer to heal than usual.
That’s because high blood sugar levels slow your circulation, making it harder for blood to get to the site in order cuts and scrapes to heal.
On top of that, high blood glucose causes increased inflammation in the cells, and prevents nutrients and oxygen from reaching them, again slowing the body’s healing process.
5. Blurry vision
If you’ve started struggling to make out fine details and things are looking a little blurry, it’s worth consulting your doctor or optician, the GP recommended.
They’ll be able to tell you if high blood sugar has caused damaged or inflammation to different parts of your eye.
6. Thrush
“If you’re experiencing itching around your penis or vagina, or recurring bouts of thrush, don’t dismiss diabetes as a possible cause,” Dr Vithlani advised.
People with type 2 diabetes are more likely to experience vaginal or penile thrush since high blood sugar levels also cause high levels of sugar in sweat, saliva and urine, creating the perfect breeding ground for thrush.
For women, symptoms of thrush include white vaginal discharge that resembles cottage cheese but doesn’t usually smell, itching and irritation around your vulva and vagina and stinging during sex or when weeing.
Men might also get cottage cheese discharge, as well as:
- irritation, burning and redness around the head of the penis and under the foreskin
- an unpleasant smell
- difficulty pulling back the foreskin
7. Feeling very tired
Dr Vithlani warned: “If you’re frequently feeling more tired than usual, and for no obvious reason, take note.”
He said type 2 diabetes sufferers feel fatigued because their bodies are unable to turn glucose into energy and this lack of energy can in turn lead to extreme tiredness.
WHAT SHOULD I DO IF I HAVE THESE SYMPTOMS?
“All of the symptoms mentioned above are worth paying attention to, but don’t be tempted to self-diagnose,” Dr Vithlani noted.
The only way diabetes can be diagnosed is through a blood test which measures your blood glucose levels, so it’s best to just contact your GP if you think you have the condition – sooner rather than later.
They’ll organise a blood test or you can get one done privately.
If you have prediabetes, means that your blood sugars are higher than usual, though not high enough for you to be diagnosed with type 2 diabetes – but it can mean you’re at higher risk of the condition.
You often won’t have symptoms at this stage, but if you can identify the signs of diabetes and catch it at an early stage, you can improve the likelihood of stopping the progression of diabetes and its complications, Dr Vithlani shared.
“This is why a test is so important,” he added.
If you do test positive, a doctor can talk you through the next steps, and ensure you get the care and support you need to manage your condition effectively.