Roughly 75% of Americans have some sort of chronic disease, which is defined by the Centers for Disease Control as a health issue that lasts for more than one year and either limits someone’s functioning or requires continuous medical care. This includes a range of illnesses, including diabetes, which affects about 40 million people in the United States. “Diabetes, in general, is a disorder in which the blood sugar is elevated, and the body doesn’t have enough insulin, which is a hormone that lowers your blood sugar,” said Dr.

Lisa Swartz Topor, the program director of pediatric endocrinology at Rhode Island Hospital and its Hasbro Children’s. There are two main types of diabetes: type 1, “which is the most common form in pediatric patients,” Swartz Topor said. “There is a destruction of the body’s ability to make the insulin.” Then there is “type 2 diabetes, which is more common in adults; the body’s still able to make insulin, especially at the beginning of the disease, but not enough insulin to keep up with what the body needs,” she said. Roughly 95% of diabetes cases in the U.S. are type 2, according to the CDC. There are treatments available for both type 1 and type 2 diabetes, such as GLP-1 medications.

While there is no cure, the disease can still be managed to avoid greater complications. “For any form of diabetes, the end game is higher sugars and high sugars in the bloodstream ... the high sugars over time can cause injury to different organs in the body, like the eyes, the kidneys or the heart, as well as other things,” Swartz Topor said. Permanent damage can be delayed (or stopped altogether) if patients with diabetes follow their doctor’s treatment guidance. “If we can keep the blood sugar level closer to the target range ...

that end organ damage is less likely to occur and occurs further down the line,” Swartz Topor said. While adults can get diabetes screenings (for example, the routine A1C blood test that measures blood sugar), it’s still important to know the concerning signs so you can reach out to your doctor. Below, doctors share the diabetes symptoms they really want you to know: 1. Frequent urination and increased thirstiness. “For Type 1 diabetes, the classic symptoms ... [are] increased thirstiness and increased frequency of urination, particularly large volumes of urination,” Swartz Topor said.

Type 1 also tends to be more symptomatic. As for Type 2, it “can be very slow, so someone can have it for quite a long time without even realizing it,” she noted. Even still, Type 2 diabetes can also cause a lot of thirst and urination, said Dr. Archana Sadhu, an endocrinologist at Houston Methodist Diabetes Associates. “This is common for both type 1 and type 2 because this comes from the high levels of sugar in the blood,” Sadhu noted. 2. Fatigue and weight loss. “You can also have fatigue or just lack of energy,” Sadhu said. “Lack of concentration is another one, and just feeling unwell.” Weight loss, along with an increased appetite, can also occur.

As Sadhu explained, “Weight loss can be something that you see because of the frequent urination from the high sugar in the blood; there’ll be high sugar in the urine as well, and patients are losing calories and weight as a result of that.” These symptoms can also occur in both Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes. 3. A thickening of the skin at the neck or groin. Increased urination, thirst, fatigue and weight loss tend to be the most common signs of diabetes, but there are other changes that can happen, too. With type 2 diabetes, people can develop thickened skin in the neck, groin, or armpits, known as acanthosis nigricans, Swartz Topor said. It appears as a thickening or darkening of the skin around skin folds.

It even looks a little like dirt. “It could be a sign of prediabetes or diabetes,” she added. SimpleImages via Getty Images Increased urination, vision changes and thickening of the skin can all happen when diabetes isn’t diagnosed and managed. 3. Vision changes. Many issues can cause vision loss, but sudden changes in your vision can signal diabetes. “When the sugars are really high, it can temporarily change the shape of the lens in your eye, and that could lead to blurry vision,” Swartz Topor said. “There’s a million causes for blurry vision, but if it’s new, it’s worth seeing someone.” This can happen in both Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes, Swartz Topor added. 4.

Recurrent yeast infections. Recurrent yeast infections are another potential sign of diabetes, Swartz Topor said. This is true for both kids and adults, but Swartz Topor stressed that yeast infections are highly unusual, particularly if a child is no longer in diapers yet not at puberty age. “That could be a sign of high sugars, because yeast loves sugar,” she said. Certain risk factors for diabetes, along with ways to lower your risk, exist. Certain lifestyle factors and genetic factors put some groups of people at higher risk of developing diabetes. “The most prominent one would be a family history, and this is really strong for Type 2 diabetes, but also for Type 1,” Sadhu said.

If you have a family history, it’s worth talking to your doctor to make sure you’re getting the appropriate screenings. For Type 2 diabetes, obesity is also a risk factor, along with a sedentary lifestyle, Sadhu noted, “where we’re not using glucose and burning it off like we should.” “Dietary intake ... eating high-carb foods, highly processed foods with simple carbs, are all risk factors for type 2 diabetes,” she added. Making healthy changes to diet and exercise habits can lower your overall diabetes risk by 50%, she noted.

This could mean eating more fruits, more veggies, drinking water instead of juice and exercising. It’s never too late to make healthy changes, Sadhu said, but it’s even more valuable to start these habits in the younger people in your life. If you are diagnosed with either type of diabetes, both doctors stressed that there are many treatments available, along with some exciting advancements in development. It can feel overwhelming to manage diabetes, but, again, it is important to do so for your long-term health. Consider talking to your doctor, or even a dietitian, about prevention or treatment so you can make the health decisions that are right for your body, Swartz Topor said.