What are the symptoms of type 1 diabetes?

Type 1 diabetes is a chronic disease in which the symptoms of the disease can develop rapidly in the course of days to weeks.

You need to be particularly aware of the following three tell-tale signs: They are fatigue, thirst, and urination.

If you get type 1 diabetes, you may feel an overpowering fatigue, where you need more rest and sleep. Your body feels exhausted and you lack energy and get up and go.

You may also experience violent thirst and a feeling that it is difficult to quench your thirst. Many say they drink up to 8 litres of liquid per day, that they wake up at night and have to get up and drink something.

At the same time, you may experience that you have to urinate frequently and a lot, and this is both day and night.

In addition to the three tell-tale signs that were fatigue, thirst and urination, you can also experience other symptoms. Your vision can be blurred, so you may have difficulty reading or focusing on certain things. This is because there is too much sugar in your eye fluid liquid. Your vision usually goes back to normal when your blood sugar is in place.

You may also find that you have difficulty maintaining concentration, or that you get cross and irritated faster.

You may experience that you lose weight over a short period of time, and sometimes you'll also get infections, such as bladder inflammation, fungus in your crotch or in your mouth, because you are at greater risk of getting infections if your blood sugar is high over an extended period of time.

If your body still does not receive insulin, it will start to generate ketonic acid, and this will build up in your blood. Ketonic acid in your blood can lead to an acid poisoning of the body, and that is dangerous because our organs cannot function in acidity.

The symptoms of this condition are that your breath smells of acetone — it's a bit like nail polish —, or if you have stomach pains, you vomit, hyper ventilate and feel shortness of breath.

These are the first signs that the situation is serious and you need urgent medical assistance.

If you have any of the above symptoms, consult your doctor. In a case such as this, among other things, a blood sample that measures your blood sugar will show if you have type 1 diabetes.