Sure Signs You Have Diabetes Like Drew Carey

Drew Carey famously dropped 80 pounds with exercise and a low-carb diet, putting his type 2 diabetes into remission. "It sucks being fat, you know," Carey said. "I was diabetic with type 2 diabetes. I'm not diabetic anymore. No medication needed." Worried about your blood sugar? Here are five signs you might have diabetes. Read on—and to ensure your health and the health of others, don't miss these Sure Signs You've Already Had COVID.

Constant thirst is one of the most common signs of diabetes. "No matter how much you drink, it feels like you're still dehydrated," say Amy Hess-Fischl, MS, RD, LDN, BC-ADM, CDCES, and Lisa M. Leontis RN, ANP-C. "Your tissues (such as your muscles) are, in fact, dehydrated when there's too much glucose (sugar) in your blood. Your body pulls fluid from the tissues to try to dilute the blood and counteract the high glucose, so your tissues will be dehydrated and send the message that you need to drink more. This is also associated with increased urination."

Chronic insomnia raises the risk of developing type 2 diabetes, doctors say. "This isn't a surprise," says Elena Christofides, MD, FACE. "Stress is a known contributor to the development and progression of obesity and diabetes because it causes the body to not be ever able to go into repair and relaxation mode. It is always in reaction mode."6254a4d1642c605c54bf1cab17d50f1e

Too much abdominal fat is strongly linked to an increased risk of getting type 2 diabetes. "A person who has a highly inflammatory diet and carries excess adiposity around their central organs is more likely to get type 2 diabetes," says Dr. Christofides.

"The effects of type 2 diabetes make it harder for your body to fight off an infection, so you may experience frequent infections," say Hess-Fischl and Leontis. "Women may have frequent vaginal (yeast) and/or bladder infections. That's because bacteria can flourish when there are high levels of glucose in the blood."

There is a hereditary risk to developing type 2 diabetes, experts warn. "Type 2 diabetes tends to be fairly hereditary in contrast to type 1 diabetes," says James Norman, MD, FACS, FACE. "Approximately 38% of siblings and one-third of children of people with type 2 diabetes will develop diabetes or abnormal glucose metabolism at some point. The degree of obesity also seems to be a factor, with a larger percentage of diabetes developing in those who are more obese. Studies with identical twins showed that 90-100% of the time when diabetes developed in one it would also develop in the other compared with 50% in type 1 diabetes."