November 2026
Diabetes often develops quietly. Many people have it for years before noticing a problem. Learning the warning signs is an important part of making sure diabetes gets diagnosed early.
Common symptoms of diabetes
The following symptoms are typical with diabetes, according to the American Diabetes Association. But some people — especially those with type 2 diabetes — have symptoms so mild that they go unnoticed.
Common symptoms of diabetes include:
- Urinating often
- Feeling very thirsty
- Feeling very hungry even though you’re eating enough
- Extreme fatigue
- Blurry vision
- Slow healing of cuts and bruises
- Weight loss, even though you are eating more (type 1)
- Tingling, pain, or numbness in the hands/feet (type 2)
Skin changes that can be warning signs of diabetes
The American Academy of Dermatology Association notes that a variety of skin conditions can also be warning signs of diabetes. These include:
- Skin tags (acrochordons). These are harmless growths of excess skin that can be attached firmly to the skin or raised up on a stalk. They’re most commonly found on the eyelids, armpits, neck, and groin, but can be found anywhere on the body.
- Smooth, yellow bumps on/around eyelids (xanthelasma). Excess fat in the blood (which can happen with uncontrolled diabetes) can cause yellowish fatty deposits to form on or around your eyelids.
- Infections. Because diabetes weakens the immune system, people with diabetes are at greater risk of developing infections, including vaginal yeast infections and oral thrush (a yeast infection in the mouth).
- Shin spots (diabetic dermopathy). These are oval or round spots that are brown or reddish-brown and often develop on the shins.
- Darker, velvety patches of skin (acanthosis nigricans). These often develop on the back of the neck or around the armpits or groin。
- Hard thickening skin (scleroderma). This painless condition causes patches of skin, often on the upper body, to become thick and hard.
Could you have prediabetes?
Before developing type 2 diabetes, many people first have prediabetes, a condition where blood glucose is higher than normal, but not yet high enough to be diagnosed as diabetes. It’s far more common than many people realize: The CDC estimates that more than 115 million adults in the U.S. have prediabetes, but roughly 80% don’t know they have it. That’s because prediabetes doesn’t typically cause clear-cut symptoms.
That said, some people with prediabetes do experience symptoms of type 2 diabetes, including skin conditions like skin tags. People with prediabetes also often have metabolic syndrome, a cluster of problems that includes a large waistline, high blood pressure, high triglycerides, and low “good” HDL cholesterol, in addition to elevated blood sugar.
Getting screened for prediabetes happens automatically when you get screened for diabetes. Routine blood tests, like fasting blood glucose or hemoglobin A1C, don’t just detect diabetes — they can also reveal whether you have prediabetes.
If you are diagnosed with prediabetes, remember this: prediabetes doesn’t have to turn into diabetes. Eating a healthier diet, losing a modest amount of weight, and exercising regularly can help reduce your blood sugar — and your chances of eventually developing diabetes.
When a diabetes complication is the first sign
Because type 2 diabetes can develop silently over many years, some people have no obvious warning signs at all and discover they have diabetes only after a complication appears.
The following medical conditions warrant screening for diabetes
- Heart disease and stroke. Diabetes, especially when blood sugar is not well-controlled, can lead to heart disease and stroke. Cardiovascular disease is the number one cause of death for people with diabetes, who are about twice as likely as people without diabetes to have heart disease or a stroke.
- Kidney disease. High blood pressure and high blood sugar — both common with diabetes — increase the risk of developing kidney disease.
- Nerve damage (neuropathy). Tingling, pain, or numbness in the hands or feet is a sign of nerve damage, a common complication of diabetes. About half of all people with diabetes have some form of nerve damage.
- Eye complications. Common eye complications from high blood sugar include diabetic retinopathy, glaucoma, and cataracts. People with diabetes are more likely to develop these eye problems —especially if blood sugar is not well controlled. In fact, up to one in five people with type 2 diabetes already have some degree of diabetic eye damage (retinopathy) by the time they are diagnosed.
Gestational diabetes: symptoms and screening
Women with gestational diabetes — that is, diabetes that starts during pregnancy — often have no symptoms. Some women may feel more thirsty or have to urinate more frequently, but mild symptoms like this are easy to miss or attribute to the pregnancy itself. That’s why pregnant women are routinely screened for gestational diabetes between weeks 24 and 28 of their pregnancy.
A diagnosis of gestational diabetes doesn’t mean that you had diabetes before you conceived. For many women, blood glucose returns to normal after giving birth — but gestational diabetes does raise your long-term risk of developing diabetes.
Up to one-third of women who had gestational diabetes have impaired glucose metabolism after their baby is born — putting them at higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes later in life. Even with normal blood glucose levels after childbirth, the risk remains: about half of women who had gestational diabetes will eventually develop type 2 diabetes.
To reduce your risk, follow your doctor’s advice about managing blood glucose (blood sugar) during pregnancy. After giving birth, be sure to get screened for diabetes within six to 12 weeks of delivery — and every one to three years after that.
Catching prediabetes or diabetes early can help you make the changes you need — in diet, lifestyle, and possibly medication — to stay as healthy as possible in the long term.
