How Diabetes affects Women?

Diabetes describes a group of metabolic diseases in which a person has high blood sugar due to problems processing or producing insulin. Diabetes can affect anyone, regardless of age, race, gender, or lifestyle. India is recognised as the diabetes capital of the world due to the high and increasing incidences of the metabolic disorder. The endocrine disease records for more than 50 million people in India, suffering from type 1 and type 2 diabetes.  Diabetes disease incidence has also increased in women is usually seen as gestational diabetes and a lifestyle disorder.

Symptoms of diabetes in women:

Both men and women may experience the following symptoms of undiagnosed diabetes:

• Increased Thirst And Hunger
• Frequent Urination
• Weight Loss  That Has No Obvious Cause
• Fatigue
• Blurred Vision
• Wounds That Heal Slowly

But symptoms that are unique to women include:

• Vaginal Yeast infections & vaginal thrush: leading to genital itching, soreness, vaginal discharge, and painful sex.

• Recurrent urinary tract infections: can cause painful urination, a burning sensation, and bloody or cloudy urine.
• Female sexual dysfunction: symptoms include lack of sex drive, difficulty with arousal and achieving orgasm, pain during intercourse (dyspareunia). High blood sugar levels over a period of time can lead to poor blood supply and/or nerve damage which can lead to these problems.
• Depression: Depression is about twice as common in women as it is in men, and may take a greater toll on women with diabetes than on men with the disease.
• Gestational Diabetes Mellitus: Gestational diabetes is a specific form of diabetes that occurs during pregnancy.

Complications of diabetes in Women:

In general population risk of heart and kidney disease is less in women as compared to men but this distinction disappears with the appearance of diabetes. Also other complications of diabetes like eye involvement, nerve dysfunction, and foot ulceration are common in women with long standing diabetes and poor blood glucose control.

So, women with diabetes should be tested for heart disease risk factors, like high blood pressure or unbalanced cholesterol, and treated aggressively.