Her body had trouble breaking down glucose during pregnancy. At the time, doctors tried to help her through a combination of diet and medicines. But by the time Jean was 40, diabetes had set in. She has the most common, or type 2, form of the disease, when patients slowly lose the ability to make their own insulin or are unable to properly utilize the hormone which regulates blood glucose levels. Warning Signs Symptoms of Type 2 diabetes can be very mild, so sufferers often do not know they have a problem.
Diabetics typically suffer chronic thirst.
And because this drives them to drink more fluid, they urinate more frequently. And prevalence of the disease is growing not just in the SAR but throughout Asia. What's even more worrying, the patient profile is getting younger. Type 2 diabetes typically strikes people over 45, especially if they're obese. According to Dr. Juliana Chan, a specialist at the SAR's Prince of Wales Hospital, more and more Asians under 40 are developing the disease.