Like many people, you may have been shocked to learn that you have diabetes because you weren’t experiencing any symptoms.

You felt fine. Often there are no early symptoms to recognize.

That's especially true with type 2 diabetes. Lack of symptoms and the slow emergence of the disease are the main reasons type 2 dia­betes often goes undetected for years.

When symptoms do develop from persistently high blood sugar, they vary. Two classic symptoms that occur in most people with the disease are increased thirst and a frequent need to urinate.

Excessive thirst and increased urination: When you have high levels of sugar in your blood, your kidneys can't reabsorb all of the filtered sugar. The circulating 'Sugar carries water with it, which is drawn from your tissues. As a result you feel dehydrated.

To replenish the fluids being drawn out, you're almost constant­ly drinking water or other beverages. This water-intensive filtering process leads to more frequent urination.

Flulike feeling: Symptoms of diabetes can mimic a viral illness ­fatigue, weakness and loss of appetite. Sugar is your body's main fuel. When you have diabetes, sugar doesn't get to your cells, where it's converted into an energy source. As a result you feel constantly tired or exhausted.

Weight loss or gain: As your body struggles to compensate for constant dehydration and loss of sugar, you may eat more than usual and gain weight. In other people the opposite occurs. Muscle tissues don't get enough glucose to generate growth and energy. As a result you can lose weight even though you're eating more. This is especially true if you have type 1 diabetes, when little or no insulin is available and little or no sugar gets to your tissue cells.

Blurred vision: Excessive sugar in your blood pulls the fluid out of the lenses in your eyes, causing them to thin and affecting their ability to focus. Lowering your blood sugar will restore fluid to your lenses. Your vision may remain blurry for a while as your lenses adjust to the restoration of fluid. But in time your vision will improve.

High blood sugar also can cause the formation of tiny blood ves­sels in your eyes that can bleed. The blood vessels themselves don't produce symptoms, but bleeding from the vessels can cause dark spots, flashing lights, rings around lights and even blindness.