I'm a 19 year old Eurasian female, 5'11" and 160 pounds, no one in my family has diabetes.

Anyway, I've noticed an incredible increase in thirst, I'm hungry often, very tired, very irritable, definitely noticed my vision has become blurry, my groin area is very itchy, and recently been having sharp lower abdominal pain. I seem to have all the symptoms for type 2 diabetes, but I haven't had any weight loss or any significant fluctuations. My lifestyle hasn't been the greatest. I don't eat as well as I should, I sleep irregularly (not enough or too much), I work, I stress, I go to school, I commute, my family life has been utter hell for the past 2 years, and I don't drink enough water. Sometimes I go for a very long time not eating because I am busy. I figured I was just being the average college student, however, I'm beginning to wonder if my lifestyle is catching up with me or the symptoms overlap with simply not taking better care of myself?

Honestly, it could be any number of things. Definately it could be that your lifestyle is making you feel unhealthy. Plus the stress that you're under isn't helping. But you don't want to just dismiss your symptoms as that either. You do have some symptoms of diabetes and they are worth checking out. You said you are itchy and have adominal pains, those could be from not getting enough water. Your skin tends to get dry and you could get stomach cramps if you are becoming dehydrated. You may be getting headaches too. The blurry vision and increase in hunger and thirst are also signs of diabetes, along with the dry, itchy skin and dehydration. But they could be something else too.

Is there a health office where you go to school? If there is then you may want to try and make some time and get checked out. They can do a quick blood test and rule out a number of things. Definately worth going. Good luck.

Your lifestyle could very well be coming back to haunt you.The things you describe are just as true for dehydration as they are for diabetes. I have felt worse at times being dehydrated!!LOL

You might want to look at your lifestyle and see what little things you can change. It can be as simple as deciding that you are going to drink a certain amount of liquids or that you are going to fit in a certain number of meals a day. You can always work your way to more lifestyle changes once you get a few under your belt.

It would also help to go in and find out where you stand medically. That way you know the areas that need the greatest attention and areas you can relax about.

I know the lifelong struggle to make yourself a priority. Good luck with this

As you indicated in your post, you know you need to drink a lot more water. You can just keep a glass of water beside you when you're studying and intake more. There's a lot of stress reduction strategies you can use. If you don't have your health, you can't accomplish any of your other goals. You're smart to realize that you need to take a few minutes and make it a priority in your day. As a above poster ask, see if there is a health center you can go b/c there are so many things it could be. But you can begin to improve your health today.

Thank you for your replies. I've decided to try and take better care of myself and see if anything changes.

I hope that decision includes a medical checkup. When we experience pain, it needs to be checked up promptly; otherwise, you are not facing the situation. You must be afraid - it might be something that needs to taken care of immediately and delaying it will only complicate things. But you have made a good decision to start taking steps on your own.

Well, I've been more active and trying to eat better. I drink more than enough water, I drank 15 cups yesterday. My thirst doesnt seem to go away, in fact it seems like it has gotten worse. I got my blood tested today and I will find out the results by Tuesday. I don't know what to think right now, I'm a little scared.

Well, at least you've done the test and will soon know the results. Then you'll be able to make adjustments. So you're doing something about it. Several years ago my husband's doctor told him you might have cancer but go ahead on this trip you've got planned and when you get back we'll see what's up. When we got back, we found out that he didn't have cancer. Thank the Lord. But we had already paid for the trip so you can imagine what an impact it had on us the entire week. So I know what it's like to have to wait for test results. Trying to get our minds on something else helped some.

I realized I have a pretty salty diet. After I eat I can still taste my food for a long time and it makes me thirsty. So, I drink and drink and when the salty taste goes away I'm still thirsty. So, I don't know if it's something else related to my diet or something else and possibly diabetes?

As you know, being thirsty is a symptom but doesn't necessarily mean that's what it is. My test results have improved over a lot over the last year. If you find this is what it is, I'll post what has really helped me. You should know in 3 more days and that will be good - you know, to have the results.

Yeah, I'm just feeling anxious. Thanks for the help!

Well, I don't have diabetes.

Well, I don't have diabetes.

Good for you! I hope you can stay that way!

Terrific - that's great news.

Thank you everyone for your help and advice.