The diabetes warning sign that strikes YEARS before other symptoms

Feeling dizzy or faint when you stand? You could be at risk of developing diabetes in the future, a study suggests.

Hungarian researchers claim they've found that patients at risk of Type 2 diabetes are up to six times likelier to have nerve damage that affects the heart, linked to condition.

Signs of this damage, called neuropathy, include feelings of faintness and dizziness, and can be picked up 'several years' before diabetes is diagnosed, the experts claim. 

Neuropathy is a medical term meaning damage to the nerves and is already a known complication of diabetes.

However, the researchers, from Semmelweis University, say patients are showing subtle signs of this damage even before their diabetes becomes fully developed.

They claim their findings could be used to track signs of neuropathy in patients at risk of diabetes and then either slow or prevent the nerve damage from occurring.

1 / 19

National Service plans laid out by Rishi Sunak today gathered mixed reactions from voters - but some of the 18-year-olds it would apply to think it could be a winner. Under plans that will be in the Conservative manifesto all 18-year-olds would have to do paid military service for a year or unpaid community work one weekend a month.©Provided by Daily Mail

Neuropathy is a common complication of diabetes due to the way high blood sugar levels damage the small blood vessels that feed the nerves.

Over the long term this can lead nerve damage and can lead to different symptoms depending what nerves are affected.

It commonly results in what is called peripheral neuropathy which causes numbness, tingling, burning sensations, aching, cramps, and weakness in the feet and hands which can eventually spread to the entire limb.