I am diabetic and seems like my urine now really irritates my diaper area much more than before. What would cause that? Is it different for diapers to neutralize diabetic urine?
The color and smell of urine can be affected by many things (what you eat, drink, medicine, even sports or losing weight). So changes in smell don't necessarily have a direct link to diabetes, but you can't rule it out either. It might also be a sign, an UTI and ketosis for instance lead to a very distinct smell in urine, so if you think something is off: have it checked by a medical professional.
My wife is diabetic, and before she got her sugar levels down and under control her pee had extra sugar in it. This made it smell much worse, which thankfully no longer does.
I'd guess any bacteria you might have in your bladder (if you do) would be made worse by that extra sugar. And that could be the culprit for the extra irritation. Drinking more water and making your sugar levels stay down will both help.
Diabetes is from the body being unable to metabolize sugar. If you are a diabetic, sugar shows up in your urine. Back before they had test strips for diabetes that you checked your sugar level in your blood with, they had ones that test your urine. The only problem was that sugar in your urine was "history" and the results were always a couple of hours old. Finger sticks give immediate blood sugar results so you can adjust your insulin dose right away.