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Diabetes |
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Diabetic nephropathy |
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Symptoms of diabetes |
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Diabetic foot |
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Diagnosis of diabetes |
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Diabetic hearth |
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Risk factors for diabetes |
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Diabetic skin |
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Epidemiology |
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Diabetic cataract |
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History |
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Diabetic glaucoma |
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Types |
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Gene therapy for diabetes |
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Prevention |
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Stem cells for diabetes |
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Treatment |
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Obesity |
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Investigations |
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Obesity treatment |
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Blood sugar |
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Bariatric surgery |
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Insulin |
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Diabetic pain |
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Complications |
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Pregnancy and diabetes |
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Diabetic retinopathy |
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Infection control |
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Diabetic neuropathy |
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Trauma treatment |
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Read More |
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Having diabetes means that your body doesn't do a
good job of using the food you eat because of a
disturbance of carbohydrate metabolism. Most of what you
eat needs to be broken down into a simple sugar called
glucose, the body's main fuel source.
Different causes, same results.
But for that glucose to get into your cells, it needs
insulin, which is a hormone that the beta cells in your
pancreas produce. The pancreases of people who have
diabetes produce little or no insulin, or the body does
not respond to the insulin that is produced. So glucose
builds up in the blood and is wasted. Even
 worse, all
that glucose running around in your bloodstream is
responsible for the typical complications of
diabetes—diseases of the heart, eye, kidneys,
 nerves,
and other organs.
The type of diabetes in which your pancreas produces
little or no insulin is called type 1. To stay alive,
people with type 1 diabetes must take daily insulin
shots, which Dr. Frederick Banting discovered how to
extract from animal pancreases in 1921.
Type 1 diabetes was formerly called juvenile-onset
diabetes, because it mostly attacks young people,
although it can develop at any age. It accounts for just
5 or 10 percent of the diagnosed diabetes. It symptoms
include increased thirst and urination, constant hunger,
weight loss, blurred vision, and extreme tiredness.
By far the most common form of diabetes is called type
2. About 90 to 95 percent of people with diabetes have
it. This form of diabetes usually develops in adults
over the age of 40 and is most common among adults over
age 55. About 80 percent of them are overweight.
When people have type 2 diabetes, their pancreases
usually produce some insulin, but for some reason the
body cannot use the insulin effectively, a condition
called insulin resistance. While it has a different
cause than type 1 diabetes, the end result is the
same—that unhealthy buildup of glucose in the blood.
The symptoms of type 2 diabetes develop gradually and
are not as noticeable as for type 1. The symptoms
include feeling tired or ill, frequent urination
(especially at night), unusual thirst, weight loss,
blurred vision, frequent infections and slow healing of
sores. Many people without any of these symptoms,
however, are surprised when their doctors diagnose that
they have diabetes.
A third type of the disease is called gestational
diabetes. It develops - or is discovered—during pregnancy.
While it usually disappears when the pregnancy is over,
women who have had gestational diabetes have a greater
risk of developing type 2 diabetes later.
Some more info:
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