Diabetes is a metabolic disease that weakens the body’s ability to process blood sugar. It’s either your body doesn’t make enough insulin or can’t effectively use the insulin it makes.
Insulin is a hormone that is produced in the pancreas by specialized cells (beta cells) and it’s responsible for tightly regulating the level of glucose in the blood.
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After a meal, the blood glucose level rises and the pancreas releases more insulin into the bloodstream to help glucose enter the cells and lower blood glucose levels after a meal.
When the blood glucose levels are lowered, the insulin release from the pancreas is turned down.
As stated above, in patients with diabetes, insulin is either absent, relatively insufficient for the body’s needs, or not used properly by the body.
Types of Diabetes
The few different types of diabetes are Type 1, type 2, and gestational diabetes.
Type 1 diabetes occurs when the body fails to produce insulin. Therefore, people with type I diabetes are insulin-dependent, meaning they must take artificial insulin daily to stay alive.
Type 2 diabetes occurs when your body becomes resistant to insulin, making the cells in the body not respond to insulin as they used to.
Gestational diabetes occurs to women during pregnancy when the body can become less sensitive to insulin. It usually resolves after giving birth but it doesn’t happen to all women. This diabetics is caused by insulin-blocking hormones produced by the placenta .
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Symptoms of diabetes
Diabetes symptoms are caused by rising blood sugar.
General symptoms
The general symptoms of diabetes include:
increased hunger
increased thirst
weight loss
frequent urination
blurry vision
extreme fatigue
sores that don’t heal
Nausea and vomiting can also occur in patients with untreated diabetes.
Type 1 diabetes
Symptoms of type 1 diabetes can include:
extreme hunger
Increased thirst: The dehydration causes increased thirst and fast water consumption.
unintentional weight loss: This continues to happen even if you feed well or have an increase in appetite.
frequent urination: High amounts of glucose in the urine can cause increased urine output.
blurry vision: This is as as a result of fluctuations in blood glucose levels.
tiredness
Type 2 diabetes
Symptoms of type 2 diabetes can include:
increased hunger
increased thirst
increased urination
blurry vision
tiredness
sores that are slow to heal
Gestational diabetes
This diabetics is often detected during a routine blood sugar test that is usually performed between the 24th and 28th weeks of gestation..
Causes of diabetes
Different causes are associated with each type of diabetes.
Type 1 diabetes
This is caused when the immune system mistakenly attacks and destroys insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreas.
Type 2 diabetes
Type 2 diabetes can be caused by being obese or carrying extra weight, especially in your belly, thereby making your cells more resistant to the effects of insulin on your blood sugar.
This condition is common among family members because they share genes that make them more likely to get type 2 diabetes and to be overweight.
Gestational diabetes
Gestational diabetes in women is caused when the placenta produces hormones that make a pregnant woman’s cells less sensitive to the effects of insulin. This also leads to high blood sugar during pregnancy.
Overweight pregnant women are more likely to get gestational diabetes.
Treatment of diabetes
Diabetes is treated with few different medications which can be taken by mouth, or through injections.
Type 1 diabetes
Insulin is the number 1 treatment option for type 1 diabetes. The hormone your body isn’t able to produce is replaced by insulin.
Insulin are of four types depending on how quickly they start to work, and how long their effects last:
Rapid-acting insulin starts to work within 15 minutes. It’s effects last for 3 to 4 hours.
Short-acting insulin starts to work within 30 minutes. It’s till effects lasts 6 to 8 hours.
Intermediate-acting insulin starts to work within 1 to 2 hours. It’s effects lasts 12 to 18 hours.
Long-acting insulin starts to work a few hours after injection. It’s effects lasts 24 hours or longer.
Type 2 diabetes
This type of diabetics cab best be manages by diet and exercise or any other lifestyle changes
Gestational diabetes
For women, there should be continuous monitoring of the blood sugar level several times a day during pregnancy.
Diabetics can be treated by both endocrinologists and pediatric endocrinologists as well as family doctors or internal medicine specialists. During serious complications, diabetic patients may be treated by neurologists, gastroenterologists, ophthalmologists, surgeons, cardiologists.
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