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Diabetes is considered a lifelong disease, which affects people who have abnormally high levels of sugar in the blood. Diabetes can be caused by too little insulin, resistance to insulin, or both. Insulin is a hormone in your body that is created by the pancreas to control the level of sugar in a person’s blood. If you are looking diabetes the first you must become familiar with the way the body breaks down and uses food.

The body is fueled in large part by glucose. To make it simple this is sugar that enters the bloodstream and fuels your body like gas runs a motor vehicle. An often over looked organ, the pancreas produces a thing called insulin. The role of the insulin is to take the glucose from the bloodstream and take it to the muscles, fat and rest of your body to be then turned into fuel.

Those people who suffer from diabetes have higher levels of blood sugar because the glucose isn’t being moved to those areas of the body and can’t be stored to be used as energy. The most common reasons for this taking place is that; the pancreas. Is unable to make enough insulin or the cells don’t respond to insulin the normal way. In some cases both of these issues can cause diabetes. Overall more than 20 million Americans are affected by some sort of diabetes. While it is thought that more than 50 million Americans have early stages of type 2 diabetes due to increasing obesity levels in America.  

There are three types of diabetes.

Type 1 Diabetes can be found in anyone at any age. However it’s most common in children, teens and younger adults. The cause of Type 1 Diabetes is when the pancreas makes little to no insulin. People suffering from this type of diabetes are forced to take daily injections of insulin.         

Type 2 Diabetes is the most common form of diabetes occurring in adults and teens. Many people who have type 2 diabetes are unaware that they have the disease.  

If you have diabetes you should follow a special diet. Here’s a sample diabetic meal plan that is about 1,600 calories and 220 grams of carbohydrates. Remember to drink two 8-ounce glasses of water with each meal.

Gestational Diabetes occurs in pregnant woman when high blood sugar levels develop overtime.   

 

Symptoms of Diabetes

If you think you have diabetes it’s important that you meet with your health care professional because often there are no warning signs or symptoms of diabetes. When people do see symptoms of type 2 diabetes, they are easy to overlook because they may not seem serious. Symptoms in type 1 diabetes usually come on out of nowhere and are often serious.

Symptoms of diabetes include but are not limited to:

• Excessive thirst
• Increased appetite
• Increased urination
• Unusual weight loss or gain
• Increased Fatigue
• Dry mouth
• Nausea
• Blurred vision
• In women, frequent vaginal infections
• In women, yeast infections
• Slow-healing sores
• Itching skin in the groin or vaginal area

If you are suffering any of these symptoms or if you are constantly nauseated, weak, and excessively thirsty; are urinating very frequently; have abdominal pain; find yourself breathing more deeply; sweet tasting breath that smells like nail polish remover you should immediately go to the hospital because you could be suffering from a potentially deadly complication of type one diabetes.  

Tests

The only way to know if you have diabetes is to take a urine analysis. This will look for high blood sugar in your urine. However, a urine test alone does not diagnose diabetes. That will be the job of your health care provider to confirm the diagnosis.

Blood tests:

• Fasting blood glucose level
• Hemoglobin A1c test

Since type 2 diabetes is so commonly unknown in people those  who fall under the following deception should be screened often to make sure they don’t have a form of diabetes.  

• Overweight children starting at age 9 and repeated every 2 years
• Overweight adults who have a body mass index of greater than 25.
• All adults over age 45, every 3 years

Treatment

Unfortunately there is still no cure for diabetes. However with treatment symptoms and side effects are limited. The most important things a person can do would be take medicines regularly, diet, and exercise to control blood sugar and prevent symptoms and problems.

Prevention

Not all diabetes is self-created however most people put themselves at a higher risk of diabetes by not taking care of one’s body. Keeping an ideal body weight and an active lifestyle may prevent type 2 diabetes. Cardio workouts on a treadmill to even walking around your neigborhood can really help in prevention. There is no way to prevent type 1 diabetes since it’s a genetic issue. Check out this great video that talks more about diabetes prevention. 

About the Author

Ryan Mayfield Ryan Mayfield  recently graduated from a local university with his BA in Mass Communication. Ryan enjoys spending time with his family, friends and writing about subjects such as sleep, exercise and health related topics.