Diabetes affects 25.8 million people in the United States. That is over 8% of the population. Many people know that diabetes is a very serious disease. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), diabetes can cause serious health complications including heart disease, blindness, kidney failure, and amputations. It is the seventh leading cause of death in the United States.
But what really happens to your body when you are diabetic? The National Library of Medicine explains it as follows:
To understand diabetes, it is important to first understand the normal process by which food is broken down and used by the body for energy. Several things happen when food is digested:
- A sugar (glucose) enters the bloodstream. Glucose is a source of fuel for the body.
- An organ called the pancreas produces insulin, which is the hormone that controls blood sugar. Diabetes can be caused by too little insulin, resistance to insulin, or both. The role of insulin is to move glucose from the bloodstream in muscle, fat and liver cells, where it can be used for fuel.
People with diabetes have high blood sugar because their body cannot move sugar into the muscle, fat, and liver cells. This is because either:
- Their pancreas does not make enough insulin
- Their cells do not respond to insulin normally
- Both of the above
Types of Diabetes:
- Type 1 diabetes (previously known as “juvenile diabetes”)can occur at any age, but is most often diagnosed in children, teens, or young adults. In this disease, the body makes little or no insulin. Daily injections of insulin are needed.
- Type 2 diabetes makes up most diabetes cases. It most often occurs in adulthood, but more children and teens are being diagnosed with it due to obesity.
- Gestational diabetes is high blood sugar that develops at any time during pregnancy in a woman who did not have diabetes before her pregnancy.
Diabetes affects more than 20 million Americans. More than 40 million Americans have pre-diabetes (early type 2 diabetes). Read more about type 1 and type 2 diabetes here.
Symptoms of Diabetes:
Although only a health professional can determine if you have diabetes, there are a number of symptoms that diabetics experience:
- Frequent urination
- Unusual thirst
- Extreme hunger
- Unusual weight loss
- Extreme fatigue and Irritability
- Unexplained blurred vision
- Tingling/numbness in the hands/feet
If you are experiencing any of these you should contact your physician. Since some diabetics don’t experience any symptoms you should also have regular checkups by a doctor, nurse practioner, or physician’s assistant.
Regular checkups as well as maintaining a healthy weight, diet maintenance, and physical activity are all important ways to manage and prevent diabetes.
The most common tests for diabetes are:
- A1C test – measures your average blood glucose control for the past 2 to 3 months.
- FPG test – checks your current glucose levels
- OGTT test – tests how quickly glucose is absorbed into the bloodstream
Learn more
The diabetes section of www.neahin.org is made possible by an unrestricted educational grant from NovoNordisk.