What Is Diabetes? – An Overview
There are three main types of diabetes that people are thinking of when they ask, “What is diabetes?” These types of diabetes are the most common forms found in the United States and affect a majority of individuals at some time in their life.
About five to ten percent of children and young adults in the United States are diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes each year. This diabetes is a result of an auto-immune disease. The immune system attacks the insulin producing beta cells in the pancreas and kills them. When this happens the pancreas produces too little insulin to support the body.
The symptoms of Type 1 diabetes occur very rapidly. A person will suffer from extreme thirst, hunger, weight loss, fatigue, blurred vision, and frequent urination. If no treatment is administered a person can go into a diabetic coma (diabetic ketoacidosis). Type 1 diabetes is extremely serious and can be life-threatening if not treated.
Over 95% of adults over thirty-five in the United States have Type 2 diabetes according to the National Institute of Health. 80% of these individuals are overweight. When a person has Type 2 diabetes their cells become resistant to insulin and do not get the glucose they need to be healthy.
Obesity, lack of exercise, some ethnicity’s, and age are just a few of the triggers for Type 2 diabetes. It is also triggered by genetics, high blood pressure and high cholesterol. The greatest cause of Type 2 diabetes is unhealthy eating habits. People who do not eat properly and have daily exercise are highly susceptible to Type 2 diabetes.
When an individual develops Type 2 diabetes the symptoms will occur gradually over a long period of time. They will have fatigue, increased thirty, hunger, slow healing of wounds and sores, blurred vision, and frequent urination.
Most of the time if a person changes their lifestyle, loses weight, and begins to exercise, they will be able to resolve their Type 2 diabetes. In some cases people must continue medication for the diabetes, but this rarely occurs.
Gestational diabetes occurs in three to eight percent of women in the 2nd trimester of pregnancy and disappears after the delivery of the baby. In most cases these women will be instructed on proper diet and exercise to keep the diabetes under control during pregnancy.
Most women who have gestational diabetes with a baby, will continue to develop the condition each time they get pregnant. There is about a forty percent risk that they will develop Type 2 diabetes later in life.
Outlook: Some diabetes statistics.
