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Diabetes is a condition that is characterized by an above normal level of glucose (sugar) in the blood. It results because the pancreas, an organ in your body, does not make enough insulin or insulin is no longer effective. Insulin, a hormone made in the pancreas, normally controls your blood sugar levels and allows the glucose to enter the cells in the body to provide energy.
In people with diabetes, high levels of glucose remain in the bloodstream causing hyperglycemia (high blood sugar).
Type 1 Diabetes
Formerly known as insulin-dependant diabetes mellitus, occurs when your body stops producing insulin from the b-cells of the pancreas. Type 1 Diabetes requires Insulin injections taken daily to maintain a healthy life as in this case the pancreas is unable to produce insulin at all.
Type 2 Diabetes
Formerly known as non-insulin-dependant diabetes mellitus, occurs when the amount of insulin produced does not work properly (this is known as insulin resistance) in addition to the pancreas not coping with the increased demand for more insulin. Type 2 Diabetes patients are not required to take insulin injections unless they neglect their health and worsen their condition leading to pancreatic failure. In this case type 2 patients too will need to take insulin injections.
Gestational Diabetes occurs during pregnancy, and the diabetes generally disappears once the baby is born.
There is no cure for Diabetes but with proper care and management, one can lead a relatively normal healthy life with the illness. Type I is genetic, Type 2 is preventable and sometimes reversible.
If living with diabetes patients need to pay attention diet and Exercise – also to complications in the heart, eyes, kidneys, feet …to Cardiology, Ophthalmology, Nephrology, Urology, Clinical Dietetics and Nutrition and Podiatry.
Over time, diabetes can damage the heart, blood vessels, eyes, kidneys, and nerves. The common consequences of diabetes are (Source: WHO):
- Diabetic retinopathy is an important cause of blindness, and occurs as a result of long-term accumulated damage to the small blood vessels in the retina. After 15 years of diabetes, approximately 2% of people become blind, and about 10% develop severe visual impairment.
- Diabetic neuropathy is damage to the nerves as a result of diabetes, and affects up to 50% of people with diabetes. Although many different problems can occur as a result of diabetic neuropathy, common symptoms are tingling, pain, numbness, or weakness in the feet and hands.
- Combined with reduced blood flow, neuropathy in the feet increases the chance of foot ulcers and eventual limb amputation.
- Diabetes is among the leading causes of kidney failure. 10-20% of people with diabetes die of kidney failure.
- Diabetes increases the risk of heart disease and stroke. 50% of people with diabetes die of cardiovascular disease (primarily heart disease and stroke).
- The overall risk of dying among people with diabetes is at least double the risk of their peers without diabetes.
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