Diabetes definition, types, symptoms, causes, risk factors, consultation time, prevention

 

What is diabetes?

Diabetes is a long-lasting disease. It refers to when your body blood pressure or blood sugar is high. Blood glucose is the main source of food for your body cells. There is a hormone in human body named Insulin that reduces blood sugar is made from pancreas. This hormone delivers sugar to your body cells and your body cells get food and can work. When diabetes is occurred, insulin can’t be produced, and even if it is produced, it can’t deliver sugar to your body cells. So, glucose remains in your blood. And when your body cells don’t get any food, they can’t work. In course of time, your body organs like kidney, eyes, heart etc. is damaged.

Types of diabetes

There are mainly 3 types of diabetes:

Type 1: When a person have type 1 diabetes, his body stops to produce insulin and if produces then the amount is very little. It is an immune system and attacked by itself and causes damage to cells pancreas, where insulin is produced. The reason of type 1 diabetes is unknown. This type of diabetes may be developed by children and teenagers, though it can be developed by people of all ages. A person having type 1 diabetes, needs to take insulin injection every day if he wants to survive.

Type 2: When your body can’t produce any insulin or use it properly, this diabetes occurs. This diabetes is the most common. 90-95% of people have this diabetes. This diabetes can be developed at any age even in childhood. But it mostly occurred in middle-age people. In this diabetes you may not have any symptoms. However, this type 2 can be prevented by changing lifestyle, having healthier food and being active.

Gestational: This type of diabetes is seen in pregnant women. It is high blood sugar during the time of pregnancy. This is caused by the insulin blocking hormone, which is produced by placenta. It disappears after child birth, but the mother and the child both remain in risk. Especially the child remain in higher risk. The newborn baby could develop type 2 diabetes in late life.

Diabetes insipidus is a name of rare kind of diabetes. When you are attacked by this, your kidneys start to remove a vast of liquids from body.

Symptoms

Some symptoms of diabetes are:

• Healing slowly
• Feeling more thirsty than previous or usual
• Urinating often
• Blurry vision
• Having a lot of infections such as gums, skin etc.
• Weight loss
• Having mood changes
• Tired or weak feeling
• Men may have bad muscle score
• Women may develop urinary infections, itchy & dry skin
  

Cause

Type 1 diabetes: Researchers don’t know the exact cause of type 1 diabetes. Your immune system is attacked and destroys the cells of pancreas, from where insulin is produced.

Type 2 diabetes: Type 2 diabetes is occurred with a combination of lifestyle and genetics. Being overweight also increases your risk. And for this reason of being overweight, your body cells become resistant to the effects of insulin. If anyone in your family has overweight and type 2 diabetes, you have a risk of having type 2 diabetes.

Gestational: When hormone changes during pregnancy, it occurs. Hormones are produced by placenta which make a pregnant woman’s cell less sensitive than previous to the effects of insulin. Women who become more overweight during pregnancy or gain huge weight in this period may develop this type of diabetes.

Risk factors

Depending on the type of diabetes, different risk factors apply. Testing for diabetes immune system cells in a person with type 1 diabetes sometimes includes testing family members. You run a higher chance of getting type 1 diabetes if you have certain autoantibodies. Your risk of type 2 diabetes may also increase depending on your race or ethnicity. Why certain people in a particular place are at increased risk is unknown.

Time to consult a doctor

When you see any symptoms of diabetes, you need to consult a doctor. The sooner you consult a doctor the sooner the treatment can be started. If you have already diagnosed, you need to follow medical instructions until your sugar levels stabilizes

Prevention

Type 1 diabetes can’t be prevented. But changing your lifestyle may help you from preventing type 2 diabetes, prediabetes and gestational diabetes. They include:

Eating healthy: Choose those foods which are low in fat and calories and high in fiber. Fruits, vegetables and whole grains can be focused.

Physical activities: Physical exercise is very helpful in this case. Try to have at least 30 minutes a day for activities. Or, have 150 minutes a week.

Losing weights: If anyone becomes weighty, 7% of weight loss can reduce his diabetes risk. But never try to lose weight in pregnancy. Consult a doctor about how much weight you need to have.