What is Diabetes, what causes diabetes, how to suspect and how to treat diabetes.
What causes diabetes and how to discover
Diabetes, What is it?
What is diabetes Exactly?
Diabetes is a stage where the pancreas is unable to produce insulin or the body can not obtain the insulin.
For type 1, the pancreas is unable to produce insulin which causes the blood glucose level to rise and cause a high level of blood glucose.
For type 2, the pancreas produces insulin, but the body is not able to obtain the whole amount of insulin.
The function of insulin is to generate energy from the food.
There are several types of diabetes but will concentrate on: diabetes type 1, diabetes type 2, gestational diabetes and MODY.
Only 10% of all diabetics have diabetes type 1.
Only about 1-2% of all diabetics have MODY.
The rest, about 78-80% % of all diabetics have diabetes type 2
What are the types of Diabetes?
Diabetes type 1:
The pancreas is unable to produce insulin which causes high blood sugar levels and diabetes.
This type of diabetes can be inherited or develop during certain environments which are still unknown. About 20% of type 1 is inherited from parents or grandparents. Most often Type 1 is found in childhood but can develop during life.
Type 1 diabetes requires insulin daily or even more frequently, like every hour or at every meal. Normally Insulin will be given by insulin pen or an insulin pump.
Diabetes type 1 is also the worst kind of diabetes because the body is not able to produce insulin itself.
The normal level of blood glucose (blood sugar) is 5-6.
When type 1 patients are being diagnosed and brought to a hospital, they have been measured a blood glucose level of > 50.
Diabetes Type 2:
This kind of diabetes can be caused by overweight, lack of exercise and generally living an unhealthy life.
Normally the pancreas produces insulin, but the body cannot obtain the level of insulin it requires. Few people might experience that the production of insulin goes down.
In most cases, type 2 diabetes does not require insulin. A change of lifestyle can reduce or even cure type 2 diabetes. The change of lifestyle means a change in food intake and change of exercise like:
– Eat more low-carb foods and healthy foods, like more vegetables.
– Reduce fat intake
– Get the right vitamins, minerals, fibers etc
– Exercise more, create a daily or weekly walking routine
– Get into physical shape
– Just think before food intake; “Is this food good or bad for me”
Gestational diabetes:
Usually, pregnant women get this type of diabetes. The blood sugar level rises during pregnancy and very often goes away after giving birth.
Who might develop Gestational Diabetes?
– Overweight pregnant women
– Nonwhite races
– If relatives like siblings or parents have diabetes
– If you have given birth to overweight children previously.
In case a woman gets gestational diabetes, she has a higher risk to develop diabetes type two in future or provoke an early preterm birth.
MODY:
“MODY” is the short name of “Maturity Onset diabetes of the young”. This happens to youngster under the age of 25. This is a very rare form of diabetes, it accounts for about 1-2 % of all diabetes types.
MODY is highly hereditarily, as 50% of all children of a Parent with MODY diabetes, might inherit the MODY gene. These children have a higher risk of developing Mody Diabetes later in life.
What causes diabetes and how to discover
What are the causes of Diabetes?
Type 1 diabetes:
Diabetes scientists don’t know exactly what causes diabetes type 1, but type 1 can be caused because of genetics. Also, environmental issues (that are unclear) can have a certain influence impact.
Type 2 diabetes:
Diabetes can be caused because of lack of sleep, overweight, eating unhealthy food (too much junk foods) that provide fewer vitamins, minerals, and fibers. Moreover, a lack of exercise has a great effect.
Patients with cancer or pancreatic disease are at high risk to get diabetes because their pancreas gets affected which slows down the production of insulin.
What are the symptoms of Diabetes?
Following are the common types of symptoms of a diabetic patient:
- Thirsty frequently
- Urge to urinate
- Feeling fatigue without doing any work
- Vision problems
- Starts to lose weight
- Wounds will take a long time to heal
How to get rid of diabetes?
Often people are asking, how long it will take before insulin can be produced again! And we have only one answer to that: Never, because the pancreas is not able to produce insulin anymore.
But for Type 2 diabetes, there is good news, because it is quite simple to reduce some of the symptoms.
Different types of activities can help you to get rid of diabetes type 2.
- Healthy diet: You should keep your diet healthy. This means you have to avoid fast food, junk foods, and high-carb food. Choose a healthy and nutrient-rich diet instead of a mixture of these 3 types of foods.
- Exercise regularly: The second step is to keep your body healthy by doing regular exercises. The diabetic patient can participate in extra activities to keep the body fit and healthy.
- Proper treatment: Taking the proper treatment. This means you are taking the correct medication at the right time. The entire family member should take part in helping the diabetic person as it might be a change in lifestyle. Daily checking of blood sugar level is very important; this will help you in your treatment.
How do you discover diabetes?
Following tests are done to check diabetes:
- Measurement by a blood glucose meter. It takes only 20 sec. To get the most precise measurement, you should be fasting.
- The second test is OGTT which is an oral glucose tolerance test. In this test, you have to drink glucose water. Then 3 hours later the doctor will measure the blood glucose level every 30 minutes.
- Finally the “long-term blood glucose test”, taken from a blood sample and shows a glucose level of 3 months.
Often the first option is used, as it is simple, very easy, very cost-efficient and precise.
References – What causes diabetes and how to discover
Gestational Diabetes