Diabetes
There
are two kinds of diabetes, type 1 and type 2. Although there is
a description and list of symptoms of Type 1 Diabetes, this article
is really about Type 2, the most common form.
Type 1 Diabetes
This is also sometimes
called juvenile diabetes because it often starts in childhood
but not invariably. This type of diabetes is usually an auto-immune
disease where the body's antibodies start attacking some part
of itself, in this case the cells in the pancreas that produce
insulin. It is thought that in some cases a virus can also affect
and damage or destroy these insulin producing cells.
Symptoms
- Increase in urinating as the
kidneys attempt to remove excess glucose from the body
- Feeling excessively thirsty
to compensate for all the fluid loss by extra urination
- Weight loss because the body
can't access the glucose it needs for energy so starts using
fat and muscle
- Feelings of constant hunger
because the person is literally starving as the body can't
use the food it is being given
Type
2 Diabetes
This form is sometimes called late
onset diabetes and it is becoming much more common nowadays.
Although it seems there is a genetic component in whether or
not somebody develops it, the most important factor seems to
be our modern lifestyle. Our bodies are not ideally designed
to cope with lack of exercise and an excess of fatty and sugary
food.
Deeply
Discounted Diabetic Supplies
Unlike Type 1 diabetes,
people with Type 2 are making insulin, it is just that their bodies
have become resistant to it and their pancreas cannot make enough
to compensate for the resistance.
Symptoms
- Increase in
urination, just like in Type 1
- Increased
thirst as Type 1
- Tiredness
because your body can't access glucose for fuel
- Changes in
vision as blood glucose levels change
- Genital itching
because of the excess sugar in urine, various yeast infections
can occur
- Infections
and wounds take longer to heal because the cells in blood
that fight infection don't work so well when there is excess
glucose
- Loss of feeling
in feet - this is serious and means that the diabetes is long
established. Called neuropathy, it can result in amputation
if left untreated and extreme and irreversible damage occurs.
If you have this sympton, go to the doctor NOW.
Treatment
Type
2 diabetes is one of the few illnesses where the treatment and
results are almost entirely in your own hands. Stick to the
rules and get your blood glucose levels under control and you
might never need to inject insulin or even take pills.
Depending on
how early the diabetes is diagnosed, the doctor will put you
on one of three treatments:
- diet and exercise
alone
- pills
- insulin injections
Even if you are
on pills or insulin injections, watching your diet and taking
exercise will still be an important part of controlling blood
glucose levels. Get these right, lose weight if you need to,
and it is possible to come off either pills or insulin injections
and still control the diabetes.
Even if this
happens, you will still be diabetic and remain vigilant about
your diet and continue to exercise. If you fall back into bad
habits of a high fat, high sugar diet and inactivity, blood
glucose levels will soar.
It isn't all
doom and gloom, though. If you have spent years of battling
with your weight, diabetes will give you the incentive to lose
the excess and the diet to control diabetes will give you the
means. Following a diabetic diet, which is really just a healthy
diet, will enable you to keep the weight off too.
When you hit
the diabetic blues after diagnosis, just think how much better
you will feel when you have gone down several sizes and can
buy the kind of clothes you could never buy before.
More
Information on Diabetes
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Copyright
© 2002 by Carol Fisher
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