Diabetes: Symptoms and Treatment

Diabetes can be difficult to understand unless you first learn about the way your body functions. As you begin to understand how the body fuels itself and how the digestive system works, you can realize that when one of the many parts of this system breaks down, there can be major problems.

Digestion is the process of our body breaking down the food we consume into usable nutritive substances. There are three main categories of these substances in the food we eat. These are fats, proteins and carbohydrates and they are all important to the nutritional support of our bodies. Vegetable oils, cheese, some dairy products and meat contain fat. Our protein is found in meat, eggs, fish and dairy products. Starches and sugars are found in pasta, fruits, vegetables, bread and grains and this is the way we ingest carbohydrates.

Carbohydrates are broken down by the digestive process and turned into glucose or blood sugar. The things we do that require energy, such as walking, running or other aerobic exercises, all rely on carbohydrates to give us the energy to do them. Insulin is the substance that our bodies use to absorb the blood sugar into our cells. Our insulin and other digestive enzymes are provided for our bodies by the pancreas which is close to our stomach. Alcohol abuse and various diseases can cause our pancreas to stop working properly and sometimes it may be necessary to remove it surgically.

If a person is diabetic, either their cells have become insulin resistant, or their body may not be producing enough insulin. When this happens, the glucose will not be absorbed by the cells and will back up into the body. This causes the body to urinate frequently in order to try and eliminate the excess blood sugar. Having to go to the bathroom very often is one of the signs of diabetes. Proper diabetes treatment is absolutely necessary to avoid dangerous complications. A lot of people who suffer from Type 2 diabetes get one of a variety of those complications.

Diabetes results from an inability of our body to regulate blood sugar in our system. Insulin is produced by the pancreas and is the necessary key to let our liver, fat cells and muscles absorb glucose which is needed to produce fuel for energy. The glucose may cause great harm to tissues and organs if it does not move into our cells and continues to maintain a high blood sugar level.

Type 1 diabetes is what you have if your body does not produce enough insulin to keep blood sugar levels at the right amount. In the United States, Type 1 diabetes, (also called diabetes mellitus), is what approximately ten percent of all diabetics have. This is normally discovered when people are children or young teens and can also be called juvenile onset diabetes. If your pancreas is made useless by some type of illness or taken out surgically, then type 1 diabetes can happen to an adult. This type of diabetic must have insulin daily in order to stay alive.

Type 2 diabetes is the type that the other 90 percent of diabetics have. This is usually diagnosed in adults who are 45 years of age or older but it may be found in younger people as well. This type is when the body has become insulin resistant for some reason and it may be able to be controlled through diet, exercise, weight loss or some medication taken orally. However, some people who have this type may still need to take daily insulin.

The number of Americans who are diabetic is becoming greater all the time. Some people may not even be aware that they have this disease. Great harm to the tissues or organs of the body may be done before they even realize that they have diabetes. Be sure you are on the lookout for symptoms, especially if you know that others in your family have had it. Contact your physician if you are urinating more frequently, have increased thirst or a sudden gain or loss of weight, all of which are diabetes symptoms.

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What is diabetes?

A disease in which the body cannot convert food into energy because of a lack of insulin (a hormone produced by the pancreas), or because of an inability to use insulin. Diabetes is a serious condition that can cause complications ranging from numbness to loss of vision to coma. It also significantly raises the risk for other problems, such as stroke and heart disease. About 17 million Americans have diabetes.
A hereditary or developmental problem with sugar metabolism. Caused by a failure of the pancreas to produce enough insulin. Juvenile diabetes, or type 1 diabetes, is treated with diet, exercise and insulin. Type 2, formerly called adult onset, is now seen in overweight children. It is treated with diet, exercise and medication. In severe cases, type 2 diabetes is also treated with insulin.
A chronic condition associated with abnormally high levels of glucose (sugar) in the blood. The two types of diabetes are referred to as insulin-dependent (type I) and non-insulin dependent (type II). Type I diabetes results from a lack of adequate insulin secretion by the pancreas. Type II diabetes (also known as adult-onset diabetes) is characterized by an insensitivity of the tissues of the body to insulin secreted by the pancreas (insulin resistance).