Diabetes and Its Types

Diabetes can be termed as the most prevalent disease worldwide as it has spread its tentacles in all areas whether urban or rural, among the rich or the poor. In fact, America alone has more than 20 million people that have diabetes. There is also a large population of people that is unaware of the disease existing within them. The last half of the century has seen a tremendous increase in the diabetic patients. The cause is attributed to the changed lifestyles, unhealthy eating habits and the inability to control and prevent the disease.

As a disease, diabetes can be described as metabolic disorder of the body where either the production or usage of insulin reduces. Energy that our body gets is generated from the conversion of starch, sugar and other foods by insulin. When there is a reduction of insulin production or there is decreased usage of the available insulin, it results in an increased amount of glucose in the blood resulting in diabetes. Therefore when there are high glucose levels in the blood, the condition is termed as diabetes mellitus.

Types of diabetes: there are mainly three types of diabetes:

Type I diabetes

Type II diabetes

Gestational diabetes

Type I diabetes: in this type of diabetes the production of the hormone insulin dips, which means that the body is unable to produce insulin.

Type II diabetes: in this type of diabetes, there is either less production of insulin or the produced insulin is not well utilized by the body. Either way, the glucose level in the blood increases.

Gestational diabetes: sometimes pregnant women are afflicted with diabetes. This is due to the changed hormone activity and thus the diabetes that occurs during pregnancy is called gestational pregnancy.

Effects of diabetes

Uncontrolled diabetes can lead to many types of problems. The most prominent of this is the increased risk of cardiovascular diseases and heart stroke. Other than this, continually high levels of glucose in the blood can lead to blindness, kidney failure, renal diseases, weight loss and gangrene. Gestational diabetes can be dangerous not only for the pregnant woman but her fetus too.

Cures available

Not undermining the fact that diabetes is a dangerous disease, one must understand that diabetes cannot be cured completely, but it can be controlled. Therefore for effective management of diabetes, one needs to have complete information about it. The solutions available for the control of diabetes relate to:

Caring with the diet: glucose is mainly absorbed from the food that is eaten. Therefore limitation on high sugar or starch food should be initiated and the diet pattern should be changed by taking smaller meals at regular intervals.

Exercise: regular exercise is a must for a diabetic patient. This is to increase the metabolic activity of the body.

Medication: use of the advised drugs and medications to control diabetes is recommended. There have been advancements in this field and therefore there are effective insulin therapies available today.

Monitoring: an important aspect in controlling the blood glucose levels is its continuous monitoring. This is important as the medicines and insulin are changed according to the pattern of glucose levels in the body. Therefore effective management of diabetes includes monitoring as well.

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