Types of Diabetes Mellitus
Diabetes mellitus (or diabetes) is a chronic, lifelong condition that affects your body’s ability to use the energy found in food. There are three major types of diabetes: type 1 diabetes, type 2 diabetes, and gestational diabetes.
All types of diabetes mellitus have something in common. Normally, your body breaks down the sugars and carbohydrates you eat into a special sugar called glucose. Glucose fuels the cells in your body. But the cells need insulin, a hormone, in your bloodstream in order to take in the glucose and use it for energy. With diabetes mellitus, either your body doesn’t make enough insulin, it can’t use the insulin it does produce, or a combination of both.
What is diabetes mellitus?
Diabetes mellitus (commonly referred to as diabetes) is a disease of the pancreas, an organ behind your stomach that produces the hormone insulin. Insulin helps the body use food for energy. When a person has diabetes, the pancreas either cannot produce enough insulin, uses the insulin incorrectly, or both. Insulin works together with glucose (sugar) in the bloodstream to help it enter the body’s cells to be burned for energy. If the insulin isn’t functioning properly, glucose cannot enter the cells. This causes glucose levels in the blood to rise, creating a condition of high blood sugar or diabetes, and leaving the cells without fuel.
What are the common types of diabetes?
Type 1: Type 1 diabetes occurs because the insulin-producing cells of the pancreas (beta cells) are damaged. In type 1 diabetes, the pancreas makes little or no insulin, so sugar cannot get into the body’s cells for use as energy. People with type 1 diabetes must use insulin injections to control their blood glucose. Type 1 is the most common form of diabetes in people under age 20-30, but it can occur at any age. Ten percent of people with diabetes are diagnosed with type 1.
Type 2: In type 2 diabetes, the pancreas makes insulin, but it either doesn’t produce enough insulin or the insulin does not work properly. Type 2 diabetes may sometimes be controlled with a combination of diet, weight management and exercise. However, treatment also may include oral glucose-lowering medications or insulin injections.
What causes diabetes?
Physical stress (such as surgery or illness)
Use of certain medications, including steroid and blood pressure medications
Injury to pancreas (such as infection, tumor, surgery or accident)
Autoimmune disease
High blood pressure
Abnormal blood cholesterol or triglyceride levels
Age (risk increases with age)
Alcohol (risk increases with years of heavy alcohol use)
Smoking
Pregnancy (see “What is gestational diabetes?” on the last page)
Family history of diabetes or inherited tendency
African-American, Hispanic, Native American or Asian-American race or e thnic background
Being overweight (20 percent or more over your desired body weight)
How is diabetes diagnosed?
The preferred method of diagnosing diabetes is the fasting plasma glucose test (FPG). The FPG measures your blood glucose level after you have fasted (not eaten anything) for 10 to 12 hours. Normal fasting blood glucose is between 70 and 100 mg/dl for people who do not have diabetes. The standard diagnoses of diabetes is made when:
A patient has a fasting blood glucose level of 126 mg/dl or higher on two separate occasions.
A patient has a random blood glucose level of 200 mg/dl or greater and has common symptoms of diabetes, such as:
Increased thirst
Frequent urination
Increased hunger
Fatigue
Blurred vision
Weight loss
Diabetes Mellitus Treatment
Management of type 2 diabetes includes:
Healthy eating
Regular exercise
Possibly, diabetes medication or insulin therapy
Blood sugar monitoring
