What Exactly Is Diabetes? What You Need to Know
The definition of diabetes is the same regardless of which type of diabetes a patient has.
The scientific phrase "diabetes mellitus" refers to a group of metabolic diseases.
These metabolic diseases affect how a body processes its glucose or blood sugar.
When a person has diabetes, they have too much glucose in their blood stream.
The reasons for the excess glucose vary depending upon which type of diabetes the patient has.
The official definition of diabetes includes both chronic and potentially reversible versions of the disease.
The two types of chronic diabetes are referred to as type 1 and type 2.
The potentially reversible strands of diabetes include prediabetes and gestational diabetes.
Prediabetes is a condition when a patient's blood sugar levels are higher than normal but are not high enough to classify the patient as a diabetic.
Gestational diabetes is a form of diabetes that occurs during pregnancy.
Regardless of which type of diabetes a person has, if they have too much glucose in their blood, they can face severe health problems from it.
Glucose is essential to a person's body as it is one of the integral sources of energy for muscle and tissue cells.
It also provides the brain with its primary source of fuel.
Because of this, roughly two thirds of diabetics face damage to their nervous systems.
According to the American Diabetes Association, diabetes also plays a major role or is a contributing factor in close to a quarter of a million deaths every year.
It also contributes to a number of serious health problems.
including heart disease, stroke, and high blood pressure.
Diabetes is the leading cause of blindness and kidney failure among adults ages 20 to 74.
Millions of people in the United States risk suffering from these complications.
According to the American Diabetes Association, 25.
8 million people in the United States have diabetes.
This figure represents over 8 percent of the nation's total population.
Of these millions of people, 18.
8 million people have been diagnosed with diabetes while estimates assume that 7.
0 million people suffer from undiagnosed cases of diabetes.
Almost 80 million people suffer from prediabetes and the number of individuals with gestational diabetes is constantly changing.
Thus, at any one time, there are over 100 million Americans with some form of diabetes.
This equates to nearly a third of the population.
These individuals may experience different symptoms.
According to the most common definition of diabetes, the symptoms may vary depending upon how high the patients blood sugar levels get.
Most patients with type 1 diabetes experience severe symptoms that present themselves quickly while patients with prediabetes or type 2 diabetes may not show symptoms right away.
The symptoms of diabetes include intense thirst, constant urination, intense hunger pains, losing weight for no reason, feelings of fatigue, blurry vision, and higher than normal blood pressure.
In addition to those symptoms, patients may have ketones in their urine.
Ketones are a by product that occur when a lack of insulin forces the muscles and fat to breakdown.
Patients may also notice that they have more infections.
For instance, they may have skin or uterine infections more often than usual, and their sores may take a long time to heal.
With so many people suffering from this unfortunate disease, it is important to look for ways to prevent it.
Unfortunately, there is no way to prevent type 1 diabetes.
However, individuals can take several steps to reduce their chance of getting type 2 diabetes which is the most common type.
To help them avoid this disease, individuals should eat a healthy diet, exercise, and lose weight.
A diet low in fat and calories combined with 30 minutes of exercise every day can drastically reduce a person's chances of getting diabetes or prediabetes.
The scientific phrase "diabetes mellitus" refers to a group of metabolic diseases.
These metabolic diseases affect how a body processes its glucose or blood sugar.
When a person has diabetes, they have too much glucose in their blood stream.
The reasons for the excess glucose vary depending upon which type of diabetes the patient has.
The official definition of diabetes includes both chronic and potentially reversible versions of the disease.
The two types of chronic diabetes are referred to as type 1 and type 2.
The potentially reversible strands of diabetes include prediabetes and gestational diabetes.
Prediabetes is a condition when a patient's blood sugar levels are higher than normal but are not high enough to classify the patient as a diabetic.
Gestational diabetes is a form of diabetes that occurs during pregnancy.
Regardless of which type of diabetes a person has, if they have too much glucose in their blood, they can face severe health problems from it.
Glucose is essential to a person's body as it is one of the integral sources of energy for muscle and tissue cells.
It also provides the brain with its primary source of fuel.
Because of this, roughly two thirds of diabetics face damage to their nervous systems.
According to the American Diabetes Association, diabetes also plays a major role or is a contributing factor in close to a quarter of a million deaths every year.
It also contributes to a number of serious health problems.
including heart disease, stroke, and high blood pressure.
Diabetes is the leading cause of blindness and kidney failure among adults ages 20 to 74.
Millions of people in the United States risk suffering from these complications.
According to the American Diabetes Association, 25.
8 million people in the United States have diabetes.
This figure represents over 8 percent of the nation's total population.
Of these millions of people, 18.
8 million people have been diagnosed with diabetes while estimates assume that 7.
0 million people suffer from undiagnosed cases of diabetes.
Almost 80 million people suffer from prediabetes and the number of individuals with gestational diabetes is constantly changing.
Thus, at any one time, there are over 100 million Americans with some form of diabetes.
This equates to nearly a third of the population.
These individuals may experience different symptoms.
According to the most common definition of diabetes, the symptoms may vary depending upon how high the patients blood sugar levels get.
Most patients with type 1 diabetes experience severe symptoms that present themselves quickly while patients with prediabetes or type 2 diabetes may not show symptoms right away.
The symptoms of diabetes include intense thirst, constant urination, intense hunger pains, losing weight for no reason, feelings of fatigue, blurry vision, and higher than normal blood pressure.
In addition to those symptoms, patients may have ketones in their urine.
Ketones are a by product that occur when a lack of insulin forces the muscles and fat to breakdown.
Patients may also notice that they have more infections.
For instance, they may have skin or uterine infections more often than usual, and their sores may take a long time to heal.
With so many people suffering from this unfortunate disease, it is important to look for ways to prevent it.
Unfortunately, there is no way to prevent type 1 diabetes.
However, individuals can take several steps to reduce their chance of getting type 2 diabetes which is the most common type.
To help them avoid this disease, individuals should eat a healthy diet, exercise, and lose weight.
A diet low in fat and calories combined with 30 minutes of exercise every day can drastically reduce a person's chances of getting diabetes or prediabetes.
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