Learn more about Diabetes, a condition that causes high blood sugar and affects the way your body turns sugar into energy.
Diabetes must be properly managed together with a healthcare professional, as it can cause a number of serious health issues.
Diabetes is a common disease but its prevalence is still low. This could be because of the many myths that exist. But we’re here to clear the air of these misconceptions and set things straight. Here are 10 myths about diabetes.
No matter what your age is, it is never too early to start looking after yourself and testing things like your blood sugar levels to make sure that you’re taking the proper care of your body.
Diabetes is a severe metabolic disorder that has attained the status of a global epidemic since the beginning of the 21st century.
Let’s have a look at what foods are beneficial for people with diabetes.
Diabetes is a condition that causes high blood sugar and affects the way your body turns sugar into energy.
Your blood works closely with your pancreas. When you eat something, your body breaks this down into a type of sugar called glucose. Your pancreas then gets a message to release insulin to control the level of glucose that gets released into your blood. In some types, your pancreas releases the insulin but your body doesn’t respond to it.
Diabetes mellitus, commonly known as diabetes, must be properly managed together with a healthcare professional, as it can cause a number of serious health issues.
You may have heard someone refer to different types of diabetes, like Type 1 or Type 2. Type 1 affects the bodies auto-immune system. Type 2 refers to cases where the pancreas doesn’t produce enough insulin to manage glucose levels.
Here’s a bit more detail:
Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease that affects around 10% of people with diabetes.
We don’t quite know yet what causes this to happen, but a person with Type 1 diabetes has an immune system that wages war on cells in the pancreas which destroys the body’s insulin factory, so blood glucose levels, left uncontrolled, cause a bit of havoc with the body.
People with Type 1 diabetes will need daily insulin injections to manage their glucose levels.
A resistance to insulin causes sugar to build upon your blood. This Type 2 diabetes, and is linked to obesity, age and in some cases low activity levels. It can also be genetic.
A person with Type 2 diabetes will feel excessively thirsty, tired and needing to urinate very often. If this is not treated it can cause heart and vision issues as well as others.
It can be treated by taking certain medication, and making lifestyle and dietary changes.
Type 1 and Type 2 are two common types, but there are others like,
Gestational diabetes – this is when your body can’t produce enough insulin when pregnant and can happen during any stage of a pregnancy but usually during the second and third trimester.
Prediabetes – is a term used when you have raised levels of blood sugar but they’re not quite high enough to be considered Type 2. This can still be dangerous, but a high percentage of people who have prediabetes, don’t know that they have it.
Each type of diabetes will show different types of symptoms and will depend on your blood sugar levels, but all will require a carefully managed treatment program.
Some common symptoms of both types may be:
None of these will go away without medical intervention. All types of diabetes can be managed and you can live life normally, but without medical support, you can become severely ill, so, if you show any symptoms, then have a check-up with your doctor as soon as possible.