Contents
What is Diabetes?
Diabetes is a health condition that occurs when the blood glucose is too high in the body or when the body does not produce enough insulin. When there is excess sugar in your body, some of it builds up in your blood stream, increasing the blood sugar levels.
There are different types of diabetes and each has symptoms and complications. No matter your diabetes, the fact is that you have excess blood in your blood stream.
Excess sugar in your blood can lead to serious damage to vital tissues and organs, such as nerves, blood vessels to the kidneys, eyes, heart, and brain. Although this disease does not have a cure, you can take some steps to manage the condition.
Types of Diabetes
There are 3 common types of diabetes:
- Type 1 diabetes
- Type 2 diabetes
- Gestational diabetes.
1. Type 1 Diabetes
Type 1 diabetes occurs when there is no enough insulin produced by the pancreas. The immune system tends to attack and destroy the cells that make insulin in the pancreas. Although it can appear at any age, type 1 diabetes mostly affects children and young age adults. If you have type 1 diabetes, taking insulin every day is recommended for survival.
2. Type 2 Diabetes
This diabetes occurs when the body does not make effective use of the insulin produced by the insulin. When the insulin is not used, it builds up in the blood stream which can be very dangerous. Type 2 diabetes is a result of physical inactivity and excess body weight.
A while back, type 2 diabetes was common in adults, but now it is occurring in children because of unhealthy lifestyles. In addition, type 2 diabetes can be prevented by eating healthy food, staying active, and avoid having excess weight.
3. Gestational Diabetes
This type of diabetes is common in pregnant women. When a mother is pregnant, the placenta produces more hormones to sustain the pregnancy. The hormones make the cells resistant to insulin, leading to increased sugar in the blood. Luckily, this type of diabetes goes away when the baby is born.
Women with this diabetes have a high risk of complications during the pregnancy period. After delivery, both the mother and the kid can easily get diabetes Type 2 in the future.
Risk Factors of Diabetes
The factors that increase the risk of getting diabetes depend on the type of diabetes you develop.
Risk factors for Type 1 Diabetes:
- Physical stress caused by illness or surgery
- Presence of antibodies that attack the body organs and tissues
- Exposure to illness
- Family history with Type 1 diabetes
- Pancreas injuries, such as tumor, infection, accident, or surgery
- Geography: some countries have a higher rate of Type 1 diabetes.
Risk factors for Type 2 Diabetes:
1. Weight
The more fat your body tissues are, the more your cells become resistant to insulin.
2. Inactivity
People who are always inactive are at a higher risk of Type 2 diabetes. When you are exercising, the body uses glucose as energy and your cells become more sensitive to insulin. There, stay active for a healthy living.
3. Age
The risk of getting Type 2 diabetes increases the older you get. It can be caused by loss of muscle mass, less exercise, and adding weight. However, this diabetes is increasing in kids and younger adults because of unhealthy lifestyles.
4. Gestational Diabetes
During pregnancy, some women develop gestational diabetes and this increases the risk of Type 2 diabetes later in life. Still, pay attention to your baby’s weight after delivery. If the baby is more than 4kgs, you are at a higher risk of Type 2 diabetes.
5. High Blood Pressure
Having your blood pressure over 140/90 mm Hg can lead to Type 2 diabetes.
Other factors include:
- Ethnicity/race
- Family history
- Abnormal cholesterol levels
- Polycystic ovary syndrome.
Risk for Gestational Diabetes
Pregnant women are the ones with higher chances of getting gestational diabetes. Although, some women are at a bigger risk than others. Check some risk factors of gestational diabetes below.
1. Weight
Those women who are overweight before pregnancy are at a higher risk of this diabetes than those with controlled weight. To avoid this type of diabetes, ensure your body weight is well controlled.
2. Age
Those women aged 25 years and above are at high risk of gestational diabetes. In some cases, this diabetes can affect the unborn kid later in life and the mother can develop Type 2 diabetes.
3. Family History
Your risk of getting gestational diabetes increase if you have Type 2 diabetes. Still, you can get it if your parent or sibling has this diabetes. Some mothers who give to overweight babies are at great risk of gestational and Type 2 diabetes.
Symptoms of Diabetes
General Symptoms
- Increased thirst
- Extreme hunger
- Frequent urination
- Tiredness
- Unexplained weight loss
- Blurry vision
- Sores that take long to heal.
Complications
The more poorly controlled blood sugar you have, the higher the risk of complications. Diabetes complications can cause disability or death. Some of the life-threatening complications include:
1. Kidney Damage
Kidneys contain millions of blood vessel clusters that help filter all the waste from the blood. Uncontrolled diabetes can damage the delicate filtering system. When it reaches to severe damage, it can lead to kidney failure, which will require a kidney transplant or dialysis.
2. Cardiovascular Disease
Diabetes increases the risk of cardiovascular diseases, including stroke, coronary artery disease, heart attack, and narrowing of arteries. Most individuals with diabetes have high chance of having a stroke or heart disease.
3. Eye Damage
Diabetes damages the blood vessels of the retina, leading to blindness. Still, diabetes can lead to other vision conditions, such as glaucoma and cataracts. If you have high blood pressure and diabetes at the same time, this will require a lot of serious medical attention because the two complications can lead to death.
4. Nerve Damage
Excess sugar causes injuries to the capillaries that nourish the nerves. This causes numbness, tingling, or pain that begins at the tips of the fingers or toes spreading upwards. If it is left untreated, you can lose the sense of feeling in the affected areas.
When the nerves related to digestion are damaged, you will experience diarrhea, vomiting, nausea, and constipation. In men, nerve damage leads to erectile dysfunction.
4. Dementia Disease
The main cause of dementia disease is diabetes Type 2. When you have poor blood sugar control, the risks of getting dementia are high.
5. Depression
Depression is a common symptom present in people with diabetes Type 1 and 2. Depression interferes a lot with diabetes management.
5. Low Blood Sugar
For pregnant mothers with gestation diabetes, they expose the unborn kid to gestation or Type 2 diabetes. The baby can develop low blood sugar shortly after birth because of high insulin production.
To keep the baby protected, you can give prompt feedings or an intravenous glucose solution that will get the blood sugar to normal levels.
6. Preeclampsia
This is a health condition characterized by swelling in the feet, excess protein in the urine, and high blood pressure. If this problem is left unattended, it leads to life-threatening complications for the mother and the baby.
Other diabetes complications include:
- Foot damage
- Skin conditions
- Hearing impairments
- In mothers with gestational diabetes, it causes excess growth to the unborn baby
- Untreated gestational diabetes leads to the death of the unborn baby.
Prevention
Diabetes is easy to control, but Type 1 diabetes can’t be prevented. However, the healthy lifestyle changes that treat diabetes Type 2 and gestational diabetes can help.
Some of the things that can help prevent diabetes Type 2 and gestational diabetes include:
1. Eat healthy
Eating healthy foods can help you avoid a wide range of health conditions. You should take the foods lower in calories and fat, and high in fiber. You should focus on vegetables, fruits, and whole grains. For the best results, avoid taking sugary foods because they can affect diabetes management.
2. Control your Weight
Being obese or overweight will increases the chances of health complications, such as high blood pressure and diabetes. If you are overweight, losing weight will help reduce the risk of diabetes.
For pregnant women, it is not advisable to lose weight at that time. Consulting a doctor will help you know how much weight is good for you during pregnancy.
Furthermore, you should motivate yourself by keeping in mind the benefits of having controlled weight, such as good heart health, improved self-esteem, and perfect energy levels
3. Exercise
Engaging in physical activity gives you a healthy heart, controlled body weight, flexibility, functional nerves, blood vessels, and nerves, and overall body health. You should exercise for about 30 minutes every day or three times per week.
For the best results, aim for at least 150 minutes of aerobic activity every week.
4. Avoid smoking
Smoking causes a lot of health problems, such as stroke, high blood pressure, diabetes, and kidney failure. You should avoid smoking because it affects the blood vessels and makes diabetes management difficult.
Overview
Once diabetes is detected early, controlling it is simple and cost-saving. When it gets to severe levels, it will affect your overall health and sometimes it can be life-threatening. The best way to control it is to live a healthy lifestyle and avoid other complications that can lead to this disease.
Take a step today and save your life. All the best!
