Diabetes: overview, symptom, prevention and treatment

Diabetes is a common disease that affects people across all age groups. There are many types of diabetes but type 2 diabetes is most common among them. In most cases, it is incurable but with proper treatment and precaution and a healthy diet plan, we can keep it under control to prevent complications and live a healthy life.

Diabetes mellitus is a group of diseases that affect the use of blood sugar in your body. Glucose works like a fuel for our body. Glucose is an important source of energy for our cells which are responsible for making muscles and tissues.

The root cause of diabetes can vary by type. But regardless of type, it can lead to excess sugar in your blood which can cause some serious health problems.

It can occur either when our pancreas doesn’t produce a sufficient amount of insulin or the produced insulin gets destroyed by our antibodies and our body cannot use the produced insulin effectively. Now, insulin is a hormone produced by the pancreas which is situated right under the stomach and it regulates blood sugar.

Symptoms of diabetes:

Depending on the type of diabetes, symptoms can occur suddenly or it can take years to be noticed. But here few common symptoms of diabetes:

Symptoms of diabetes include:
 

• Frequent urination
• Increased thirst and dry mouth
• Slow healing of cuts and sores
• Frequent skin infection
• Blurred vision
• Sudden and unexplained weight loss
• Fatigue and tiredness

Over time high blood sugar can cause serious health issues like it can damage blood vessels in the eyes kidneys feet and heart.

People with diabetes are also at risk of cardiac arrest, stroke, and kidney failure. It can also damage blood vessels in the eyes and cause permanent vision loss. It can also cause foot ulcers which leads to amputation.

Types of diabetes:

There are several types of diabetes. the most common form of diabetes includes:
 

• Prediabetes: This is a percentage of type 2 diabetes. In this type, your blood sugar level is higher than the usual level but it’s not high enough to be considered as a type 2 diabetes case.

• Type 2 diabetes: this is the most common diabetes case among the patients. In this type of diabetes, your pancreas is producing enough amount insulin which is required by your body or your body is reacting normally to the produced insulin (insulin resistance).


• Type 1 diabetes: in this type of diabetes, the immune system attacks and destroys the produced insulin by your body for some unknown reason. This is an autoimmune disease. Up to 10 percent of the patients with this type of diabetes are children or young adults but it can develop in age groups of people.


• Gestational diabetes: this type of diabetes usually develops in women during pregnancy. This is a curable type of diabetes and goes away after the birth of the baby. However, in some cases, it came to notice that the patient of gestational diabetes is at higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes in the later stage of their life.

Prevention of diabetes:

Lifestyle changes is the way to prevent or delay type 2 diabetes.

To prevent diabetes type 2 people should make these changes in their life:
 

• Losing extra weight: if you are extra weight try to lose kilos. maintaining a healthy weight is an important factor in the prevention of type 2 diabetes.


• Physical exercise: try to do at least 30 minutes of exercise daily. It stimulates your pancreas to release more insulin.

• Eat healthy food: try to avoid junk food as much as possible. try to cut down on fat and calorie intake. Include more green vegetables and fruits in your diet and eat more fiber-rich food items.

Treatment:

Early diagnosis is a key factor in maintaining your blood sugar level through inexpensive testing of blood glucose. Patients with type 1 diabetes have only one option: insulin injections for survival.

The most important way to treat diabetes is to have a good lifestyle.

Patients of type 2 diabetes can take oral medication to maintain blood glucose or they too can take insulin injections if their doctor advises.

Regular checkup is needed if you have a family history of diabetic patients and if you are already a diabetes patient then regular checkups and screening of your kidney and eyes blood vessels are required to control the further damage of these organs.

Additional foot care to prevent or treat ulcers.