Diabetes and Symptoms (Health and Lifestyle)

What is diabetes?

Diabetes is a condition affecting the system whereby the pancreas stops producing insulin or produces too little or where the cells in your body are resistant to the insulin that pancreas produces.

What is insulin?
Insulin is the hormone which unlocks the cells in your body and allows sugar (glucose) in your blood to be used at once or to be stored away to be used later on.

Symptoms
1. Excessive tiredness
2. Recurrent infections
3. Dehydration and excessive thirst
4. Cut and wounds may be very slow to heal
5. Weight loss
6. A need to frequently go to the toilet
7. Itching in the genital area or frequent episodes of thrush.

There are two main types of diabetes, Type 1 and Type 2. Each type of diabetes has different causes so they are treated differently. As the causes are closely related the symptoms are very similar.

Type 1 diabetes
Type 1 diabetes occurs when the insulin producing cells in the pancreas are damaged. Thus the pancreas eventually stops producing any insulin yet. Basically, it affects young people, although it can occur at any age and can develop very quickly over a short space of time. It is controlled with insulin injections. The amount of insulin you need is balanced against levels of sugar in your blood.

Type 2 diabetes
Type 2 diabetes occurs when the cells in your body are resistant to the affects of insulin and your pancreas doesn’t produce enough insulin. It develops slowly and gradually over a long period of time, so the symptoms may not be noticed and the condition often goes undiagnosed. This type usually found in middle aged or elderly people, but it is increasingly being diagnosed in early adulthood and sometimes in childhood. It generally runs in families and is particularly prevalent in certain ethnic groups. It can sometimes be treated with diet and exercise. If that is not enough to control it, you will be given tablets or you may need to move on to insulin injections.

HEALTH AND LIFESTYLE