Diabetic Assessment

More about Diabetes

We’ve all heard of Diabetes, but most people don’t know the details unless they or a relative have Diabetes. Yet hundreds of millions of people around the world are believed to be at risk, while tens of millions are known to have Diabetes. In the UK, a little over 5% of people are thought to have Diabetes, with many remaining undiagnosed.

Diabetes (also known as diabetes mellitus) comes in two main types, though there are also a few more very uncommon types. We’ll discuss the more common variants along with the usual effects and symptoms, plus how people manage their Diabetes.

Type 1 Diabetes

This is the more serious but rarer type, though all forms of Diabetes are serious. Perhaps 1 out of every 10 people with Diabetes have Type 1. If you have this type, you need daily Insulin to keep living and most of the time Type 1 Diabetes is discovered at a young age.

Type 1 Diabetes is when your pancreas stops creating the hormone known as Insulin, a necessary component which allows cells to absorb glucose from food. The result of this is a lack of energy for your cells and much more glucose left in your blood, usually referred to as higher blood sugar levels.

This type is believed to be an autoimmune disease, which is when your immune system makes errors on what will be bad for you and so fights your pancreas, destroying the parts that create Insulin.

Type 2 Diabetes

This type covers almost all cases and is when your pancreas creates less Insulin than you need, or your cell tissues start to resist the effects of Insulin. Here the result is much the same as Type 1 Diabetes, but slower, which is why people occasionally have Type 2 Diabetes and don’t realize for a long time because their effects are light.

Some of the causes linked to Type 2 Diabetes include lack of regular physical activity and an unhealthy diet that leads to high cholesterol or blood pressure. As a simple visual cue, doctors become concerned by obesity and being clinically overweight. Other common factors include your parents having Type 2 Diabetes, getting sick with Pancreatitis because that often harms your pancreas, suffering Polycystic Ovary Syndrome, regular smoking and alcohol, or simply being over 40 years old.

Diagnosis of Type 2 Diabetes can happen at any age. Prediabetes is when you might be on the path to full Diabetes, such as when blood sugar levels are high but not enough to confirm Diabetes. Sometimes pregnant people will seem to develop Diabetes but then signs disappear after they deliver, though this “gestational Diabetes” can be a risk factor for getting Type 2 Diabetes.