Tell Diabetes! NOT ME
Hello Everyone!
This is the first post in the series of Diabetes. The upcoming Posts will be about Causes and Risk Factors, Prevention, Food and Exercises, Management of Diabetes, Diabetes and Pregnancy, Financial Help and many other things you need to know. Hope It will Help You!
So, coming to the topic, Diabetes is a condition when your blood glucose, also called blood sugar, is too high. Blood glucose is the main type of sugar found in your blood and your main source of energy. Glucose comes from the food you eat and is also made in your liver and muscles.
Your pancreas releases a hormone it makes, called insulin, into your blood. Insulin helps your blood carry glucose to all your body’s cells. Sometimes your body doesn’t make enough insulin or the insulin doesn’t work the way it should. Glucose then stays in your blood and doesn’t reach your cells. Your blood glucose levels get too high and can cause diabetes or prediabetes.
The reason it is a dangerous condition is because it exhibits Iceberg Phenomenon. That means you may already be having diabetes but you don’t know it now. And by the time it is diagnosed, it becomes difficult to control. This is more relevant in case of developing countries such as India, where lack of awareness and resources are making it The Diabetic Capital of the World.
Types of Diabetes
There are 2 types of diabetes. Type 1 and Type 2.
Type 1 diabetes occurs when your body’s pancreas doesn’t produce any insulin. It is also called insulin-dependent diabetes and sometimes called juvenile diabetes because it is usually discovered in children and teenagers, but adults may also have it.
Type 2 diabetes occurs when the pancreas either doesn’t produce enough insulin or your body’s cells ignore the insulin (Insulin Resistance). Without enough insulin, the glucose stays in your blood.
You can also have Prediabetes. This means that your blood sugar is higher than normal but not high enough to be called diabetes. Having prediabetes puts you at a higher risk of getting type 2 diabetes.
Over time, having too much glucose in your blood can cause complications. It can damage your eye, kidney, and nerves. Diabetes can also cause heart diseases, stroke and even the need to remove a limb. Pregnant women can also get diabetes, called gestational diabetes.
Serious Complications of Diabetes If Left Untreated
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Retinopathy (eye damage)
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Diabetic Foot (Due to poor healing)
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Between 90% and 95% of people who are diagnosed with diabetes, have Type 2 diabetes. In the United States, 29.1 million people have diabetes.
The good news is that Most of these people lead full, healthy lives. You can take steps to prevent or delay the onset of full-blown type 2 diabetes by making lifestyle changes, such as eating a healthy diet, reaching and maintaining a healthy weight, and exercising regularly.
One of the best things you can do for yourself is to learn all you can about diabetes.
Genetics of Diabetes
You've probably wondered how you developed diabetes. You may worry that your children will develop it too.
Unlike some traits, diabetes does not seem to be inherited in a simple pattern. Yet clearly, some people are born more likely to develop diabetes than others.
What Leads To Diabetes?
Type 1 and type 2 diabetes have different causes. Yet two factors are important in both. You inherit a predisposition to the disease then something in your environment triggers it.
Genes alone are not enough. One proof of this is identical twins. Identical twins have identical genes. Yet when one twin has type 1 diabetes, the other gets the disease at most only half the time. When one twin has type 2 diabetes, the other's risk is at most 3 in 4.
Type 1 Diabetes
In most cases of type 1 diabetes, people need to inherit risk factors from both parents. We think these factors must be more common in whites because whites have the highest rate of type 1 diabetes.
Because most people who are at risk do not get diabetes, researchers want to find out what the environmental triggers are.
One trigger might be related to cold weather. Type 1 diabetes develops more often in winter than summer and is more common in places with cold climates.
Another trigger might be viruses. Perhaps a virus that has only mild effects on most people triggers type 1 diabetes in others.
Early diet may also play a role. Type 1 diabetes is less common in people who were breastfed and in those who first ate solid foods at later stages.
Type 2 Diabetes
Type 2 diabetes has a stronger link to family history and lineage than type 1, although it too depends on environmental factors.
Studies of twins have shown that genetics play a very strong role in the development of type 2 diabetes.
Lifestyle also influences the development of type 2 diabetes. Obesity tends to run in families, and families tend to have similar eating and exercise habits.
If you have a family history of type 2 diabetes, it may be difficult to figure out whether your diabetes is due to lifestyle factors or genetic susceptibility. Most likely it is due to both. However, don’t lose heart. Studies show that it is possible to delay or prevent type 2 diabetes by exercising and losing weight.
Your Child's Risk
Type 1 Diabetes
In general, if you are a man with type 1 diabetes, the odds of your child developing diabetes are 1 in 17.
If you are a woman with type 1 diabetes and your child was born before you were 25, your child's risk is 1 in 25; if your child was born after you turned 25, your child's risk is 1 in 100.
Your child's risk is doubled if you developed diabetes before age 11. If both you and your partner have type 1 diabetes, the risk is between 1 in 10 and 1 in 4.
There is an exception to these numbers. About 1 in every 7 people with type 1 diabetes has a condition called type 2 polyglandular autoimmune syndrome. In addition to having diabetes, these people also have thyroid disease and a poorly working adrenal gland. If you have this syndrome, your child's risk of getting the syndrome — and Type 1 diabetes — is 1 in 2.
Researchers are learning how to predict a person's odds of getting diabetes. For example, a more expensive test can be done for children who have siblings with type 1 diabetes. This test measures antibodies to insulin, to Islets cells in Pancreas, or to an enzyme called glutamic acid decarboxylase. High levels can indicate that a child has a higher risk of developing type 1 diabetes.
Type 2 Diabetes
Type 2 diabetes runs in families. In part, this tendency is due to children learning bad habits — eating a poor diet, not exercising — from their parents. But there is also a genetic basis.
In general, if you have type 2 diabetes, the risk of your child getting diabetes is 1 in 7 (if you were diagnosed before age 50) and 1 in 13 if you were diagnosed after age 50.
Some scientists believe that a child's risk is greater when the parent with type 2 diabetes is the mother. If both you and your partner have type 2 diabetes, your child's risk is about 1 in 2.
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