Your body breaks down the food you eat into sugar or glucose, absorbed in your bloodstream. Insulin hormone facilitates blood sugar absorption into your cells for use as energy. Health conditions such as diabetes develop when there is insufficient insulin production or if your body becomes resistant to insulin action. Diabetes has no cure, but experts at Wellington PharmXhealthOne can help control your blood sugar to avoid kidney disease and vision loss. Below is a detailed description of the different types of diabetes.
Type 1 diabetes
Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease that causes your body to attack and destroy insulin-producing cells in your body. As a result, your body produces less or no insulin, allowing the accumulation of glucose in the blood. Type 1 diabetes is often diagnosed in children and teens, but it can also occur in adults. There is no known cause of this disease, but variables such as genes and viruses are linked to it. Treatment aims at managing blood sugar levels and not curing the disease.
Types 2 diabetes
It is the most common type of diabetes affecting approximately 90-95% of people with diabetes. Type 2 diabetes is a disease that alters blood sugar regulation in your body. This condition happens when your pancreas produces little to no insulin or when cells become resistant to insulin action. Type 2 diabetes develops gradually over the years and often causes no symptoms early.
The disease is common in older adults, but obesity in children has led to more cases of type 2 diabetes in children. Fortunately, you can reduce your risk of type 2 diabetes through lifestyle modifications such as eating healthy foods, exercising, and losing extra weight.
Prediabetes
Prediabetes means your blood sugar levels are high but not accelerated enough to be diagnosed as type 2 diabetes. It usually causes no symptoms, but hyperpigmentation is a possible sign of diabetes. Certain body parts such as your neck, armpits, knuckles, knees, and elbows may become darker.
Without lifestyle changes such as exercising and losing weight, prediabetes can develop into type 2 diabetes. Fortunately, the same measures can help you prevent the progression of prediabetes to type 2 diabetes. Prediabetes risk factors are similar to those of type 2 diabetes, including obesity, inactivity, age, and family history.
Gestational diabetes
Gestational diabetes is diabetes that occurs for the first time in pregnant women. Like other types of diabetes, it makes your cells insulin resistant. As a natural response, your body produces more insulin, but this can only go for some time. Eventually, blood sugar rises, putting you and your baby’s health at risk. Fortunately, you can keep your baby healthy and prevent delivery complications by controlling blood sugar.
Expectant mothers control their blood sugar by exercising and eating healthy foods most of the time. However, sometimes medications may be necessary to keep you and your baby healthy. Usually, the blood sugar returns to normal shortly after birth, but you become more susceptible to type 2 diabetes. You may need frequent tests to ensure your blood sugar levels are okay.
