Diabetes is a chronic health condition that occurs when your body is incapable of producing insulin and breaking down sugar (glucose) appropriately in the blood.
You can identify the occurrence of this disease with the symptoms such as hunger, thirst, sudden weight loss, excessive urination, and dehydration.
However, your diabetes can fall in any of these three types.
Type1 Diabetes:
Type1 is also known as Insulin-Dependent Diabetes Mellitus (IDDM) or juvenile-onset diabetes.
It is an autoimmune disease that results when your body’s immune system destroys the insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreas.
Thus, the pancreas then produces little or no insulin that in turn can cause your body to function with an insulin deficiency.
So, type1 occurs when there is a lack of sufficient insulin secretion by the pancreas. Type 1 is so common that about 5-10 percent of all diabetes cases are in the United States. It usually develops in children and young adults, but can appear at any age.
Certain viral infections constricted during childhood or youth can lead to this immune system malfunction, and also leads to diabetes in later stages.
The type1 symptoms usually develop in more than a short period, while beta cell damage can begin years earlier. Symptoms of type1 are increased thirst and urination, continuous hunger, blurred vision, and/or severe fatigue.
If type1 is not diagnosed and left untreated with insulin, then you can fall into a life-threatening diabetic coma, called diabetic ketoacidosis.
Type2 Diabetes:
Type2 is also known as non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM) or adult-onset diabetes. It is the most common type of diabetes that results from a combination of insulin resistance and a defect in insulin production.
It is so common that 85-90% of all diabetes people suffer with this type. This type of diabetes is caused generally by a genetic predisposition toward the disease. In other words, it occurs when parents gene pass onto their children.
Some lifestyle factors such as overweight, inactivity, high blood pressure and poor diet are major risk factors for the development of type2. Type2 symptoms may not exhibit for many years and by the time they appear, major problems may have developed.
The symptoms include fatigue or nausea, frequent urination, weight loss, blurred vision, recurrent infections, and slow healing of wounds or sores. Sometimes, you may have no symptoms at all.
It is possible to lessen the complications that arise from this type, or even postpone its onset forever. Type2 can be treated through dietary changes, exercise and/or tablets. Insulin injections may be required in later stages.
Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM):
Gestational diabetes is also known as carbohydrate intolerance, which usually develops only during pregnancy. Risk factors for GDM include a family history of diabetes, increasing maternal age, and obesity.
This type of diabetes usually resolves once the pregnancy is over, but women who experience gestational diabetes have a greater risk for developing type2 later in life. However, the treatment of diabetes requires daily insulin injections, proper nutrition and regular exercise.
