What is diabetes mellitus?
Diabetes mellitus is a chronic, heterogeneous metabolic disease with complex pathogenesis. It’s characterized by an elevated blood glucose level, hyperglycemia due to a disturbance in insulin secretion or action, or both. It’s a chronic (long-lasting) disease affecting how the body converts food into energy. The body breaks down most foods into sugar (glucose) and releases it into the bloodstream. When blood sugar rises, the pancreas gives the signal to release insulin. Insulin acts like a key that directs blood sugar into the body’s cells to be used as energy. In this disease, the body doesn’t make enough insulin or cannot use it as well as it should. When too little insulin or the cells stop responding to insulin, too much blood sugar remains in the bloodstream. Over time, this can lead to serious health problems such as heart, vision, and kidney disease. There’s no cure for this disease yet, but losing weight, eating a healthy diet, and exercising can help. Other things you can do to help: Take medications prescribed by your endocrinologist.
What are the different types of diabetes mellitus?:
There are two main types of diabetes: type 1 and type 2. There is also “Gestational diabetes”, and a prior stage to diabetes is called “prediabetes.”
Type 1 diabetes
Type 1 diabetes occurs when the body’s immune system, which generally fights bacteria and viruses, mistakenly attacks the pancreas and prevents it from producing insulin. About 5 to 10 percent of all people with diabetes have type 1 diabetes. Type 1 symptoms often develop quickly and can include severe thirst, increased urination, and extreme hunger. If you have type 1 diabetes, you must take insulin daily to survive. Currently, no one knows how to prevent type 1 diabetes.
Type 2 diabetes
Type 2 diabetes is when the body cannot use insulin well, and blood sugar levels rise. About 90% of people who have diabetes have type 2. It usually develops over many years and is usually diagnosed in adults over 40. Nowadays, however, it is increasingly occurring in children and adolescents. Type 2 diabetes can be prevented or delayed by healthy lifestyle choices such as weight loss, a healthy diet, and physical activity.
Gestational diabetes
Gestational diabetes also occurs in pregnant women who have never had diabetes before. If you have gestational diabetes, your baby is at higher risk for health problems. Gestational diabetes usually goes away after your baby is born. Your child also has a higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes as a child or teenager.
Prediabetes
Prediabetes is the condition that precedes diabetes. In the United States, 96 million adults have prediabetes. More than 8 out of 10 do not know they have diabetes. In prediabetes, blood sugar levels are higher than usual but not yet high enough for a diagnosis of type 2 diabetes. Prediabetes increases the risk of heart disease and stroke. However, lifestyle changes can help reverse prediabetes.
What are the signs and symptoms of diabetes?
The main symptoms of diabetes are described as the three polys – polyuria, polydipsia, and polyphagia. These symptoms can help identify individuals at high risk for diabetes or as early warning signs that diabetes is developing. However, for these symptoms to be recognized, patients must already have been diagnosed with prediabetes or diabetes.
Polyuria, or frequent urination, is a sign that the kidneys filter excess glucose from the blood and excrete it in the urine. Polydipsia, which is increased thirst and fluid intake, compensates for fluid loss through increased urination. Polyphagia, or increased appetite, compensates for the body’s loss of glucose and fluid due to excessive urination.
Individuals at high risk of developing diabetes should be alert to these symptoms and seek medical attention if they notice any of them.
The most common symptoms of diabetes include extreme fatigue, blurred vision, and slow healing of cuts and bruises. Weight loss is also a symptom that may require medical attention. Other symptoms may include tingling, pain, or numbness in the hands and feet.
In advanced stages of diabetes, the following symptoms and complications may also occur: Fainting and dizziness; these symptoms are possibly due to a sudden drop in blood glucose levels with poor treatment or increased medication.
If you have any of the following diabetes symptoms, you should see your doctor and test your blood sugar:
- If You urinate a lot, you often feel very thirsty at night.
- if you lose weight quickly
- if you are hungry
- if you have blurred vision, numb or tingling hands or feet
- if you are exhausted
- if your skin is dehydrated
- if your wounds heal slowly
- if you have more infections than usual
The Three P’s of Diabetes
Have you heard of the three Ps of diabetes? They often occur together, and we’ll discuss the three Ps in detail. We’ll explain how they’re diagnosed and treated and why you should see your doctor if you notice them.
Polydipsia
The word polydipsia refers to excessive and intense thirst. The word is often used in medicine to describe conditions that cause people to urinate more frequently than they usually do, causing the body to believe that it needs to replace the fluid lost in the urine. The term is also associated with conditions that cause excessive fluid loss, such as excessive sweating, high-salt diets, and diuretics.
In the case of diabetes, polydipsia (excessive thirst) can be described as one of the most common symptoms. Since large amounts of glucose accumulate in the blood in diabetes, our body must take action to control the level. The kidneys produce more urine to ensure that the glucose can be eliminated quickly, thereby returning blood glucose levels to normal. This can lead to a sudden loss of fluid.
Polyuria
Polyuria refers to frequent urination. It is among the most commonly reported signs of diabetes. Polyuria is common in people with diabetes because glucose accumulates in the renal tubules. This can increase urine when glucose is absorbed into the tubules but cannot be absorbed and returned to the bloodstream.
When the kidneys try to remove glucose, they also filter out extra water from various parts of the body. This leads to the production of urine, which must then be excreted.
It can be challenging to determine the reason for polyuria when polydipsia is present simultaneously because both can be in the same place simultaneously. If someone is thirsty, they are likely to urinate more because they drink more fluids. If someone urines more frequently, their body is dehydrated and feels increased thirst.
Polyphagia
Polyphagia refers to excessive hunger. There are times when an increase in appetite is expected, such as after increased physical exertion or hormonal changes. However, food will not satisfy your cravings if you suffer from polyphagia.
Because glucose cannot be quickly absorbed into cells to serve as an energy source, the body continues to signal to the brain that it’s hungry because it’s not getting the energy it needs from the food it’s already consumed.
Are the Three P’s Enough?
The three P’s are present in the majority of people in diabetic people. However, in those with type 2, these could not be as prominent as those with type 1. In certain instances, people with diabetes might not show the symptoms and still suffer from the disease.
To help a doctor determine if you have diabetes or not, they’ll examine all symptoms and then conduct tests. The tests that a doctor will perform will include the following:
A1C tests:
- A1C testing analyzes an indicator that estimates blood glucose levels over the past one to three months. If a person is diagnosed the value is 6.5% or more.
Fasting blood sugar Testing.
- Fasting blood glucose tests require that a person not eat for some time, usually as little as 8 to 10 hours. A fasting blood glucose level of 99 mg/dL or less is average, 100 to 125 mg/dL indicates prediabetes, and 126 mg/dL or more indicates diabetes.
- Glucose Tolerance Test:
The glucose tolerance test is a laboratory test that checks how your body stores sugar from the blood in tissues such as muscle and fat. The test is often used to diagnose diabetes.
The most common glucose tolerance test is the oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT).
Before the test begins, a blood sample will be taken from you.
Then you will be asked to drink a liquid that contains a certain amount of glucose (usually 75 grams). Your blood will be drawn again every 30 to 60 minutes after you drink the solution.
If your blood glucose level is 200 mg/dL or more after two hours, you have diabetes.
The test may take up to 3 hours to complete all procedures.
- Random Blood sugar tests:
A random glucose test measures the amount of glucose or sugar circulating in a person’s blood.
Doctors perform this test and use the result to determine if a person likely has it. While additional tests may be needed to confirm a complete diagnosis, a random glucose test can help doctors decide if further testing is needed.
What Is The Best Way To Treat Diabetes?
Are you looking for ways to control and manage your diabetes? If so, your medical team will work with you to create a personalized treatment plan. You’ll learn about the factors that affect diabetes management and how medications, exercise, diet, and other lifestyle changes can help you keep your blood sugar in your target range. To control your blood sugar, you may need more than one type of medication or insulin therapy. Your doctor will help you decide which treatment is best for you.
People with type 1 diabetes need to inject themselves with insulin daily or use an insulin pump. They also need to check their blood glucose levels regularly, usually by pricking their finger with a special device and using a blood glucose meter to determine how much insulin or carbohydrates they need to eat. Lifestyle changes that help this process include diet, exercise, and maintaining a healthy weight. The Diabetes Prevention Program has shown that weight loss of 5-7% of body weight can help prevent or delay the onset of type 2 diabetes.
There is no cure for type 2 diabetes, but if you are overweight, eat healthy and exercise, your blood sugar can be controlled. If that’s not enough, you may need diabetes medications or insulin therapy.
Having diabetes can be very challenging, especially when you’re trying to control your blood sugar. To help you do that, it’s important to understand how these medications work and how best to incorporate them into a comprehensive treatment plan.
What Is Prediabetes?
Have you heard of prediabetes? This is a serious health condition in which blood sugar levels are higher than normal, but not yet high enough to be diagnosed as type 2 diabetes.
The bad news is that prediabetes puts you at increased risk for developing type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and stroke.
The good news is that there is an interesting new program from the CDC that shows you how to reduce the risk.
What is the A1C level of prediabetic?
An elevated A1C level is a possible sign of prediabetes, which can lead to type 2 diabetes. A normal A1C level is below 5.7%, a level of 5.7% to 6.4% indicates prediabetes, and a level of 6.5% or more indicates diabetes.
Within the prediabetes range of 5.7% to 6.4%, the higher your A1C level, the greater your risk of developing type 2 diabetes.
What are the causes of prediabetes?
Insulin is a hormone made by the pancreas that acts as a key to getting blood sugar into cells so it can be used as energy. If you’ve prediabetes, the cells in your body don’t respond normally to insulin. Your pancreas makes more insulin to get the cells to respond. Eventually, your pancreas can’t keep up, and your blood sugar rises. This lays the foundation for prediabetes and later type 2 diabetes.
what are the Signs & Symptoms of pre-diabetes
Prediabetes can persist for years without clear symptoms. As a result, it often goes undetected until serious health problems like type 2 diabetes become apparent.
It’s important to talk to your doctor about a blood glucose test if you have any of the risk factors for prediabetes, such as:
- Being overweight
- being 45 years or older
- Have a parent, brother, or sister with type 2 diabetes
- Be physically active less than 3 times per week
- Gestational diabetes or the birth of a baby who weighed more than 9 pounds
- Polycystic ovary syndrome
- Race and ethnicity are also a factor
