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What is type 1 diabetes?
A collection of illnesses known as diabetes mellitus impact how the body utilizes glucose, or blood sugar. The cells that make up the muscles and tissues rely heavily on glucose as a source of energy. It serves as the primary fuel for the brain.
Each form of diabetes has a different primary etiology. However, diabetes can result in an excess of sugar in the blood regardless of the type you have. Serious health issues can result from an excess of sugar in the blood.
Type 1 diabetes and type 2 diabetes are chronic diabetes diseases. Diabetes disorders including gestational diabetes and prediabetes may be reversible. When blood sugar levels are greater than usual, prediabetes develops. However, the blood sugar levels are not elevated enough to be classified as diabetes.
Symptoms
The severity of diabetes symptoms is influenced by blood sugar levels. Some people may not exhibit symptoms, particularly if they have prediabetes, gestational diabetes, or type 2 diabetes. Symptoms of type 1 diabetes may appear suddenly and are more severe.
Type 1 diabetes and type 2 diabetes can both cause the following symptoms:
Noticing a greater than normal thirst.
Frequent urination.
Weight loss without exerting effort.
Ketones are present in the urine. When there is insufficient insulin available, muscle and fat are broken down, producing ketones as a consequence.
Being worn out and fragile.
Irritated or experiencing other mood swings.
Vision that is hazy.
Having wounds that take a long time to heal.
Getting several infections, including vaginal, skin, and mouth infections.
Diabetes type 1 can develop at any age. However, it frequently begins in childhood or adolescence. The more prevalent kind of diabetes, type 2, can manifest at any age. People over 40 are more likely to have type 2 diabetes. But the prevalence of type 2 diabetes in kids is rising.
Whenever to visit a doctor
If you suspect diabetes in yourself or your child. Diabetic symptoms should be reported to your healthcare physician immediately. The sooner the problem is identified and treated, the better.
If you have previously received a diabetes diagnosis. You’ll require constant medical monitoring following your diagnosis until your blood sugar levels settle.
Causes
It’s essential to comprehend how the body usually utilizes glucose if you want to comprehend diabetes.
How insulin functions
A gland (the pancreas) behind and beneath the stomach produces the hormone insulin.
Insulin is released into the circulation by the pancreas.
As the insulin moves through the body, sugar can enter the cells.
Sugar levels in the blood are reduced by insulin.
The amount of insulin the pancreas secretes increases as the blood sugar level decreases.
The part glucose plays
The cells that make up muscles and other tissues use the sugar glucose as an energy source.
Food and the liver are the two main sources of glucose.
Insulin helps sugar enter cells once it is taken into the circulation.
Glucose is created and stored by the liver.
The liver converts stored glycogen into glucose when blood glucose levels are low, as they are when you haven’t eaten in a while. Your glucose level is kept within a normal range as a result.
Most kinds of diabetes lack a recognized precise etiology. Sugar builds up in the bloodstream in every situation. This occurs as a result of inadequate insulin production by the pancreas.
Diabetes of either type can result from a mix of hereditary and environmental causes. What such elements could be is unknown.
Risk elements
Depending on the type of diabetes, different risk factors apply. In all sorts, family history could be important. Geographical location and environmental variables can increase the incidence of type 1 diabetes.
Testing for diabetes immune system cells (autoantibodies) in family members of type 1 diabetes is occasionally conducted. You run a higher chance of getting type 1 diabetes if you have certain autoantibodies. However, not everybody with these autoantibodies goes on to develop diabetes.
Your risk of type 2 diabetes may also increase depending on your race or ethnicity. Some people are more at risk than others, including those who are Black, Hispanic, American Indian, and Asian Americans, though it is unclear why.
In people who are overweight or obese, type 2 diabetes, gestational diabetes, and prediabetes are more prevalent.
Complications
Diabetes long-term consequences emerge gradually. The risk of problems increases with the duration of diabetes and the degree to which your blood sugar is under control. Diabetes problems might eventually become incapacitating or even fatal. In actuality, type 2 diabetes can result from prediabetes. Potential issues include:
Cardiovascular illness (heart and blood vessel disease). Diabetes significantly raises the risk of several cardiac conditions. These include coronary artery disease, heart attack, stroke, and artery narrowing (atherosclerosis), which can cause chest pain (angina). Diabetes increases your risk of developing heart disease or stroke.
Diabetes-related nerve damage (diabetic neuropathy). The walls of the small blood arteries (capillaries) that feed the nerves might get damaged by an excessive sugar intake, especially in the legs. The tingling, numbness, burning, or pain that may result from this typically starts at the tips of the toes or fingers and progressively moves higher.
Problems with nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, or constipation can result from damage to the nerves that control digestion. It could cause erectile dysfunction in males.
Diabetes-related kidney disease (diabetic nephropathy). The glomeruli, which are millions of microscopic blood artery clusters in the kidneys, filter the blood’s waste. This sensitive filtration mechanism can be harmed by diabetes.
Diabetes-related eye damage (diabetic retinopathy). The blood vessels in the eyes might get damaged by diabetes. Blindness might result from this.
Foot injury. Numerous foot complications are made more likely by nerve damage in the feet or poor blood circulation to the feet.
Oral and skin ailments. You may be more vulnerable to bacterial and fungal infections as a result of diabetes.
Impairment of hearing. Diabetes patients are more likely to experience hearing issues.
Alzheimer’s condition. Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia may be more likely in people with type 2 diabetes.
Diabetes-related depression. Diabetes patients of both types 1 and type 2 frequently experience depressive symptoms.