Diabetes Type 1 and Type 2

What Is Diabetes?

Diabetes is a heterogeneous disorder with the common elements of hyperglycemia and glucose intolerance, due to insulin deficiency, impaired effectiveness of insulin action, or both 1. Diabetes mellitus is classified on the basis of etiology and clinical presentation of the disorder into four types. Also diabetes (medically known as diabetes mellitus) is the name given to disorders in which the body has trouble regulating its blood glucose, or blood sugar, levels. There are two major types of diabetes: type 1 diabetes and type 2 diabetes. Diabetes prevents your body from turning your food into energy. Instead glucose stays in your bloodstream, and left untreated can result in a range of complications.

If you have recently been diagnosed as diabetic, don’t worry. With proper treatment and care, you will lead a normal and happy life. You may need to make a few changes in your lifestyle – but then, if you are like me, you probably had plans to do that anyway and just never got round to it.

Now is the time to kick yourself into action. You cannot leave this up to your doctor alone – it needs you to take responsibility for your own treatment, and that starts with learning ways how to lower high blood sugar levels naturally.

Types of Diabetes

• Type 1 Diabetes
• Type 2 Diabetes

Type 1 Diabetes

Type 1 diabetes is sometimes called insulin-dependent, immune-mediated or juvenile onset diabetes. It is caused by destruction of the insulin producing cells of the pancreas, typically due to an auto-immune reaction, where they are attacked by the body's defense system. The beta cells of the pancreas therefore produce little or no insulin, the hormone that allows glucose to enter body cells. The reason why this occurs is not fully understood.

The disease can affect people of any age, but usually occurs in children or young adults. Type 1 diabetes is one of the most common endocrine and metabolic conditions in childhood. People with type 1 diabetes need injections of insulin every day in order to control the levels of glucose in their blood. Without insulin, people with type 1 diabetes will die. The onset of type 1 diabetes is often sudden and dramatic and can include symptoms such as:

• abnormal thirst and a dry mouth
• frequent urination
• extreme tiredness/lack of energy
• constant hunger
• sudden weight loss
• slow-healing wounds
• recurrent infections
• blurred vision

A Diagram of Type 1 Diabetes

The incidence of type 1 diabetes is increasing, the reasons for which are unclear but are likely to be mainly due to changes in environmental risk factors. Environmental risk factors, increased height and weight development, increased maternal age at delivery, and possibly some aspects of diet and exposure to some viral infections may initiate autoimmunity or accelerate an already ongoingbeta cell destruction.

Type 2 Diabetes

Type 2 diabetes is characterized by insulin resistance and relative insulin deficiency, either of which may be present at the time that diabetes becomes clinically manifest. The diagnosis of type 2 diabetes usually occurs after the age of 40 years but could occur earlier, especially in populations with high diabetes prevalence. There are increasing reports of children developing type 2 diabetes. Type 2 diabetes can remain undetected, i.e. asymptomatic, for many years and the diagnosis is often made from associated complications or incidentally through an abnormal blood or urine glucose test.

Type 2 diabetes is often, but not always, associated with obesity, which itself can cause insulin resistance and lead to elevated blood glucose levels. It is strongly familial, but major susceptibility genes have not yet been identified. There are several possible factors in the development of type 2 diabetes.

These include:

• Obesity, diet and physical inactivity
• Increasing age
• Insulin resistance
• Family history of diabetes
• Less than optimum intrauterine environment
• Ethnicity

A Diagram of Type 2 Diabetes

In contrast to type 1 diabetes, people with type 2 diabetes are not dependent on exogenous insulin and are not ketosis-prone, but may require insulin for control of hyperglycemia if this is not achieved with diet alone or with oral hypoglycemic agents. The rising prevalence of type 2 diabetes is associated with rapid cultural and social changes, ageing populations, increasing urbanization, dietary changes, reduced physical activity and other unhealthy lifestyle and behavioral patterns 2 .

Diabetes Symptoms

Symptoms of type 1 diabetes are often dramatic and come on very suddenly.

• Type 1 diabetes is usually recognized in childhood or early adolescence, often in association with an illness (such as a virus or urinary tract infection) or injury.
• The extra stress can cause diabetic ketoacidosis.
• Symptoms of ketoacidosis include nausea and vomiting. Dehydration and often-serious disturbances in blood levels of potassium follow.
• Without treatment, ketoacidosis can lead to coma and death.

Symptoms of type 2 diabetes are often subtle and may be attributed to aging or obesity.

• A person may have type 2 diabetes for many years without knowing it.
• People with type 2 diabetes can develop hyperglycemic hyperosmolar nonketotic syndrome.
• Type 2 diabetes can be precipitated by steroids and stress.
• If not properly treated, type 2 diabetes can lead to complications like blindness, kidney failure, heart disease, and nerve damage.

Common symptoms of both major types of diabetes:

Fatigue: In diabetes, the body is inefficient and sometimes unable to use glucose for fuel. The body switches over to metabolizing fat, partially or completely, as a fuel source. This process requires the body to use more energy. The end result is feeling fatigued or constantly tired.

Unexplained weight loss: People with diabetes are unable to process many of the calories in the foods they eat. Thus, they may lose weight even though they eat an apparently appropriate or even excessive amount of food. Losing sugar and water in the urine and the accompanying dehydration also contributes to weight loss.

Excessive thirst (polydipsia): A person with diabetes develops high blood sugar levels, which overwhelms the kidney's ability to reabsorb the sugar as the blood is filtered to make urine. Excessive urine is made as the kidney spills the excess sugar. The body tries to counteract this by sending a signal to the brain to dilute the blood, which translates into thirst. The body encourages more water consumption to dilute the high blood sugar back to normal levels and to compensate for the water lost by excessive urination.

Excessive urination (polyuria): Another way the body tries to get rid of the extra sugar in the blood is to excrete it in the urine. This can also lead to dehydration because excreting the sugar carries a large amount of water out of the body along with it.

Excessive eating (polyphagia): If the body is able, it will secrete more insulin in order to try to deal with the excessive blood sugar levels. Moreover, the body is resistant to the action of insulin in type 2 diabetes. One of the functions of insulin is to stimulate hunger. Therefore, higher insulin levels lead to increased hunger and eating. Despite increased caloric intake, the person may gain very little weight and may even lose weight.

Poor wound healing: High blood sugar levels prevent white blood cells, which are important in defending the body against bacteria and also in cleaning up dead tissue and cells, from functioning normally. When these cells do not function properly, wounds take much longer to heal and become infected more frequently. Also, long-standing diabetes is associated with thickening of blood vessels, which prevents good circulation including the delivery of enough oxygen and other nutrients to body tissues.

Infections: Certain infection syndromes, such as frequent yeast infections of the genitals, skin infections, and frequent urinary tract infections, may result from suppression of the immune system by diabetes and by the presence of glucose in the tissues, which allows bacteria to grow well. They can also be an indicator of poor blood sugar control in a person known to have diabetes.

Altered mental status: Agitation, unexplained irritability, inattention, extreme lethargy, or confusion can all be signs of very high blood sugar, ketoacidosis, hyperosmolar hyperglycemia nonketotic syndrome, or hypoglycemia (low sugar). Thus, any of these merit the immediate attention of a medical professional. Call your health care provider or 911.

Blurry vision: Blurry vision is not specific for diabetes but is frequently present with high blood sugar levels.

What Causes Diabetes

Type 1 diabetes is usually a progressive autoimmune disease, in which the beta cells that produce insulin are slowly destroyed by the body's own immune system. It is unknown what first starts this cascade of immune events, but evidence suggests that both a genetic predisposition and environmental factors, such as a viral infection, are involved.

Researchers have found at least 18 genetic locations, labeled IDDM1 - IDDM18, that are related to type 1 diabetes. The IDDM1 region contains the HLA genes that encode proteins called major histocompatibility complex. The genes in this region affect the immune response. New advances in genetic research are identifying other genetic components of type 1 diabetes. Other chromosomes and genes continue to be identified.

Most people who develop type 1 diabetes, however, do not have a family history of the disease. The odds of inheriting the disease are only 10% if a first-degree relative has diabetes, and even in identical twins, one twin has only a 33% chance of having type 1 diabetes if the other has it. Children are more likely to inherit the disease from a father with type 1 diabetes than from a mother with the disorder.

A Diagram Showing Causes Of Diabetes Type 1

Genetic factors cannot fully explain the development of diabetes. Over the past 40 years, a major increase in the incidence of type 1 diabetes has been reported in certain European countries, and the incidence has tripled in the U.S.

Diabetes is a number of diseases that involve problems with the hormone insulin. While not everyone with type 2 diabetes is overweight, obesity and lack of physical activity are two of the most common causes of this form of diabetes. It is also responsible for nearly 95% of diabetes cases in the United States, according to the CDC.

This article will give you a better understanding of the causes of type 2 diabetes, what happens in the body when type 2 diabetes occurs, and specific health problems that increase your risk of type 2 diabetes. Each section links to more in-depth information on that topic.

In a healthy person, the pancreas (an organ behind the stomach) releases insulin to help your body store and use the sugar from the food you eat. Diabetes happens when one of the following occurs:

• When the pancreas does not produce any insulin.
• When the pancreas produces very little insulin.
• When the body does not respond appropriately to insulin, a condition called "insulin resistance."

Unlike people with type 1 diabetes, people with type 2 diabetes produce insulin; however, the insulin their pancreas secretes is either not enough or the body is unable to recognize the insulin and use it properly. This is called insulin-resistance. When there isn't enough insulin or the insulin is not used as it should be, glucose (sugar) can't get into the body's cells. When glucose builds up in the blood instead of going into cells, the body's cells are unable to function properly.