We all are familiar with the word
diabetes. Almost everyone knows at least one person who has diabetes. Diabetes
is a chronic metabolic disease that cannot be cured but can be treated. There
are millions of people in this world who live long lives with diabetes, hold
good jobs, marry and have children. Every year about 1.3 million people aged 20
or older are diagnosed with diabetes.
What is Diabetes?
Diabetes is a disorder of
metabolism. It is characterized by hyperglycemia or evaluated blood glucose
(blood sugar). The food that we eat is broken down into glucose, which is the
form of sugar in the blood. Glucose is the main source of fuel for our body.
When we eat, the pancreas automatically produces the right amount of insulin to
move glucose in our blood cells. Diabetes is the name of the condition in which
the blood sugar consistently runs to high.
Diabetes is a metabolic disorder
characterized by hyperglycemia or evaluated blood glucose (blood sugar). The
main source of fuel for our body is glucose. This glucose is obtained from the
food that we eat. The pancreas produces the right amount insulin, which helps
in breaking down the food into glucose. This glucose is then moved to the blood
cells. Diabetes is a condition where the blood glucose consistently runs high.
Causes of Diabetes
Diabetes is a disease that is
influenced by many factors. There is some complex genetic basis influenced by
environmental factors. Some of the main causes of diabetes are as follows:
High blood sugar level: The root cause of diabetes is high blood sugar level. In
the body of diabetic patients glucose builds up in the blood, overflows into
the urine, and passes out of the body. Thus the body loses main source of its
fuel even though the blood contains large amounts of glucose.
Insulin: Pancreas is responsible to produce insulin in human body.
Insulin is the hormone that is essential for the transport of glucose to cells.
In case of diabetic patients pancreas can either produce less insulin and no
insulin at all. We can say that their cells do not respond to the amount of
insulin that is produced. Lack of insulin in turn causes metabolic disorder.
There are several symptoms of
diabetes some of them are:
- increased thirst
- frequent trips to the washroom – especially at night
- extreme tiredness
- weight loss
- blurred vision.
Other things to look out for in
diabetes are dizziness, change in your eyesight\vision.
The Expert Committee on the
Diagnosis and Classification of Diabetes Mellitus currently classifies diabetes
into three main categories:
- Type 1
- Type 2
- Gestational Diabetes Mellitus (GDM)
A fourth category of Types of Diabetes may also be added to include diabetes induced by certain drugs and
other specific causes.
Under the present classification,
the old terms of insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM) and juvenile-onset
diabetes for type 1, and noninsulin dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM) and
adult-onset diabetes for type 2 diabetes have been dropped.
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