Having diabetes requires life-long treatment and follow-up by health professionals. Diabetes can be linked to damage of the eyes, kidneys and feet. It is also associated with increased risk of strokes, heart attacks and poor blood circulation to the legs.
Medical care aims to minimise these risks by controlling diabetes, blood pressure and cholesterol and screening for possible complications caused by the diabetes. Maintaining a healthy lifestyle with regular exercise and a healthy diet helps with glucose control and managing diabetes in the long term. With careful monitoring and appropriate treatment, diabetes patients can lead full and active lives. Women with diabetes who are planning to start a family should discuss this with their doctor as good glucose control is important both prior to conception and throughout pregnancy.
About Contact Events News. Search Search. You and Your Hormones. Students Teachers Patients Browse. Human body. Home Endocrine conditions Diabetes mellitus. Diabetes mellitus Diabetes mellitus is a very common disorder caused by high levels of sugar in the bloodstream. It affects a large number of people, with many more people remaining undiagnosed.
Alternative names for diabetes mellitus Diabetes; type 2 diabetes; type 1 diabetes; sugar diabetes; T2DM; T1DM; insulin -dependent diabetes mellitus; IDDM; non-insulin-dependent diabetes; juvenile-onset diabetes What is diabetes mellitus? What causes diabetes mellitus? What are the signs and symptoms of diabetes mellitus? How common is diabetes mellitus? Is diabetes mellitus inherited? How is diabetes mellitus diagnosed? Potentially reversible diabetes conditions include prediabetes and gestational diabetes.
Prediabetes occurs when your blood sugar levels are higher than normal, but not high enough to be classified as diabetes. And prediabetes is often the precursor of diabetes unless appropriate measures are taken to prevent progression. Gestational diabetes occurs during pregnancy but may resolve after the baby is delivered. Diabetes symptoms vary depending on how much your blood sugar is elevated. Some people, especially those with prediabetes or type 2 diabetes, may sometimes not experience symptoms.
In type 1 diabetes, symptoms tend to come on quickly and be more severe. Type 1 diabetes can develop at any age, though it often appears during childhood or adolescence. Type 2 diabetes, the more common type, can develop at any age, though it's more common in people older than Glucose — a sugar — is a source of energy for the cells that make up muscles and other tissues. The exact cause of type 1 diabetes is unknown. What is known is that your immune system — which normally fights harmful bacteria or viruses — attacks and destroys your insulin-producing cells in the pancreas.
This leaves you with little or no insulin. Instead of being transported into your cells, sugar builds up in your bloodstream. Type 1 is thought to be caused by a combination of genetic susceptibility and environmental factors, though exactly what those factors are is still unclear. Weight is not believed to be a factor in type 1 diabetes. In prediabetes — which can lead to type 2 diabetes — and in type 2 diabetes, your cells become resistant to the action of insulin, and your pancreas is unable to make enough insulin to overcome this resistance.
Instead of moving into your cells where it's needed for energy, sugar builds up in your bloodstream. Exactly why this happens is uncertain, although it's believed that genetic and environmental factors play a role in the development of type 2 diabetes too. Being overweight is strongly linked to the development of type 2 diabetes, but not everyone with type 2 is overweight.
During pregnancy, the placenta produces hormones to sustain your pregnancy. These hormones make your cells more resistant to insulin. Normally, your pancreas responds by producing enough extra insulin to overcome this resistance. But sometimes your pancreas can't keep up. When this happens, too little glucose gets into your cells and too much stays in your blood, resulting in gestational diabetes.
Although the exact cause of type 1 diabetes is unknown, factors that may signal an increased risk include:. Researchers don't fully understand why some people develop prediabetes and type 2 diabetes and others don't. It's clear that certain factors increase the risk, however, including:. Pregnant women can develop gestational diabetes. Some women are at greater risk than are others. Most pregnant women can produce enough insulin to overcome insulin resistance, but some cannot.
As with type 2 diabetes, extra weight is linked to gestational diabetes. Women who are overweight or obese may already have insulin resistance when they become pregnant. Gaining too much weight during pregnancy may also be a factor.
Having a family history of diabetes makes it more likely that a woman will develop gestational diabetes, which suggests that genes play a role. Genetic mutations , other diseases, damage to the pancreas, and certain medicines may also cause diabetes. Some hormonal diseases cause the body to produce too much of certain hormones, which sometimes cause insulin resistance and diabetes.
Pancreatitis , pancreatic cancer, and trauma can all harm the beta cells or make them less able to produce insulin, resulting in diabetes. If the damaged pancreas is removed, diabetes will occur due to the loss of the beta cells. However, statins help protect you from heart disease and stroke. For this reason, the strong benefits of taking statins outweigh the small chance that you could develop diabetes. If you take any of these medicines and are concerned about their side effects, talk with your doctor.
The NIDDK translates and disseminates research findings to increase knowledge and understanding about health and disease among patients, health professionals, and the public. Diabetes Overview What is Diabetes? Find out whether you should get tested, and get more information on tests your doctor might perform. Yet many other diabetes risk factors are controllable. Most diabetes prevention strategies involve making simple adjustments to your diet and fitness routine.
Discover more strategies that may help you avoid this chronic disease. Hormones produced by the placenta can make your body more resistant to the effects of insulin. Some women who had diabetes before they conceived carry it with them into pregnancy. This is called pre-gestational diabetes. Gestational diabetes should go away after you deliver, but it does significantly increase your risk for getting diabetes later. About half of women with gestational diabetes will develop type 2 diabetes within 5 to 10 years of delivery, according to the International Diabetes Federation IDF.
Having diabetes during your pregnancy can also lead to complications for your newborn, such as jaundice or breathing problems.
Find out more about the effect of diabetes on pregnancy. Children can get both type 1 and type 2 diabetes. Controlling blood sugar is especially important in young people, because the disease can damage important organs such as the heart and kidneys. The autoimmune form of diabetes often starts in childhood.
One of the main symptoms is increased urination. Extreme thirst, fatigue, and hunger are also signs of the condition. The disease can cause high blood sugar and dehydration , which can be medical emergencies. Now that more children are overweight or obese , type 2 diabetes is becoming more common in this age group. The disease is often diagnosed during a physical exam. Untreated type 2 diabetes can cause lifelong complications, including heart disease, kidney disease, and blindness. Healthy eating and exercise can help your child manage their blood sugar and prevent these problems.
Type 2 diabetes is more prevalent than ever in young people. Some types of diabetes — like type 1 — are caused by factors that are out of your control. Others — like type 2 — can be prevented with better food choices, increased activity, and weight loss. Discuss potential diabetes risks with your doctor. Diabetes is more prevalent in certain racial and ethnic groups, including Black Americans.
This may be due to genetic, social, and health factors. NPH insulin is an intermediate-acting insulin that helps keep your blood sugar stable between meals or overnight. Learn more about how long it takes…. Human insulin is synthetically made in a lab and is able to replicate the insulin naturally found in your body. Learn more about the pros and cons of….
An insulin pump is an alternative to giving yourself multiple daily insulin injections. It's mostly used for type 1 diabetes, and has both pros and…. Here's how.
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