Of the many diseases that may seem benign but deadly at the same time, diabetes happens to be one of them. Therefore, there’s every reason to be health conscious so you can avoid any habits that may contribute to diabetes or take action as soon as you perceive any of the symptoms.
Fortunately, even when living with diabetes, you can still have the best quality of life ever. Again, it all depends on how health-conscious you are. Whether you have diabetes or not, chances are you’ve read so much about the disease — foods to eat, what to avoid, and the recommended lifestyle changes in general. However, it’s possible you have also lost track of some of these things, hence the reason for this article.
So, without further ado, let’s refresh our minds on all you need to know about diabetes.
Types of diabetes
Diabetes, medically called diabetes mellitus, is a disease that increases blood sugar levels. Normally, your body needs a hormone known as insulin to remove excess sugar from the blood and store it as glycogen. Excess sugar in the blood can lead to damaged kidneys, eyes, nerves, and other organs.
With diabetes, the body can no longer produce sufficient insulin or becomes unable to utilize the insulin effectively. Hence, blood sugar level goes up.
There are different types of diabetes:
Type 1 diabetes
Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease, i.e., a condition whereby your immune system attacks your body. In this case, the immune system attacks the pancreas that produces insulin, thereby making it inefficient. The cause of type 1 diabetes remains unknown, although it typically shows forth in the patient during adolescence.
Type 2 diabetes
This occurs when the body becomes resistant to insulin. Even when there’s insulin in your body, sugar remains and accumulates in the blood.
Gestational diabetes
As the name suggests, gestational diabetes is a condition in which there is high blood sugar during pregnancy. It only affects women. However, the cause of this is known: insulin blocking hormones produced by the placenta cause this type of diabetes. Also, it’s not lifelong since the pregnancy and the associated hormones last only nine months.
Notably, your body can accumulate so much blood sugar but hasn’t ticked all the boxes to be diagnosed as type 2 diabetes. This is known as prediabetes. This is a time when you can still prevent full-blown diabetes by seeing the doctor and doing the needful.
Diabetes insipidus is a rare medical condition whereby your kidneys produce large amounts of urine. Although it foes with the name diabetes, it does not meet the definition of diabetes mellitus.
Symptoms of diabetes
Each type of diabetes comes with unique symptoms, although there are some signs common to them all. To clarify things so you can easily identify when diabetes hovers, let’s highlight the general and specific symptoms.
General Symptoms of diabetes
- Increased and frequent hunger
- Increased thirst
- Weight loss
- Fatigue
- Wounds take longer to heal
- Excessive urination
- Blurred vision
- Numbness or a tingling sensation in the hands or feet
- Frequent infections
Gender-based symptoms of diabetes
Some symptoms of diabetes in men include decreased sex drive, erectile dysfunction, and weak muscles.
In women, diabetes can cause urinary tract infections, yeast infections, and itchy skin.
Symptoms of Type 1 diabetes
The symptoms of type 1 diabetes emerge at a young age. It could be from childhood or teenage.
Symptoms of type 1 diabetes develop very quickly and include:
- Extreme hunger
- Increased thirst
- Weight loss
- Fatigue
- Nausea
- Blurry vision
- Frequent urination
- Stomach pains
- Infections
Symptoms of Type 2 diabetes
Symptoms of type 2 diabetes develop more slowly and begin to show up during adulthood. The signs include:
- Increased hunger
- Increased thirst
- Fatigue
- Blurry vision
- Frequent urination
- Blurred vision
- Infections
- Slow-healing sores
Symptoms of gestational diabetes
Gestational diabetes usually occurs without showing any symptoms. However, your obstetrician will typically carry out a routine blood sugar test between 24 and 28 weeks after gestation.
Some complications of diabetes
In all forms of diabetes, blood sugar rises over time, and if this remains so for an extended period, it can cause several damages throughout the body.
Some complications of diabetes can be fatal.
Some complications of diabetes include:
- Nerve damage, which results in the numbing or tingling sensation
- Heart issues, including heart attack, stroke, chest pain, high blood pressure, narrowing of the arteries (atherosclerosis), etc.
- Kidney damage, leading to the need for dialysis or kidney transplant
- Skin infections
- Erectile dysfunction
- Dementia
- Foot damage (sores won’t heal)
- And others.
Gestational diabetes can cause excess protein in urine, swollen feet, and high blood pressure in the mother. It also presents a risk of developing type 2 diabetes later in life.
As for the fetus, it may be overweight, have low blood sugar, risk developing type 2 diabetes, or pass away shortly after birth.
Treatment of diabetes
There is currently no known cure for diabetes. However, there are several ways to manage it, such as using dialysis, prescribed medications, insulin injections, and watching what you eat. You can also control diabetes naturally using certain edible medicinal plants. Another effective way of managing diabetes is increasing your activity level through physical exercises, thereby using up your blood sugar.
Maintaining your blood cholesterol and triglyceride levels within the normal ranges is also essential to managing diabetes.
Lastly, keep your blood pressure within 140/190 mmHg.
Putting your life in your hands
In essence, you hold the key to a high quality of life whether or not you’re living with diabetes. It’s all in the lifestyle choices you make.
You can live life to the fullest if you can be mindful of the following:
- Have a healthy meal plan with lots of protein and healthy fats but low in carbs. A Mediterranean diet comprising vegetables, beans, whole grains, and fruits would do.
- Engage in fun exercises that you’d be happy doing. Walking or swimming for at least 30 minutes a day is enough.
- Lose weight if you’re overweight. Weight gain is often associated with high sugar levels (excess calories getting converted to fat without getting burnt, contributing to insulin resistance).
- Never miss your medication and insulin shots.
- Get a home kit to watch your blood sugar and pressure levels yourself.
- Reduce alcohol intake and quit smoking.
Final Words
Diabetes is never the end of the world. Have no regrets, take charge of your health, and live life to its fullest.
