Diabetes Symptoms
There is no doubt that diabetes is one of the most common diseases in our world, so we will help you to know more about it. We will outline how diabetes begins, the types of diabetes, diabetes symptoms, and treatment.
Our bodies get their energy from glucose. There are cells in the pancreas called beta cells which are so sensitive to the glucose level in the blood, they secrete insulin which enters the glucose into the cells to be used as a source of energy to make up muscles and other tissues.
What are the types of diabetes?
There are many types of diabetes mellitus:
Type 1:
usually happens during childhood or teen years When the immune system attacks beta cells in the pancreas instead of the foreign bodies. it affects the amount of insulin secreted, then the blood glucose level increases.
Type 2:
It happens when the body needs more amount of insulin because of obesity or inactivity and the amount of secreted insulin is not enough to overcome that need which is called (insulin resistance), and the glucose can’t get into the cells.
gestational diabetes:
Happens during pregnancy. It affects the pregnancy and the baby’s health and can be controlled by following a healthy diet, exercising, and taking medication if necessary.
prediabetic:
A Condition in which your blood glucose level is high but not enough to be considered diabetic.
What are the risk factors of diabetes?
Type 1:
- Genetic factor: family history.
- Getting infection: the immune system attacks Langerhans cells instead of the disease.
Type 2:
- Age: sometimes when it exceeds 40 years.
- Races: some races are more exposed to diabetes.
- Obesity or inactivity or lack of exercise.
- Hypertension.
- High blood triglyceride.
- High alcohol intake.
What are the diabetes symptoms?
If you notice any of these symptoms, contact your health care immediately.
- Unplanned losing weight: the body starts to get energy from your food, muscles, and fat.
- Hunger and fatigue.
- Peeing more often.
- Feeling more thirsty than usual.
- Presence of ketones in urine, a byproduct of muscle and fat breakdown.
- Dry mouth: your body gets dehydrated due to losing more fluids in peeing.
- Blurred vision.
- Delayed wound healing, due to nerve damage.
- Itchy skin.
- Numbness in feet or legs.
- Easily getting infected.
How to diagnose diabetes mellitus?
- glycated hemoglobin test (A1C test): It measures the percentage of blood sugar attached to hemoglobin over three months.
- Random blood sugar test: if your blood sugar level is 200 mg/dl or higher, you are diabetic.
- Fasting blood sugar test: if it’s 126 mg/dl or higher, you have diabetes.
- Glucose tolerance test: after measuring fasting blood glucose level, take a sugary drink then remeasure it in two hours. If it’s above 200 mg/dl you are diabetic.
How to treat diabetes symptoms?
Treatment varies from one person to another according to the severity of the case. It requires a combination of diet, exercise, and medication.
In type 1, you will need to take insulin in an injectable form which comes in 5 types:
- Rapid-acting insulin.
- Short-acting insulin.
- Intermediate-acting.
- Long-acting.
- Ultra-long-acting.
Type 2 treatment works in another way like:
- Chlorpropamide, glimepiride, and glipizide: increasing insulin production.
- Acarbose: decreasing sugar absorption by the intestine.
- Metformin: decreasing liver production of sugar.
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