Overview
Diabetes mellitus refers to a group of diseases that affect how your body turns food into energy.
Most of the food you eat is broken down into sugar (glucose) and released into your bloodstream. When your blood sugar goes up, it signals your pancreas to release insulin. Insulin is a hormone that allows your blood sugar to reach your body’s cells and be used as energy.
In this blog, we will focus on type 1 and type 2 diabetes.
Type 1 diabetes (T1D)
T1D is a condition in which your immune system attacks insulin-making cells (called beta cells) in your pancreas.
As a result, your pancreas does not produce enough insulin. Without insulin, blood sugar cannot reach your cells and they will starve for energy.
T1D often appears during childhood, adolescence, or young adulthood, but can develop at any age.
Type 2 diabetes (T2D)
T2D is a condition in which your body either becomes resistant to insulin or when the pancreas is unable to produce enough insulin.
T2D is the most common type of diabetes and develops over many years. Therefore, it is often seen in people over the age of 40. However, with obesity rates increasing, more and more children and young adults are also being diagnosed with T2D.
Symptoms
In type 2 diabetes, symptoms may not be experienced at first. Whereas type 1 diabetes symptoms often happen rapidly and tend to be more severe.
Some of the most common signs and symptoms seen in patients with type 1 and type 2 diabetes include:
- Frequent urination, especially at night
- Increased thirst
- Increased hunger
- Unintended weight loss (most common in T1D)
- Extreme weakness
- Blurry vision
- Numbness or tingling in hands or feet
- Very dry skin
- Sores that heal slowly
- Having more infections than usual
Important Because symptoms are hard to spot in patients with type 2 diabetes, it’s important to know the risk factors and visit your doctor if you have any of them.
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