Diabetes

This condition can be treated or cured with a change to diet, whether it is not eating a specific thing like with Celiac disease or avoiding foods with high or low amounts of something.

Diabeetus is a chronic (long-lasting) health condition that affects how your body turns food into energy.

Your body breaks down most of the food you eat into sugar (glucose) and releases it into your bloodstream. When your blood sugar goes up, it signals your pancreas to release insulin. Insulin acts like a key to let the blood sugar into your body’s cells for use as energy.

With diabetes, your body doesn’t make enough insulin or can’t use it as well as it should. When there isn’t enough insulin or cells stop responding to insulin, too much blood sugar stays in your bloodstream. Over time, that can cause serious health problems, such as heart disease, vision loss, and kidney disease.

## Symptoms

* Excessive hunger
* Excessive thirst
* Fatigue and weakness
* Weight gain or loss
* Sweating
* Nausea and vomitng
* Frequent urination
* Poor wound healing
* Blurred vision
* Headaches
* Fast heart rate
* Numbness or tingling of the hands and feet
* Sleepiness
* Frequent infections

## Types

The types of diabetes include:

* Type 1 Diabetes: Type 1 diabetes is thought to be caused by an autoimmune reaction (the body attacks itself by mistake). This reaction stops your body from making insulin. Approximately 5-10% of the people who have diabetes have type 1. Symptoms of type 1 diabetes often develop quickly. It’s usually diagnosed in children, teens, and young adults. If you have type 1 diabetes, you’ll need to take insulin every day to survive. Currently, no one knows how to prevent type 1 diabetes.
* Type 2 Diabetes: With type 2 diabetes, your body doesn’t use insulin well and can’t keep blood sugar at normal levels. About 90-95% of people with diabetes have type 2. It develops over many years and is usually diagnosed in adults (but more and more in children, teens, and young adults). You may not notice any symptoms, so it’s important to get your blood sugar tested if you’re at risk. Type 2 diabetes can be prevented or delayed with healthy lifestyle changes, such as losing weight, eating healthy food, and being active.
* Gestational Diabetes: Gestational diabetes develops in pregnant women who have never had diabetes. If you have gestational diabetes, your baby could be at higher risk for health problems. Gestational diabetes usually goes away after your baby is born. However, it increases your risk for type 2 diabetes later in life. Your baby is more likely to have obesity as a child or teen and develop type 2 diabetes later in life.

## Causes

To understand diabetes, it's important to understand how the body normally uses glucose:

* How insulin works: Insulin is a hormone that comes from a gland behind and below the stomach (pancreas). The pancreas releases insulin into the bloodstream. The insulin circulates, letting sugar enter the cells. Insulin lowers the amount of sugar in the bloodstream. As the blood sugar level drops, so does the secretion of insulin from the pancreas.

The role of glucose

* Glucose — a sugar — is a source of energy for the cells that make up muscles and other tissues: Glucose comes from two major sources: food and the liver. Sugar is absorbed into the bloodstream, where it enters cells with the help of insulin. The liver stores and makes glucose. When glucose levels are low, such as when you haven't eaten in a while, the liver breaks down stored glycogen into glucose. This keeps your glucose level within a typical range. The exact cause of most types of diabetes is unknown. In all cases, sugar builds up in the bloodstream. This is because the pancreas doesn't produce enough insulin. Both type 1 and type 2 diabetes may be caused by a combination of genetic or environmental factors. It is unclear what those factors may be.

## Risk factors

Risk factors for diabetes depend on the type of diabetes. Family history may play a part in all types. Environmental factors and geography can add to the risk of type 1 diabetes.

Sometimes family members of people with type 1 diabetes are tested for the presence of diabetes immune system cells (autoantibodies). If you have these autoantibodies, you have an increased risk of developing type 1 diabetes. But not everyone who has these autoantibodies develops diabetes.

Race or ethnicity also may raise your risk of developing type 2 diabetes. Although it's unclear why, certain people — including Black, Hispanic, American Indian and Asian American people — are at higher risk. Prediabetes, type 2 diabetes and gestational diabetes are more common in people who are overweight or obese.

## Complications

Long-term complications of diabetes develop gradually. The longer you have diabetes — and the less controlled your blood sugar — the higher the risk of complications. Eventually, diabetes complications may be disabling or even life-threatening. In fact, prediabetes can lead to type 2 diabetes. Possible complications include:

* Cancer: Diabetes increases the risk of cancer. Diabetes causes all types of cancers, but the most likely cancers that are caused by diabetes include liver, pancreatic, colorectal, endometrial, breast and bladder cancer.
* Heart disease: Diabetes majorly increases the risk of many heart problems. These can include coronary artery disease with chest pain (angina), heart attack, peripheral artery disease, and atherosclerosis.
* Stroke: Diabetes causes stroke excessive blood glucose can result in increased fatty deposits or clots in blood vessels. These clots can narrow or block blood vessels in the brain or neck, cutting off the blood supply, stopping oxygen from getting to the brain and causing an ischemic stroke. Diabetes can also cause hemorrhagic stroke, but less often compared to ischemic stroke.
* Nerve damage: Too much sugar can injure the walls of the tiny blood vessels (capillaries) that nourish the nerves, especially in the legs. This can cause tingling, numbness, burning or pain that usually begins at the tips of the toes or fingers and gradually spreads upward. Damage to the nerves related to digestion can cause problems with nausea, vomiting, diarrhea or constipation. For men, it may lead to erectile dysfunction.
* Kidney failure: The kidneys hold millions of tiny blood vessel clusters (glomeruli) that filter waste from the blood. Diabetes can damage this delicate filtering system.
* Vision loss: Diabetes can damage the blood vessels of the eye, an eye condition known as diabetic retinopathy. This causes vision loss and even blindness. Diabetes can also cause cataracts and glaucoma.
* Foot damage: Nerve damage in the feet or poor blood flow to the feet increases the risk of many foot complications.
* Skin and mouth conditions. Diabetes may leave you more prone to skin problems, including bacterial and fungal infections.
* Deafness: Hearing problems are more common in people with diabetes.
* Dementia: Type 2 diabetes may increase the risk of dementia, such as Alzheimer's disease.
* Other complications: Diabetes can cause diabetic ketoacidosis, seizures, high or low sugar levels, and loss of consciousness, including coma.

## Treatment

Depending on what type of diabetes you have, blood sugar monitoring, insulin and oral drugs may be part of your treatment. Eating a healthy diet, staying at a healthy weight and getting regular physical activity also are important parts of managing diabetes.