Diabtes mellitus, often simply referred to as diabetes—is a group of metabolic diseases in which a person has high blood sugar, either because the body does not produce enough insulin, or because cells do not respond to the insulin that is produced. This high blood sugar produces the classical symptoms of polyuria (frequent urination), polydipsia (increased thirst) and polyphagia (increased hunger).
There are three main types of diabetes:
- Type 1 diabetes: results from the body's failure to produce insulin, and presently requires the person to inject insulin.
- Type 2 diabetes: results from insulin resistance, a condition in which cells fail to use insulin properly, sometimes combined with an absolute insulin deficiency.
- Gestational diabetes: is when pregnant women, who have never had diabetes before, have a high blood glucose level during pregnancy. It may precede development of type 2 DM.
Other forms of diabetes mellitus include congenital diabetes, which is due to genetic defects of insulin secretion, cystic fibrosis-related diabetes, steroid diabetes induced by high doses of glucocorticoids, and several forms of monogenic diabetes.
All forms of diabetes have been treatable since insulin became available in 1921, and type 2 diabetes may be controlled with medications. Both type 1 and 2 are chronic conditions that usually cannot be cured. Pancreas transplants have been tried with limited success in type 1 DM; gastric bypass surgery has been successful in many with morbid obesity and type 2 DM.
Gestational diabetes usually resolves after delivery. Diabetes without proper treatments can cause many complications. Acute complications include hypoglycemia, diabetic ketoacidosis, or nonketotic hyperosmolar coma. Serious long-term complications include cardiovascular disease, chronic renal failure, retinal damage. Adequate treatment of diabetes is thus important, as well as blood pressure control and lifestyle factors such as smoking cessation and maintaining a healthy body weight.
Symptoms:
- High blood sugar level
- Dehydration of the body
- Increase in thirst
- Extreme tiredness
- Loss in weight
- Blurred vision
- Dry and itchy skin
- Repeated infections and increased healing time
Diabetes check is a must for:
- People with diabetic background in the family
- Obese people
- People above 35 years of age
- Those with a sedentary life style
- Those who were diagnosed diabetic during pregnancy (gestational diabetes)
- People prone to hypertension
- Those who have other disease, which may be precipitated or aggravated by diabetes
Diagnosis:
- Fasting Blood Glucose (Blood Sugar) Level (FBS):
- Diabetes can be diagnosed after an overnight fast (not eating anything after midnight). A value above 140 mg/dl on at least two occasions typically means a person has diabetes.
- Normal people have fasting sugar levels that generally run between 70-110 mg/dl.
Oral Glucose Tolerance Test (GTT):
- An oral glucose tolerance test can be performed in a doctor's lab. The person being tested should fast overnight (having no food or drink except water for at least 10 hours but not greater than 16 hours). An initial blood sugar is drawn and then the person is given a "glucola" bottle with a high amount of sugar in it (75 grams of glucose), (or 100 grams for pregnant women). Blood tests are done again at intervals of 30 minutes, 1 hour, 2 hours and 3 hours after drinking the high glucose drink.
- The oral glucose tolerance test is conducted by measuring blood glucose levels five times over a period of 3 hours. In a person without diabetes, the glucose levels in the blood rise following drinking the glucose drink, but then fall quickly back to normal. In a diabetic the glucose levels rise higher than normal after drinking the glucose and takes a longer time to fall to normal.
Treatment:
- Type 1 diabetes is treated with insulin, exercise and diet.
- Type 2 diabetes is initially treated through weight reduction, exercise and diet. If this fails, insulin is taken.
Prevention:
Prevention of diabetes is possible through diet control and exercise. Exercise burns excess fat in the body. Best exercises to burn fat are regular walks and aerobics. A balanced diet low in fat and sugar is an ideal diet. The meals should be taken in many small supplements spread over the day replacing the usual three meals a day.
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