DiabetesA Guide to Diabetes

What is diabetes?

• When blood glucose (blood sugar) is too high

• Blood glucose is sugar found in blood and is main source of energy

• Glucose is from food, and is also made in the liver and muscles

• Blood carries glucose to cells for energy

Insulin• Insulin helps your blood carry

glucose to the body’s cells

• It is produced in the pancreas

• Sometimes body doesn’t make enough insulin OR insulin doesn’t work like it should

• Glucose stays in the blood and doesn’t reach the cells

• Result is that blood glucose levels get too high and can cause diabetes or prediabetes

Important notes• Diabetes is a METABOLIC

disease (how the body uses digested food for growth and energy)

• Insulin is necessary for glucose to get into cells

• With diabetes, the pancreas produces little or no insulin, or the cells don’t respond properly to the insulin

• Glucose builds up in blood, overflows into urine and passes out of body in urine

• So, body loses main source of fuel, even though it has glucose!

TYPES OF DIABETES

4 types of diabetes

• Prediabetes

• Type 1

• Type 2

• Gestational

Prediabetes• Prediabetes is when blood

glucose is above normal but not high enough to be called diabetes

• With prediabetes, your risk of getting diabetes, heart attack and stroke increase

• With weight loss and moderate physical activity, you can delay or prevent type 2 diabetes, or even return to normal levels without medications

Type 1 Diabetes• Autoimmune disease

• Immune system attacks and destroys the insulin-producing cells in the pancreas

• So the pancreas produces little or no insulin

• Must take insulin to live

• If not diagnosed or treated, patient can go into a diabetic coma and die.

Type 2 Diabetes• Most common type of diabetes

• 90 to 95% have type 2

• Associated with age, obesity, family history, previous history with gestational, physical inactivity and ethnicity

• About 80% are overweight or obese

• Pancreas is producing insulin, but body can’t use insulin (called insulin resistance)

• As a result, insulin production decreases

• Type 2 onset is slow and gradual. You may experience hunger and thirst, weight loss, blurred vision and slow healing of wounds.

Gestational diabetes• Developed by some women late

in pregnancy

• About 3 to 8% develop, could be related to family history and ethnicity.

• Women who have had this have 40 to 60% chance of developing Type 2 diabetes within 5 to 10 years

• Maintaining reasonable weight and exercising may help prevent

SYMPTOMS AND DIAGNOSIS

Signs and Symptoms of diabetes• Being thirsty

• Urinating often

• Feeling very hungry

• Feeling very tired

• Losing weight without trying

• Sores that heal slowly

• Dry, itchy skin

• Feelings of pins and needles in your feet

• Losing feeling in your feet

• Blurry eyesightIf you aren’t sure, see your doctor. The only way to tell is to have a blood test.

How it is diagnosed• A fasting blood glucose test is

most reliable

• Done after an 8 hour fast

• The Oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) has you drink a beverage with glucose and measures blood glucose after 2 hours

• A random blood test can measure blood glucose at that time.

MANAGING DIABETES

Treatment for Diabetes

Type 1 diabetes

• Healthy eating

• Physical activity

• Insulin

• Measure blood glucose levels

Type 2 diabetes• Healthy eating

• Physical activity

• Blood glucose testing

• Maybe a medication to control blood glucose levels

Why treat diabetes?• Diabetes creates an increased

risk of cardiovascular disease (at least 65% of those with diabetes die from heart disease or stroke)

• It also has multiple side effects for untreated diabetes for the eyes, kidneys, nerves, gum and teeth.

Symptoms of untreated diabetes• No symptoms if you are developing heart

disease!

• Vision problems (vision loss, or pain in your eye)

• No symptoms if you have diabetes related kidney disease

• Tingling, numbness, burning, shooting or stabbing pain in feet, hands or other parts of body.

• Sexual problems, digestive problems, difficulty controlling bladder, dizziness and fainting, unable to know when blood sugar is low.